Back when I was 22, all hearts were a-flutter over Gary Hart (1984). He was speaking to us young people and was primed to be the first yuppie president (in fact the word yuppie was first coined during his campaign). He was the "Big Chill" candidate who was going to change everything.
For a while, it seemed that Hart was going to beat out Mondale for the nomination but he was really being primed for the 1988 race (as nobody was going to beat Reagan that year).
We all know what happened next. Donna Rice and the "Monkey Business". Such a scandal at the time. Had Gary Hart waited 10 more years, nobody would have cared. His timing was bad.
Hart made the mistake of telling the media to follow him around, so they did.