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   The following editorial appeared in the Dallas Morning News Wednesday, Nov. 14:

   There's a good reason the recent controversies surrounding front-running presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Rudolph Giuliani matter more than they may initially appear. For most voters, politics is less about rationally choosing candidates based on policy positions and more about picking whose overall appeal strikes a resonant chord.

   Political consultants Matthew Dowd, a Republican, and Doug Sosnik, a Democrat, call this making a "gut values connection." Clinton's slip-ups and Giuliani's dodgy friendships risk highlighting voter doubts about their character and judgment.

   She may be riding high atop the Democratic polls, but Clinton suffers from high negative ratings with the general public. Many see her as controlling and manipulative - a legacy of her husband's White House tenure, in which the term "Clintonian" came to describe a particularly slick, lawyerly way of conducting politics.

   The mini-scandal over candidate questions that Clinton campaign staffers planted among Iowa rally-goers reinforces suspicions Clinton is willing to behave dishonestly for political gain. She's done a creditable job shedding the negative baggage of her husband's presidency; she cannot afford to have her character and credibility held up to question.

   Giuliani, whose lead is much narrower nationwide, has less room for error. Yet his close association with indicted former New York Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik could hurt him. That, and the discomfiting fact that Giuliani employs an old friend who was suspended from the Catholic priesthood after sex abuse allegations, calls his judgment into question.

   To his credit, Giuliani last week acknowledged his Kerik "mistake," indicating that he's learned from President Bush's politically deleterious refusal to admit error. But has Giuliani learned from the president's more consequential mistake: valuing personal loyalty over more substantive qualities? His opponents will surely keep the question open.

   The political is, for better or worse, personal. Giuliani and Clinton are two of the strongest personalities in the 2008 race. This past week, though, these New Yorkers' personalities have exposed potential weaknesses. Primary balloting is just weeks away; time for both campaigns to do a political gut-check.

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   (c) 2007, The Dallas Morning News

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