South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford on Wednesday as he admits to having an affair.

Sen. John Ensign of Nevada at a press conference admitting to an affair with a campaign staffer.

Jacob Smilovitz
AC360° Intern

Today’s admission by South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford that he made a secret trip to Argentina where he was having an affair with a woman may be interesting, but it is definitely not unprecedented in American politics. Tonight on AC360° we dig deeper into what makes these political figures take such risks. For a quick refresher, here are some notable apologies and mea culpas over the years.

Gov. Mark Sanford (R – South Carolina)
June 24, 2009

In a news conference:

“And so the bottom line is this: I have been unfaithful to my wife. I developed a relationship with a - what started as a dear, dear friend from Argentina. It began very innocently as I suspect many of these things do, in just a casual e-mail back and forth in advice on one's life there and advice here.

John Edwards admitted in August, 2008 that he had an affair with Rielle Hunter in 2006.

Gov. Eliot Spitzer, wife at his side, apologizes on March 10, 2008 and announces he is stepping down.

Sen. David Vitter apologized after his telephone number appeared among those linked to an escort service.

This photograph taken from CNN television shows President Bill Clinton testifying on August 17, 1998 in the Map Room at the White House.

But here, recently, over this last year, it developed into something much more than that. And as a consequence I hurt her. I hurt you all, I hurt my wife, I hurt my boys. I hurt friends like Tom Davis. I hurt a lot of different folks.

And all I can say is that I apologize.”

Sen. John Ensign (R – Nevada)
June 16, 2009

In a news conference:

“Last year, I had an affair. I violated the vows of my marriage. It's absolutely the worst thing that I have ever done in my life. If there was ever anything that I could take back in my life, this would be it.

I take full responsibility for my actions. I know that I have deeply hurt and disappointed my wife Darlene, my children, my family, friends, my staff, and all of those who believed in me. And to all of them, especially my wife, I'm truly sorry.”

Former Sen. John Edwards (D – North Carolina)
August 8, 2008

In an ABC News interview:

“In 2006, Two years ago, I made a very serious mistake. A mistake that I am responsible for and no one else.

In 2006, I told Elizabeth about the mistake, asked her for her forgiveness, asked God for his forgiveness. And we have kept this within our family since that time.

All of my family knows about this and just to be absolutely clear, none of them are responsible for it. I am responsible for it. I alone am responsible for it.

And it led to this most recent incident at the Beverly Hilton. I was at the Beverly Hilton. I was there for a very simple reason, because I was trying to keep this mistake that I had made from becoming public.”

Gov. Eliot Spitzer (D – New York)
March 10, 2008

In a news conference:

“We sought to bring real change to New York. And that will continue. Today, I want to briefly address a private matter. I have acted in a way that violates my obligations to my family, that violates my or any sense of right and wrong.

I apologize first and most importantly to my family. I apologize to the public, whom I promised better. I do not believe that politics in the long run is about individuals. It is about ideas, the public good, and doing what is best for the state of New York.

But I have disappointed and failed to live up to the standard I expected of myself. I must now dedicate some time to regain the trust of my family. I will not be taking questions. Thank you very much. I will report back to you in short order. Thank you very much.”

Sen. David Vitter (R – Louisiana)
July 10, 2007

In a written statement:

"This was a very serious sin in my past for which I am, of course, completely responsible. Several years ago, I asked for and received forgiveness from God and my wife in confession and marriage counseling. Out of respect for my family, I will keep my discussion of the matter there-with God and them. But I certainly offer my deep and sincere apologies to all I have disappointed and let down in any way."

President Bill Clinton (D)
August 18, 1998

In a primetime address:

“Good evening. This afternoon in this room from this chair, I testified before the office of independent counsel and the grand jury. I answered their questions truthfully, including questions about my private life, questions no American citizen would ever want to answer. Still, I must take complete responsibility for all my actions, both public and private, and that is why I'm speaking to you tonight.

