One strange thing about these serial sordid trysts in the news (not to mention the 1990s scandals) is the apparent absence of prophylactics during sexual congress — odd, since a three-decade-old government campaign to insist on them was always predicated on “education” and “awareness.” But in the cases of the Rev. Jesse Jackson, John Edwards, and Arnold Schwarzenegger, their extramarital hook-ups led to pregnancies, and the preliminary and tabloid “physical” evidence surrounding the Strauss-Kahn episode seems to show yet another lack of such concern. Factor in Eliot Spitzer’s use of prostitutes, and I think a new campaign either about safe sex or proper background discretion in the selection of partners should be targeted at politicians, multimillionaires, and those with advanced degrees in law. I mean, if a prominent minister, a former VP candidate, and the governors of the two largest states seem to show little worry for themselves or their spouses, how is the message of safe sex and proper awareness of risk to be taken seriously? And lest we forget, the former “AIDS czar” (and deputy secretary of state) Randall Tobias was caught serially frequenting a Washington, D.C. madam. All this sort of sounds like a sexual version of the Treasury secretary, House Ways and Means chairman, attorney general, labor secretary, and would-be HHS secretary either not paying their full family tax obligations or paying them late.