See Spitzer stumble

ALBANY - He was once untouchable. “Eliot Ness” declared the tabloids.

Time magazine called Eliot Spitzer “Crusader of the Year,” while People called him one of the sexiest politicians alive. Comedy Central's Stephen Colbert called him “the golden boy” and the world's most powerful capitalists called him right back.

Before he was elected governor, Democrats, Republicans, conservatives and liberals loved the two-term attorney general: This new, tough-on-crime, fiscally conservative Democrat who for eight years policed the world's financial markets to protect the little guy. His father, millionaire real estate developer Bernard Spitzer, boldly told a magazine his son would be the first Jewish president. No one laughed. As far back as 2005, Fortune said he could be a presidential contender, and a gaggle of reporters and photographers tracked him at the 2004 Democratic National Convention.