CongressionalBadBoys.com | home | Hart Gary Warren Hart Democrat, Colorado (1975-1986) The Honorable Gary Hart, one-time campaign manager for George McGovern, then Senator from Colorado, and in 1987 Presidential candidate.  Then he screwed up.  Practically invited reporters to watch his every move to see whether he was messing around with someone other than his wife.  He was.  He got busted.  "I'm not that stupid.  I wasn't self-destructive, I wasn't crazy . . . . I took every bit of responsibility, but not for being reckless and stupid.  I was the first candidate in this country to be put under surveillance."  [For other pearls of wisdom, check the Quote Board]. Gary Hart was caught by reporters with model Donna Rice at his apartment in the early hours of the morning.   Donna met Hart at a fund-raising party in Miami and gave him her telephone number.  Next day, he called for an invitation to dinner.  (Mrs. Lee Hart, presumably was back in Colorado).  The next day, she and a girl friend were invited to join Gary and his buddies on the good ship "Monkey Business" for a sailing trip to Bimini.  "Gary," she said, "swept me off my feet."  [For other pearls of wisdom, check the Quote Board]. After the first date, he told her he was married and explained that he couldn't leave his wife, since he was running for the presidency.  Donna's conscience was bothering her, so when Gary got back to Washington, she called to see if they could get together "one last time."  She was going to confront Hart over his intentions and end the relationship.  But photographers were waiting outside Hart's townhouse.

It certainly wasn't the first indiscretion for Hart, far from it.  By 1987, he and his wife had separated twice, and Hart, who palled around with Warren Beatty, had been associated with several other women. 

Too bad about the presidential primary of 1988.  Hart blew it, big time.  Too bad, the guy's got substance.

Sources:  Cassandra Jardine, "Gary Hart:  I'm No Clinton," Ottawa Citizen, Feb. 10, 2000, A12;  Charles Laurence, "A Lesson for Ms. Lewinsky," Ottawa Citizen, Aug. 18, 1998, A5.