Zorn reports on the Hull Campaign reaction to the Trib’s request to release the forms:
Your request… enters into Blair and Brenda’s most personal and private lives, and affects not only Blair and Brenda, but their children as well. These, and other family members, who are not public figures, need to be advised of your request, and their privacy concerns must be considered. It will take until Monday to give everyone in both families the opportunity to consider their options and be apprised of their rights
Eric reinterprets it as evidence of stalling. Perhaps, perhaps not. Eitehr way, giving Monday as a deadline is actually promising. Instead of drawing it out, they give a statement that effectively kills the story until more information is available. Either they won’t release which keeps the story alive, or they do and the story lasts probably not much more than a cycle with full disclosure.
Now let me give my lecture to people considering entering the political realm at the Congress or above level (and even lower if you are going to face a tough race). Be ready for your life to be public. Don’t like it? Get over it or don’t run. Before you get very far, find a political professional and confess your sins. Tell them everything. Then plan how to release any embarrassing information before it comes out by the press. That way, you can control the story.
The worst thing is to let it hang there for a while or surprise you at the last minute. We are still talking about the President’s military record four years later and on the eve of the election a DUI from 25 years ago came out. Now which was worse? Releasing it in 1994 during his first run for Governor or the public finding out just before the election? I thought so.