As you know, in a deposition in January, I was asked questions about my relationship with Monica Lewinsky. While my answers were legally accurate, I did not volunteer information.

Indeed, I did have a relationship with Ms. Lewinsky that was not appropriate. In fact, it was wrong. It constituted a critical lapse in judgment and a personal failure on my part for which I am solely and completely responsible.”

A recent poll found 23 percent of respondents think former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer should get the nod as the naughtiest politician of 2008.

Donna Brazile
CNN Contributor

As poll after poll quantifies the public's immense admiration for Barack Obama as the incoming 44th president of the United States, other politicians, especially those elected to serve in the U.S. Congress, continue to yield approval numbers low enough to flash-freeze an elephant (or a donkey) in under a minute.

They have only themselves to blame.

Their troubles come against the backdrop of the seemingly endless scandals involving elected officials from across the nation and both sides of the political aisle, from New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer to Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick to Idaho Sen. Larry Craig to Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich to U.S. Rep. Tim Mahoney of Florida, who only two short years ago was voted into office as a moral crusader to replace disgraced former Congressman Mark Foley.

Keep Reading...

Faye Wattleton, President, Center for the Advancement of Women

While political sex scandals are nothing new, the media's scrutiny of their impact on politicians' spouses is a relatively new topic of conversation.

As far back as we know, men in power have engaged in extra-marital affairs.  It wasn't until then-First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, perhaps due to her elevated profile on universal health care reform, endured the public humiliation of standing beside her husband, before a phalanx of cameras on live national television, did the public begin unrestrained discussion and debate about the behavior of the victims, especially that of the politician's wife. "Stepford Wife" was a label often uttered by the disdainful; others defended her stoicism.

Perhaps the cacophony signals a change in the perception of the women behind the men in powerful roles, reflecting the changing world for women in all spheres of life – from the traditionally polite and smiling wife ("for better or for worse") to a powerful partner with her own individual image. From someone who is attractive in photo opportunities to advisor and power behind policy decisions, sometimes publicly, presumably more often, privately.

The women in these roles are now likely to be highly educated and holding professional positions in their own right. Even so, probably none can know the demands of living under the public spotlight and being thrust into a higher standard of accountability, until they have actually lived it.

With women running for higher office and holding powerful leadership positions in corporate America, the pressure not to play dutiful wife will come from some quarters.  Some will see themselves in similar circumstances and will identify with the women who embodied the old-fashion virtues of sucking it up to keep the family together, seeing their husbands' philandering as "not a reason to walk away from long-term marriage," as Cindy Adams stated on her New York Post column yesterday. According to the Center for the Advancement of Women's research on women and religion, 44 percent of women support the idea that divorce should be more difficult to obtain, further illustrating women's stance on this issue.

- Faye Wattleton, 360° Contributor/President of the Center for the Advancement of Women
www.advancewomen.org

It must be excruciating for Silda Spitzer to wake up to today’s news coverage:  Photographs and the life story of her husband’s prostitute plastered all over the New York tabloids and cable television.

Having endured the public humiliation of literally standing by her man twice in the last three days as he confessed to betraying her, now she can see the 22-year old face and bikini-clad body of the Ashley Dupre, for whom Eliot Spitzer paid thousands of dollars for sex in the Mayflower Hotel the day before Valentine’s Day.

It’s far more than any of us wanted to know, that our Harvard Law-educated middle-aged governor turned away from his loyal, attractive, Harvard Law-educated middle-aged wife and was willing to risk his career and his family’s dignity for sex with a young woman only a few years older than his teenaged daughters.

Eliot Spitzer had only one year ago wholeheartedly supported and signed into law a tough new law against the sex trade.  Advocates of the law say that they believed that Spitzer “got it,” that prostitution exploited vulnerable women, and that prosecuting johns was the most effective way of cutting off the demand. 

Ashley Dupre says on her MySpace page, with a 21st century young person’s typical nonchalant attitude about personal revelations on the internet, that she was abused as a child, that she’d been homeless.  If so, she’s a typical profile for a prostitute, 50 to 70 percent of whom were abused as children.  One study found that sexually abused children were 27 times more likely to be arrested for prostitution than nonabused children.

