Did you watch the now-canceled series named “Shark”? The one with James Woods? And did you notice the striking woman who played the district attorney?
No? OK, perhaps you watch “Two and a Half Men” and remember the episode when the nebbishy Alan character (played by Jon Cryer) dated a woman who previously had dated his sexually rapacious brother, Charlie (Charlie Sheen)? Or you saw “Boston Public” and recall the burned-out female lawyer who had become a teacher?
Anyway, “that woman” is an actress named Jeri Ryan … and she may be the reason Barack Obama becomes the next president of the United States.
I increasingly am struck by the randomness of history. How this or that seemingly small or trivial event can change … everything. The whole “for want of a shoe the horse was lost” thing.
Jeri Ryan was in the middle of one of those moments.
In 1991, beauty queen Jeri Zimmermann married a banker and aspiring politician named Jack Ryan. They had a child and were divorced in 1999. It was an unpleasant divorce, as most are.
Jump forward to 2004, Jack Ryan was the Republican candidate for Senate from Illinois, running to replace a retiring Republican. He was considered a strong candidate.
But then the child-custody records from Ryan’s 1999 divorce from his actress wife became, unusually, a matter of public record, after a suit was brought by a Chicago newspaper.
And those custody-case records were a bombshell (as we say in journalism).
Quoting on-line encyclopedia wikipedia here (and, yes, I know wikipedia isn’t a paragon of accuracy): “It was revealed that, six years previously, Jeri had accused Jack Ryan of asking her to perform sexual acts with him in public, and in adult clubs in New York, New Orleans and Paris. Jeri Ryan described one as ‘a bizarre club with cages, whips and other apparatus hanging from the ceiling.'”
Jack Ryan denied these allegations. Although Jeri Ryan refused to comment on the matter during the campaign, the document disclosure led Jack Ryan to withdraw his Republican candidacy for an open U.S. Senate seat in Illinois (which was eventually won by … )
Eventually won by, yes, Barack Obama. Who got to run against last-minute candidate Alan Keyes, instead of the more formidable Ryan, and who thrashed Keyes by 40 percentage points … and who used that Senate seat as a springboard to his current presidential aspirations.
It’s just weird. I see Jeri Ryan on TV, and I can’t help but think, “She’s the reason anyone outside of Chicago has heard of Barack Obama.”
Actually, I don’t know that; Illinois gave 55 percent of its vote to Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry in 2004, and maybe Obama would have beaten an scandal-free Jack Ryan. For sure, Obama was going to beat poor Alan Keyes.
In 2008, the presidential campaign is a hot one, being dissected and pulled apart for examination from every direction. I bring up Jeri Ryan only because I haven’t personally heard anyone make the connection from “actress” to “White House.”
I’ll go back to sports with the next post. I promise.
2 responses so far ↓
1 Mike Rappaport // May 26, 2008 at 12:07 PM
It happens, Paul. Remember Donna Rice? She might be the reason EITHER Bush became president, knocking Gary Hart out of the 1988 race.
2 seftiri // May 26, 2008 at 5:09 PM
“I bring up Jeri Ryan only because I haven’t personally heard anyone make the connection from “actress†to “White House.—
Did you try Googling her name and Mr. Obama’s? Because over the past six months I have seen more than 50 Internet articles on the connection between Jeri Ryan and Barack Obama, some accurate and some so very not. Your post is accurate factually, I am happy to say.
Though I fail to see how she is a major player in the whole 2004 campaign issue for Jack Ryan. Other than divorcing her husband and sealing those divorce records in 1999, Jeri did nothing. A journalist sued to open those sealed records and both Jeri and Jack counter-sued to keep them sealed. They lost.
It seems to me that the person/persons who are most directly responsible for Jack Ryan’s campaign problems are the journalist who sued to open the divorce records and the judge who allowed it to happen. Jeri only divorced her husband and petitioned for primary custody of her son. These are routine legal actions when a marriage fails. Only her fame, Jack’s fame and the accusations against him make those divorce records at all noteworthy.
Does anyone even remember the name of the journalist who sued to open those sealed divorce records? No, because he or she isn’t famous in the same way. So it’s easier, I guess, to point a finger at Jeri and say “She’s the reason.” But “easy” and “noteworthy” don’t always equal “justified.”
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