37 Facts About Gary Hart

1. In January 2000, Gary Hart revealed that he is the political thriller writer John Blackthorn, whose books include Sins of the Fathers and I, Che Guevara.

2. Gary Hart is the second former US Senator to hold the post.

3. Gary Hart has written or co-authored numerous books and articles, including five well-received novels.

4. In 2006, Gary Hart accepted an endowed professorship at the University of Colorado at Denver.

5. Gary Hart founded the American Security Project in 2007 and he started a new blog in 2009.

6. Gary Hart wrote, "In fact, we do have an energy policy: It's to continue to import more than half our oil and sacrifice American lives so we can drive our Humvees.

7. Gary Hart linked American energy policy with national security in an essay published in November 2007.

8. Gary Hart is an Advisory Board member for the Partnership for a Secure America, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to recreating the bipartisan center in American national security and foreign policy.

9. Gary Hart is the author of James Monroe, part of the Times Books series on American presidents published in October 2005.

10. Gary Hart is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

11. Gary Hart met with aviation executives in Montreal, Canada, on September 5, 2001, to warn of terrorist attacks.

12. Gary Hart competed in the New Hampshire primary and received 4,888 votes, about 4 percent.

13. New York Times opined that some compared Gary Hart's press conference to Richard Nixon's "Last Press Conference" of November 7, 1962, in which Nixon blamed the media for his loss in the 1962 California gubernatorial election and did not take responsibility for his own actions.

14. On May 8, 1987, a week after the story broke, Gary Hart suspended his campaign after the Washington Post threatened to run a story about a woman Hart had dated while separated from his wife, and his wife and daughter became similar subjects of interest for tabloid journalists.

15. Gary Hart insisted that his interest in Rice was limited to her working as a campaign aide.

16. Gary Hart had refused to take money from Political Action Committees, and as a result he mortgaged his house to self-finance his campaign, and was more than $1 million in debt at the end of the campaign.

17. Gary Hart could not overcome Mondale's financial and organizational advantages, especially among labor union leaders in the Midwest and industrial Northeast.

18. Gary Hart instantly became the main challenger to Mondale for the nomination and appeared to have the momentum on his side.

19. At the time of his announcement, Gary Hart was a little-known senator and barely received above 1 percent in the polls against better-known candidates such as Walter Mondale, John Glenn and Jesse Jackson.

20. In February 1983, during his second term, Gary Hart announced his candidacy for president in the 1984 presidential election.

21. Gary Hart cosponsored the Semiconductor Chip Protection Act of 1984 with Senator Charles Mathias, which was signed into law.

22. On December 2, 1981, Gary Hart was one of only four senators to vote against an amendment to President Reagan's MX missiles proposal that would divert the silo system by $334 million as well as earmark further research for other methods that would allow giant missiles to be based.

23. Gary Hart served as the chairman of Senate Subcommittee on Nuclear Regulation.

24. Gary Hart was aided by Colorado's trend toward Democrats during the early 1970s, as well as Dominick's continued support for the unpopular President Richard Nixon and concerns about the senator's age and health.

25. Gary Hart was special assistant to the solicitor of the United States Department of the Interior from 1965 to 1967.

26. Gary Hart became an attorney for the United States Department of Justice from 1964 to 1965, and was admitted to the Colorado and District of Columbia bars in 1965.

27. Gary Hart met his wife, Oletha "Lee" Ludwig, there, and they married in 1958.

28. Gary Hart was born in Ottawa, Kansas, the son of Nina and Carl Riley Hartpence, a farm equipment salesman.

29. Gary Hart has written several books, including a biography of President James Monroe.

30. Gary Hart earned a doctorate in politics from the University of Oxford and has written for outlets such as the Huffington Post.

31. Gary Hart re-entered the race in December 1987 but withdrew from the race again after faring poorly in the early primaries.

32. Gary Hart was widely viewed as the front-runner until reports surfaced of an extramarital affair, and Hart withdrew from the race in May 1987.

33. Gary Hart declined to seek re-election to the Senate in 1986 and sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 1988.

34. Gary Hart sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984, narrowly losing the race to former Vice President Walter Mondale.

35. Gary Hart managed Senator George McGovern's successful campaign for the 1972 Democratic presidential nomination and McGovern's unsuccessful general election campaign against President Richard Nixon.

36. Gary Hart represented Colorado in the United States Senate from 1975 to 1987.

37. Gary Hart was the front-runner for the 1988 Democratic presidential nomination until he dropped out over allegations of an extramarital affair.