Todd Palin Affair Rumors Could Damage Sarah Palin's Political Career

The National Enquirer broke the story about Todd Palin having an affair with a massage therapist. The story hit the National Enquirer website on Jan. 20 and ignited a firestorm of other well-known websites quoting that story.

The massage therapist Palin is rumored to have had affair with is Shailey Tripp. Tripp was arrested in March 2010 with running a house of prostitution. It is within that investigation that law enforcement officials confiscated physical items, which directly tie Sarah Palin's husband to Tripp. Tenants of the building where Tripp had her office reported seeing Todd Palin often.

Neither Sarah Palin nor her husband Todd has commented on the National Enquirer story. However, this may have already damaged her political career. In the recent past, the public has learned just what rumors of extra martial affairs can do to a political career.

A story on Yahoo! News reveals a short list of politicians who were involved in cheating and prostitution. The article shows how it ruined careers of those politicians spotlighted. Eliot Spitzer a former governor in New York frequented a woman Ashley Dupre who was involved in prostitution. His political run is over now, destroyed by this involvement. The D.C. Madam named several big names in Washington among her clients in 2007. Randall Tobias Administrator in the Agency for International Development was forced to resign when his name appeared on the DC Madam's list of clients.

Infidelity seems to end some political careers and in other cases, it propels the politicians into the spotlight and up the ladder of success. In the real world affairs are the stuff divorces are made of, yet in the political arena this is not always the case. It is unclear if the Palin affair will destroy their marriage but in an article dated Nov. 11, 2009, the website Alaska Report stated that the couple had split because of affairs back at that time. That report stated the couple had already split according to multiple sources.

Will the rumors of Sarah Palin's husband ruin her career? That remains to be seen but it certainly has not been the case for all politicians who are married and have a cheating spouse. Former President Bill Clinton who is rumored to have had sexual relations with interns and other women during his presidency remained in office. His wife Hillary Clinton remains in the public eye as Secretary of State and a 2008 presidential candidate. Rumors of his affairs still linger yet they are not hurting her career, although they might have damped his career.