This is the kind of thing Eliot Spitzer knew.  Yet he chose to be part of the demand side, part of the economy that offers up prostitution to Dupre as a better option than singing, what she really wanted to do.

He had to turn off his brain to not only the fact that he was cheating on his wife, breaking the law, and exposing himself to public humiliation, but economically fueling an exploitive industry that preys on abused young people.  He had to not think about her as a full human being who had to pay the rent, with hopes and dreams and a history, but instead, just size her up like a commodity:  5' 5", brunette, petite, 105 pounds.

He had money to spend, she had a body to sell, and that had to be the end of the thinking for him, as for all johns, because if they think too hard on the question of why she’s there, it’s would be the ultimate turn off, wouldn’t it?

- Lisa Bloom, “In Session” Anchor/360° Contributor

Read more Lisa Bloom blogs on “In Session”

Standing in front of Ms. Dupré's apartment last night, I got that awful feeling that I was contributing to the glamorization of prostitution. A fancy address, a doorman, young fashionable people walking in and out, with the implicit message: "all this could be yours if you enter the world of so-called high end hookers".

Having seen my share of women who are suddenly famous because of the people they "service", I can say Ashley Dupré is in for a rough ride.

Read between the lines of her MySpace story and I see a young girl, confused and simply used by so many in her life.  She even told the NYTimes she doesn't know how she can pay for her apartment since a man she was living with walked out.

All of it tragically sad, and sadly glamorous in a spotlight that I feel will leave Ms. Dupré in a dark shadow once we in the media focus our lights elsewhere.

- Drew Griffin, CNN Special Investigations Unit Correspondent

Should you stand by your man? Opinions often differ between men and women and they also differ based on your own individual past stories.

Someone who has been burned tends to feel "NO WAY!" and those that have either been the betrayer or know something about having made a mistake and hurt someone, think it's pretty reasonable to stay with your man.

The answer to what you should do is really quite complicated because infidelity can be the symptom of a very sick marriage that once repaired could thrive well.  It's also complicated because despite feelings of betrayal, humiliation, anger and sadness a woman may very well still love this man that she has built a family and a life with. Divorce has tragic consequences both emotional and financial for both partners as well as for the children.

Most marriages do not survive infidelity but some do and in the heat of the discovery is not really the best time to make a decision that will affect all of you for the rest of your lives.  Time to think, to grieve and to get professional help is tremendously valuable.

So in the interim it may appear that a woman is passively standing by her man when in fact she is biding her time and allowing herself to think about what she wants and what is possible for her.

- Dr. Gail Saltz, Psychiatrist

Program note:Dr. Saltz is the author of "Anatomy of a Secret Life."  She is a guest on Wednesday's 360° at 10p ET. 

The details coming out about what soon-to-be former NY Gov. Eliot Spitzer may have been involved in, with whom, and for how long are compelling.  Every time I finish reading one article, a link to another seems to grab my mouse like a magnet. But there are other stories out there, and I thought you may want to learn more about them, too.  So… here goes.

An honors student, vice president of his eighth grade class, suspended for buying a bag of Skittles in school.  I admit, when I first saw this story my initial reaction was, “Give me a break!” But as I read more takes on this tale, my outrage softened a bit.

New Haven, Connecticut, schools banned in-school candy sales in 2003 as part of a wellness program. This (seemingly) model student said he didn’t realize the ban was in place – though his buyer said this Skittles dealer was being secretive – and his mom is now protesting the punishments.

The school cut his suspension from three days down to one, but it’s not budging on a request to give him his class office back.  Should he get the job back? Is New Haven right to ban candy? I have to say, I like hearing about schools limiting unhealthy choices, instead of bringing in soda and “juice” vending machines. FULL STORY

I know nothing is black-and-white, much as we may like it to be, but sometimes, don’t you wish all the bureaucracy could take a hike and decisions could be made simply because it seemed like the right thing to do? Not the politically correct thing, not the trendy thing, not the “this will win me votes” thing, the RIGHT thing. The choice you’d want your kids to make because it means they have a heart. The decision you know in your heart is good and kind; the one that – even if only for a moment – makes you feel like you can make a difference in this world.

