After Whitewater, Travelgate, Filegate, Sandy “the burglar” Berger stealing documents from the National Archives and Bill’s dalliance with Monica Lewinsky, political reporters got a bit lazy because they had to sit back and wait for the next scandal to break. The cascading Clintons always served one up.
Some reporters I know openly yearn for a return to the Clinton days. They miss remarks like what then-Sen. Fritz Hollings of South Carolina said when Bill’s poll numbers were falling. There was no reason to worry, Mr. Hollings said, because, “If they reach 60 percent, then he can start dating again.” The joke illustrated the big difference between the Clintons: Bill’s scandals were for the tabloids, and Hillary’s for the business page or the police blotter. His were perverse fun, hers not so much.
Now that the former senator and secretary of state is about to declare her run for the presidency, happy days for political reporters may be here again.