The Front Runner

Reasonably well made, but barely scratches the thematic surface

This is a circus. The consequences will extend long past my nomination. The consequences will be with us for decades. This grotesque and coordinated character assassination will dissuade competent and good people of all political persuasions from serving our country.

• Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh; addressing the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary in relation to several accusations of sexual assault (September 27, 2018)

We're all going to have to seriously question the system for selecti__ng our national leaders, that reduces the press of this nation to hunters and presidential candidates to being hunted, that has reporters in bushes, false and inaccurate stories printed, photographers peeking in our windows, swarms of helicopters hovering over our roof and my very strong wife close to tears because she can't even get in her own house at night without being harassed. And then, after all that, ponderous pundits wonder in mock seriousness why some of the best people in this country choose not to run for high office.

• Gary Hart withdrawing from the 1988 Democratic Party presidential primaries after being accused of infidelity (May 8, 1987)

Based on the non-fiction book All the Truth Is Out: The Week Politics Went Tabloid (2014) by Matt Bai, written for the screen by Bai, Jason Reitman (Thank You for Smoking; Juno; Tully) , and Jay Carson (Hilary Clinton's former press secretary), and directed by Reitman, The Front Runner tells the story of Colorado senator Gary Hart's doomed 1988 presidential campaign. The most likely candidate to win the Democratic nomination, Hart's reputation was shattered when a Miami Herald story accused him of an extramarital affair, and only three weeks into his campaign, he withdrew from the race. The film presents the events of those weeks as a seismic turning-point; when political journalism and tabloid sensationalis...