A yearbook photo from the 1980s is fatal. Northam's case is complicated by his own fumbled response to it, which is another reason not to vote for him. But I've seen several interviews with black voters in Virginia who think too much is made of this and Northam's political career speaks for itself in terms of his policies towards minorities. A couple of interviews is not a representative sample of course, but as a society we are still figuring out how to deal with stuff like this.

Even very recently we were more forgiving of kids being stupid kids and becoming better, more responsible adults. Remember W putting his pre-1980 behaviors off limits for discussion? At the time that was only 20 years before - we were ok with it as a country. Now, many dems feel a need to hand down political death sentences over yearbook pics from more than 35 years ago. I think we need to find some balance. If we're limiting our candidates to only those who've led crystal clear pristine lives, we're gonna get a lot of holier than thou, a lot of puritanical, a lot of people who didn't get the benefits of surviving the recklessness of youth, a lot of lost benefits from real world life lessons.

Our potential pool of candidates will get even worse than it is now.