Maybe you’ve heard about the Iranian teen asking for asylum because he’s gay.  I saw the headline and my first thought was, “How sad. How sad that this young man needs asylum simply because he is trying to be himself.” Yes, I know it is technically illegal to be gay in Iran.

Of course, I’m not sure why they need that law since there are no homosexuals in Iran. That interesting fact came to light last fall, when Pres. Mahmoud Ahmadiejad was speaking at Columbia and famously told the audience there weren’t any gays in Iran. Not long after, his media folks said what he really meant was they didn’t have as many gays and lesbians as we do in the US. But I digress…

The story today: A gay Iranian teen is seeking asylum in Europe because he says his boyfriend was executed in Iran, after saying the two were involved in a gay relationship. The man’s initial request for asylum in the UK – where he was studying – was denied, so he sought asylum in the Netherlands. Now that request has also been denied, and he could be deported to Britain… and possibly back to Iran. FULL STORY

I thought I misread this on first glance because it sounded too wrong to be true. Southwest Airlines grounded more than 40 planes because of potential structural damage. They flew the jets WITHOUT mandatory inspections… and investigators say there are definitely more than 40 that should not have been in the air.  Southwest is now investigating more than the planes, but all aircraft may be back in service by the end of the day. FULL STORY

With that, I bid you happy trails… see you at 10.

- Erica Hill, 360° Correspondent

By now you've heard that Eliot Spitzer has stepped down as Governor of New York.  But he still could face serious criminal charges, and that got me thinking about prostitution.

I've tried a lot of those cases. And here's what you learn right away: as much as the sex trade is about sex, it’s also about trade. Business. Supply and demand.

Where I practiced law in California, the criminal code is gender neutral. It targets anyone engaged in the commercial sex trade. The girls, their johns, even the pimps when you can catch them.

Not so here in New York where the women involved in prostitution have long been treated more harshly than the men. But Eliot Spitzer changed all that, with a new law that increases penalties for the men who solicit sex.

The thinking?  Cut off demand and supply will dry up.  And that’s the tragic irony. Now, it seems, Governor Spitzer may be one of the very johns his new law seeks to punish. 

- Jami Floyd, “In Session” Anchor/360° Contributor

Read more Jami Floyd blogs on “In Session”

While the nation’s mouths are hanging open at Gov. Eliot Spitzer, every time his public apology airs I can’t take my eyes or my mind off of his poor wife, Silda Wall Spitzer. Why is it that she stood there beside her husband during his public admission yesterday afternoon? It certainly wasn’t to better herself. Gov. Spitzer’s advisors probably deemed the “stand by your man” philosophy necessary, but her presence at her husband’s press conference yesterday only truly benefited Gov. Spitzer, leaving Silda most likely irreparably humiliated. Nobody’s doing damage control in Silda’s camp. While advisors may see it as a team effort, why does that have to trump your personal pride?

Also, I wonder, when did he tell Silda? And what did she think? Gov. Spitzer became the New York Attorney General in 1999 and built his career fighting corporate corruption and investigating prostitution. In fact, in 2004 Gov. Spitzer was part of an investigation that arrested 18 people on charges of promoting prostitution.

This allegation that he repeatedly hired high-end prostitutes is a heavy blow to anyone vowing “till death do us part.”   Even if she is there for him “in sickness and in health,” did Silda have to be at the press conference?

During his apology yesterday, Gov. Spitzer said, "Today I want to briefly address a private matter. I have acted in a way that violates my obligations to my family and violates my, or any, sense of right and wrong. I apologize first and most importantly to my family. I apologize to the public, whom I promised better." But the matter was anything but private, and if you read between the lines, it wasn’t even fully addressed.

