I need to decide if I care that Kamala Harris's husband cheated on his first wife.

I'm going to read the NYT article on the topic, live blog my reading, and come to a conclusion.

The article is "Doug Emhoff, Husband of Kamala Harris, Acknowledges Long-Ago Affair/The relationship with a teacher at his children’s elementary school occurred when he was married to his first wife, years before he met Ms. Harris."

A couple thoughts prior to reading the text:

1. Emhoff is the spouse of the candidate, and the opposing candidate — we've long known — cheated on his first wife. He also seems to have done some other cheating, perhaps a lot — more than I even want to waste my time to figure out.

2. Is the spouse of the President — the First Lady/Gentleman — supposed to be a symbol of purity? Does the old-fashioned demand for higher purity in women transfer to a man when he's in the classic "First Lady" position? I got distracted wondering who was the sluttiest First Lady, then annoyed by the answer the internet fed me: Melania Trump. Stupid internet mixes up sexual activity and posing nude. 

Now, let's read:

Doug Emhoff, the husband of Vice President Kamala Harris, said on Saturday that he had an extramarital affair during his first marriage, years before he met Ms. Harris....

That last phrase is key. What he did has nothing to do with her and very little to do with the man he is now. 

... with a teacher who worked at the elementary school his children attended in Culver City, Calif., approximately 15 years ago. At the time, Mr. Emhoff, an entertainment lawyer, was married to Kerstin Emhoff, a film producer, with whom he had two children....

First, one must think of the children. It's sad that they lost the mother-with-father home, but we don't know the details of the atmosphere within that home. Maybe it was a wreck in the intact form. We can't know. Second, there's something about a man switching from his high-powered-career wife — if that's what she was — and attaching to a woman in a more traditional, more feminine role — here, a woman who worked with young children.  

“During my first marriage, Kerstin and I went through some tough times on account of my actions,” Mr. Emhoff said in the statement. “I took responsibility, and in the years since, we worked through things as a family and have come out stronger on the other side.”...

Well, good. I'm glad he didn't try to say what I was willing to imagine, that the marriage was already irreparably broken. He took the whole blame onto himself and, if what he says is true, worked to make amends. I hope that worked out for the 2 children by his marriage to Kerstin. I just checked his Wikipedia page, and it only lists 2 children. What happened to the other child? Did he "work through" his fatherhood with that child? Wait. I'm relying on extraneous information. This article hasn't yet mentioned that the other woman became pregnant.

In the years since their divorce, Mr. Emhoff and his ex-wife have frequently referred to each other as friends, and they have said they have worked to raise their children with Ms. Harris, whom they call a “co-parent.”...

It's good of Harris to handle this well... at least well enough to be able to present a happy enough face to the public. It's not easy to be a step-parent. 

“Doug and I decided to end our marriage for a variety of reasons, many years ago,” Ms. Emhoff said [on Saturday]. “He is a great father to our kids, continues to be a great friend to me and I am really proud of the warm and supportive blended family Doug, Kamala and I have built together.”...

That's a very packaged statement, but it does show she's at least willing to help the campaign. She's not the most bitter ex-wife in the world, but she might be acting entirely out of hope and ambition for her children. I can't know. And I don't much care. 

Okay. I've read it all. There was nothing about the impregnation. I must have seen that elsewhere. I said I was only going to read this article, but I've got to do this one shred of outside research. I'd seen headlines like this, in the NY Post: "Kamala Harris’ husband Doug Emhoff admits to cheating on first wife after bombshell report he impregnated nanny." I guess the NYT did not find that "fit to print." The NY Post says:

[The other woman], who taught at a private school attended by their two kids.... did not keep the baby, a close friend with direct knowledge of the affair and pregnancy told The Daily Mail. It’s unclear what, exactly, the friend meant....

Yeah, [the other woman] is entitled to her privacy. There are at least 3 ways that she might have failed to "keep the baby," and it's an inappropriate imposition on her to try to find out. Or do you want to know if Emhoff pressured her into getting an abortion? You're not going to find out, and I'm only going so far as to print that question because I'm sure it will be raised in the comments. I took out the woman's name.

My conclusion: None of this impinges on the question whether Kamala Harris should be elected President.