Betsy McCaughey, a policy wonk, shotgunned to fame by savaging Hillary Clinton's health-care plan in the New Republic. She caught the eye of New York's Republican gubernatorial candidate George Pataki, who made her his running mate for his successful 1994 campaign. Ross married McGaughey in 1995. He invested in a chain of New York free daily newspapers, which, it was presumed, he would use to advance the career of his inamorata. His wife proceeded to show that even a politician named Betsy Ross can foul things up. She soon fell out with Pataki. (On one weird occasion, she stood up behind him during his entire State of the State address.) In 1998, she decided to run against Pataki and sought the Democratic nomination for governor. At first, Wilbur Ross funded her quixotic and disastrous campaign. An expert in bad businesses, he understood that every enterprise reaches the point when more money is a waste. He yanked the campaign funding and filed for divorce soon after.