But this certainly isn’t the first time a very public male figure has had his wife stand by him during a very humiliating, private matter. To list a few dutiful spouses, there’s Hillary Clinton, Dina McGreevey, Vanessa Bryant (Kobe Bryant’s wife) and Wendy Vitter (wife to Rep. David Vitter).

Dina Matos, the ex-wife of former Gov. Jim McGreevey, stood beside her husband as he announced to the world that he was gay. It makes me wonder, why did she, too, agree to appear at the press conference? In an interview with Oprah, Matos explained: "I thought about it, and I thought, well, I've stood by his side all these years. We have a daughter together, and one day she's going to hear about this or read about it, and she's going to ask me, 'Mommy, why weren't you at Daddy's side?'" she said. "So I was there for my daughter's father. And I also had nothing to hide. I had done nothing wrong."

That’s right—if you’ve done nothing wrong—why are you at the press conference? 

Gov. Spitzer said, “I apologize first and most importantly to my family. I apologize to the public, whom I promised better."  No question about that. My Nigerian cab driver told me how he had written a note to Gov. Spitzer years ago, when Spitzer was attorney general.  “I was a nobody and his office answered me back right away.”  He told me his “heart hurt” thinking about the governor’s now-most-likely ruined career. 

But his wife, standing by his side in that awkward non-informational press conference? After her public humiliation, he said, that was just a mean thing to make her do.

-Soledad O’Brien, CNN Anchor

Hurt. Upset. Confused. Like a punch in the gut. That’s how one of Eliot Spitzer’s political allies and friends described his reaction to the news of the New York Governor’s alleged link to a prostitution ring.

He told me he’s still reeling, and still trying to make sense of it all.  Remember, Spitzer is the guy who went after Wall Street and big business for “the little guy”; he was a champion of The People.  He brought down prostitution rings.  He talked about responsibility of government, of lawmakers, of citizens; he built his campaign on that… and on ethics. 

And one man says we all should have seen this fall coming.  Charlie Gasparino, author of “King of the Club: Richard Grasso and the Survival of the New York Stock Exchange,” covered Spitzer’s Wall Street crusades and says the signs were always there.  Characterizing him as “holier than thou,” this afternoon Gasparino also told me Spitzer had “the zealot’s gleam” in his eye, and that lawmaker “always thought he was above it all.”

If it was so obvious, why did everyone seem to miss the signs?

- Erica Hill, 360° Correspondent 

Program note: Tonight on 360° Erica Hill takes a closer look at Gov. Spitzer with some of the people who thought they knew him the best.

Editor's note: Robert Weiss is founder and Executive Director of The Sexual Recovery Institute, an outpatient Sexual Addiction and Sexual Offender treatment program in Los Angeles. We asked for his thoughts on the reckless behavior attributed to New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer.

While some healthy narcissism is required to become a public figure and live in the limelight, narcissistic people whose personalities are not tempered by some humility and humanity quickly show the ego’s dark side of arrogance, secrecy, lack of empathy, sociopathy and addiction.

Eliot Spitzer’s problems clearly go beyond his current legal-political crisis and the toll being taken on his wife, daughters and family life.  If the allegations prove true, Spitzer’s entitled choice – like Bill Clinton, Larry Craig and other public figures before him - to use intense, hidden and illegal sexual liaisons is an attempt to meet some deeper unknown and unmet emotional need of his own.

And it has set him on a course to personal and professional ruin:

- Choosing a casual sexual hook-up despite being committed to long-term monogamy indicates a lack personal integrity and is guaranteed to put up an emotional wall between you and your partner.

- Choosing to frequently and continuously seek sexual hook-ups outside of your monogamous relationship, while lying about the behavior, either means that you have no respect or appreciation of your partnership OR that you have an emotional problem.

Hopefully he will be smart enough to take heed now and get the help he so clearly needs. By doing that, his downfall could also sow some seeds toward redemption if he is willing to learn from his mistakes.

