In 1987, a team of reporters discovers President Hart in a compromising situation with a good-looking blonde aboard his private yacht. The blonde will turn out to be Donna Rice, whom the President had met at a New Year's Eve Party the previous December. In a twist seemingly too good to be true from the newsmen's standpoint, the boat bears the name Monkey Business. The story appears in the evening editions of both the Miami Herald and the Washington Post, as well as on the nightly network news programs, and will be picked up the following day by papers throughout America and in foreign countries.

Hart's recklessness in allowing himself to be caught after publicly daring the press to do so proves shocking even to many of his strongest supporters. Previously, he had seemed all but assured of renomination; within days, however, pundits and top Democratic Party officials are openly speculating that he may be forced to drop out of the presidential race. In addition, several Democrats who had previously decided not to challenge the incumbent now begin reconsidering their options; among them are Lloyd Bentsen of Texas, Jesse Jackson, and Massachusetts governor Michael Dukakis.