Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Joining him was Sherry Rowlands, a call girl with whom he had allegedly been enjoying a yearlong relationship. Unbeknownst to Morris, in mid-July Rowlands, who had grown disenchanted with the rumpled New Yorker, had been trying to sell the story of her affair to the Star tabloid.
It had it all: illicit sex, a description of Morris sucking her toes, accounts of the consultant blabbing White House secrets--like the discovery of life on Mars--and even letting her listen in on calls to the president. But Gooding wanted more. The lure wasn't just Rowlands but her dog, too. Rowlands brought her cuddly Yorkshire terrier to the hotel. Morris was eager to meet the dog, and, as a notorious Francophile, he had even suggested a French name for the pet-- Bijou, meaning jewel.
When Rowlands opened the door to the balcony and let the dog scamper out, she followed, and so did Morris. He stood on the balcony, kissing and fondling Rowlands and playing with the pooch--unaware that Gooding and a Star photographer were on the rooftop of an adjacent hotel. Later, Rowlands and Morris emerged; he was sporting one of the hotel's terry-cloth robes.
Throughout it all, the photographer snapped away. For good measure, Gooding captured the two on video. When the story broke, Morris quit, denouncing Star-but not directly denying the account. The Jefferson sting was no ordinary stakeout. Morris, a denizen of the murky world of political consultants who's worked for both Democrats and Republicans, had become the architect of President Clinton's re-election strategy.
At 48, Morris was a recluse, dodging camera crews and refusing to give on-the-record interviews. He would spend the working week in Washington, staying at the Jefferson, and return home to his wife, Eileen McGann, in suburban Connecticut on the weekends. Morris had used polling and his conservative instincts to push the president to the popular center following the Republican sweep in But Morris made important enemies--including White House aides George Stephanopoulos and Harold Ickes--who disagreed with Morris's politics and found him annoying.