But first the Governor would need to be less myopically focused on saving his job and more attentive to his own emotional and personal life.  One act of good faith on his part might be to leave his struggling wife at home in the difficult days to come and take his public lumps like a man.

- Robert Weiss LCSW, CSAT

www.sexualrecovery.com

Program note: Robert Weiss will be a guest on tonight's 360° at 10p ET

New York State Gov. Eliot Spitzer is joined by his wife Silda as he makes a statement to reporters during a news conference following a report that he was involved in a prostitution ring

It is time to do away with the wronged wife standing mute next to her man, as he publicly humiliates her and confesses to cheating on her. 

Let him stand alone and apologize. 

She is not a potted plant.  She is not an object, an accessory to his political career.  She is a flesh and blood human being who was disrespected once during her husband's cheating, and now is victimized a second time by being made to stand silently by him.

I watched Dana McGreevey speak movingly on Larry King Live last night of why she made that choice.  She loved her husband.  She was not in on all the closed door meetings leading up to the press conference.  She was asked to appear at his side, and she did, because she continued to want the best for him and for the marriage.

I get that, and my heart goes out to Dana McGreevey.  As a personal choice, I respect her decision. 

But political spouses have a vital public role too, and they know their appearances and choices matter enormously, which is why they carefully choose what causes they'll support and what they'll wear to state dinners.  

What political wives choose to do about their marriages once their husband is caught in a sex scandal is a private matter. 

But appearing right next to their husband days after he's been caught with his pants down is a public humiliation, unworthy of women in public life in 2008. 

I'm sick of watching the Stepford Wife gaze, sick of explaining to my daughter that women deserve better.

A doormat is not a role model.

- Lisa Bloom, “In Session” Anchor/360° Contributor

Read more Lisa Bloom blogs on “In Session”

Bill Clinton, David Vitter, Gary Hart, Jim McGreevey, Larry Craig, and now Eliot Spitzer.  A partial list of recent high profile politicians embroiled in sex scandals.

Name a prominent female politician caught in a sex scandal.  (Being a victim of a husband's philandering doesn't count.)

I'll wait.

- Lisa Bloom, “In Session” Anchor/360° Contributor

Read more Lisa Bloom blogs on “In Session”

There's the sex, of course. But there are also the suspicious money transfers to a shell corporation, and then the sheriff of Wall Street himself allegedly caught speaking on a federal wiretap. 

How does a man who made himself the nation's most feared prosecutor trip himself up so easily, completely, repeatedly on the tools of his own trade?

Everyone's talking about power and sex, of course.. But Elliot Spitzer's case also raises other questions. For example, does hubris makes you sloppy, or even stupid?  Does being a straight arrow your whole life make you more likely to shoot yourself in the rear one day?

And on some level, did he want to get caught–or was he just enjoying getting away with it?

- Barclay Palmer, 360° Senior Producer

Eliot Spitzer seems to be the latest in the long list of politicians who appear to be champions of morality publicly, while privately struggle with some very amoral urges.

Every person has secret fantasies.  Many of these fantasies are quite normal and even healthy.  There is a big difference between having fantasies or thoughts and acting on them.  This means that it is normal too to have fantasies that you would never dream of acting on because the behavior would be morally reprehensible to you.

What happens then when you feel your thoughts are wrong? What happens when the urge to act on a morally bad thought is strong and it makes you anxious and guilty? Can this lead to a career of fighting the very urges you struggle with?

A tremendously conflicted thought or fantasy which is unexamined and suppressed has a lot of power.  Power to make you behave in ways you normally would not act.

In addition, the mind tries extremely hard to deny such thoughts exist.  This is the set up for creating a man who seems to be leading a secret life.  Craig, Foley, Baker and McGreevy... all pillars of society who seemed to be the champions of a highly moral cause and all using their positions to conceal urges to break the very rules they espouse.

- Dr. Gail Saltz, Psychiatrist

Program note: Dr. Saltz is the author of "Anatomy of a Secret Life."  She is a guest on Monday's 360° at 10p ET. 

