No Kiss of Death

The city's mayor, riding a wave of unprecedented popularity, suddenly was hit with one of the oldest indiscretions in politics. His long marriage was in trouble. Worse, the faithful wife had filed for divorce. Worse still, there was another woman. Tony Castro in the Daily News.

For the man once regarded as a front-runner to succeed the incumbent governor and possibly even reach a national office, the future was in crisis-control mode.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa?

Not quite. The man in trouble was then-New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, now the front-runner among Republican presidential candidates - showing there can be political success even after divorce, infidelity and scandal.

"Giuliani broke the mold," said national political watcher Steve Benen, who writes for Washington Monthly magazine. "Giuliani marched in a St. Patrick's Day parade with his mistress and then announced that he was getting a divorce in a press conference - before his wife knew anything about it."

That candidates have been able to overcome the stigma of infidelity should encourage Villaraigosa backers and give pause to naysayers who suggest that Villaraigosa's marital breakup - and subsequent admission that he is seeing another woman - could dim his rising political star.