IE 11 is not supported. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser.

Author: Spitzer sank own presidency

Six years ago, when the Democratic Party talked about rising stars who were presidential timber, the first name that came up on most lists wasn’t Barack Obama.It was Eliot Spitzer. “He was an enormous force. He was probably the most powerful public official outside of Washington,” author Peter Elkind told TODAY’s Ann Curry Monday in New York. He was, Elkind added, on a path to become the f
/ Source: TODAY contributor

Six years ago, when the Democratic Party talked about rising stars who were presidential timber, the first name that came up on most lists wasn’t Barack Obama.

It was Eliot Spitzer.

“He was an enormous force. He was probably the most powerful public official outside of Washington,” author Peter Elkind told TODAY’s Ann Curry Monday in New York. He was, Elkind added, on a path to become the first Jewish president of the United States.

Spitzer’s world and career came crashing down in a prostitution scandal in 2008. The man who had gone from New York’s attorney general to governor was forced to resign in disgrace.

Elkind chronicles how it all went wrong in his newly published book, “Rough Justice: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer.”

“There’s no question this was absolute insanity,” Elkind said when Curry asked why a sitting governor would take the enormous risk of patronizing high-end escorts. “It was absolute lunacy.”

But even so, Elkind did not rule out the 50-year-old Spitzer, who has been working to repair his image, from running for office again.

‘You must be Superman!’

Spitzer was so addicted to prostitutes, Elkind writes, that he once ordered up three in the same afternoon, using the pseudonym “George Fox.” Although Spitzer denies the story, Elkind stands by it.