New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer essentially told the world today that he cheated on his wife. And right there over his right shoulder was the wife.

When Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick told residents of the city that he did indeed have an affair with his chief of staff, he did so holding hands with his wife in their church.

When New Jersey Gov. James McGreevey told us about his adulterous affair with a man, and that he was gay, his then-wife, Dina, was right there.

Why don't these women tell these idiots to go tell the world themselves?  I know the political consultants always tell the wives to "stand by your man," because it looks better for the public to see a family standing firm.

At least Bill Clinton got this right.  After giving his deposition in the Paula Jones lawsuit, he spoke to the nation, alone, admitting to what was reported.

If a man commits such a sin in darkness, and it comes to light, let him have the burden of telling the world.

- Roland S. Martin, CNN Contributor

www.rolandsmartin.com

I met Eliot Spitzer in the fall of 1984.  I was a first-year student at Harvard Law School; he was a second-year.  My criminal law professor was Alan Dershowitz, who was involved in a fascinating extracurricular activity.

He was representing Claus Von Bulow, who had been convicted of trying to murder his wife Sunny, in a sensational trial in Newport, Rhode Island.  Eliot was one of two students who were working as research assistants to Dershowitz, trying to win Von Bulow a new trial on appeal.

From the beginning, there was an odd contrast between Eliot and the Von Bulow case.  The attempted murder trial was a sordid drama, full of tales of illicit drug use and wild sex.  Eliot was the straightest of straight arrows.

He seemed so unlikely to be involved in such a matter.  But Eliot and his good friend Cliff Sloan were precocious and energetic young investigators, and they helped win Von Bulow a new trial; he was later acquitted.

Dershowitz wrote a book about the case, Reversal of Fortune, and it became a terrific movie, starring Jeremy Irons.  There is a composite character in the movie loosely based on Eliot and Cliff.

I’ve seen Eliot Spitzer turn into a prominent national figure in the years since, and we’ve remained friendly acquaintances.  I always got a kick out of the idea that he got his start in such an unseemly drama - which was so different from what his public persona became.

So today’s news is especially shocking to me, and especially sad. 

- Jeffrey Toobin, CNN Sr. Legal Analyst

Today’s breaking news about New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer brought my original News Note to a screeching halt.

Yes, I am still fired up about the AP findings on water (can you get the drugs and chemicals out of the tap water?? Bottled water and rural water weren’t tested… should we be worried?), but these allegations about Gov. Spitzer’s possible involvement in a high-end prostitution ring can’t be ignored.

A lot of jaws dropping when this news broke because of how Sptizer has always portrayed himself – he is the man who went after corruption with a vengeance, and he did it loudly.

As N.Y. Attorney General, he even prosecuted at least two prostitution rings.  If the allegations are true, so many questions tonight, including how long this has been going on, and how he got involved.

As another 360° staffer said earlier, if Spitzer is a part of this scandal, just imagine who else may be listed in those files. This isn’t the type of service you look up in the phone book.

Scandal and power never seem to be far apart. Tonight, I’ll take a look at others who have been burned by their indiscretions and taken that hard fall from grace.

- Erica Hill, 360° Correspondent

In news, expect the unexpected. Always.

Case in point – right now.

Eliot Spitzer, along with his wife Silda, at a news conference today in New York

We lined up a solid show for tonight.  The rundown on the whiteboard has the segments all layed out: Candy Crowley starts things off with the democratic showdown in Mississippi, followed by some smart analysis from our panel of guests.

But then we got wind of the New York Times report on Eliot Spitzer.  Sprinkled in the report were phrases like “prostitution ring” and “canceled his scheduled public events.”

Hmm. Sounds interesting.

Right now, we have no idea what Spitzer is going to say at his hastily called news conference.  We’re being told he’ll make an announcement.

As the story unfolds, we’re going to watch, wait, and determine how to handle it this evening.

- Gabe Falcon, 360° Writer