Lee Hart, Wife of Ex-Senator Gary Hart, Dies at 85

[DonViejo]

She stood by her husband when his presidential campaign was derailed by reports that he was having an affair.

By The Associated Press
April 11, 2021, 1:35 p.m. ET

Lee Hart, the wife of former Senator Gary Hart of Colorado, who stood by him when his front-running campaign for the presidency collapsed in 1987 amid reports that he was having an extramarital affair, died on Friday in Lakewood, Colo. She was 85.

Her family confirmed the death but did not specify a cause.

Ms. Hart, a former English teacher, campaigned for her husband during his runs for the Senate and the White House.

In 1984, Mr. Hart sought the Democratic presidential nomination, losing narrowly to former Vice President Walter F. Mondale. He declined to seek re-election to the Senate in 1986 and sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 1988.

more
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/11/us/politics/lee-hart-dead.html

[hlthe2b]

1. Hmm. Sorry to see. He would have made a great President and she, a great First Lady.

[dalton99a]

2. R.I.P.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

3. She stuck by Gary, unlike Democrats.

Am I crazy, or was there never any real evidence that Gary Hart had an affair? I mostly remember this photo, but never any admission or evidence of an actual affair. I might've missed it back then, though.



Yet Republicans supported this guy:

[dalton99a]

4. Donna Rice denied there was an affair

Donna Rice, in another press conference with reporters, said she and Hart were “just pals” and added that she preferred “younger men.”... In a recent statement about the 2018 film, she wrote that she is working on a memoir, that “all the truth is not out, as I have never told my own story.”

https://time.com/5444465/gary-hart-donna-rice/

[Buckeye_Democrat]

5. Thanks!

That was my vague memory about it.

It was like an earlier "Al Franken incident" for me.

[OnDoutside]

8. Wasn't that a setup ?

[El Supremo]

7. If the boat hadn't been named Monkey Business...

I don't think he would have been ripped to shreds by the press.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

9. Oh, yeah!

Plus I think Hart previously challenged the press to find any dirt on him at all, and then that story broke almost immediately.

So some people probably thought, "Pride before a fall!"

[Hekate]

10. A year or so ago I read an article that got posted here that made it clear it had been a trap...

A friend invited him to for a boat-ride, just a day-trip. That boat had an innocuous forgettable name. But oopsie, the friend’s boat had engine trouble in its frammistan or something, so a substitution was made to another boat, and that boat was called — Monkey Business.

I think the blondes came with that boat. They were also unexpected, at least by Gary. One plopped herself in Hart’s lap for a souvenir photo, and what a souvenir it was.

So sailing along in lovely weather, they come to an island and damn the luck, this boat has engine trouble, too, something to do with its ratchofratch — and they had to put up overnight.

With friends like that, who needs enemies?

I remember that at the time I thought Gary Hart was all kinds of a fool for carrying on with women and then daring the press to catch him. I recall being pissed off that a Democrat with a viable future had shot himself in the foot like that.

Only, I came away from that article thinking what had really happened was he got shot in the back.

[kentuck]

6. So sorry to hear that.

I was a strong supporter of Gary and Lee.

So sad to hear this.

[Raine]

11. I always liked Gary Hart

he would've made a really good President, sad what might have been.