America is still the land of opportunity. If you had any doubt, look no further than Rudy Giuliani, former mayor of New York.

Here's a man whose checkered marital past reads like a script from Desperate Housewives, but his messy personal life hasn't stopped him from seeking the highest office in the land.

In fact, not only is he running for president, but he's leading in Republican polls.

For those of you who haven't kept up with the Giuliani saga, here's the Reader's Digest version.

Giuliani, 62, famous for the cool head and steadying hand he displayed after the bombing of the World Trade Center, has been to the altar three times.

His first marriage was annulled after 14 years on the grounds that the two were second cousins and failed to get church approval to wed.

His second marriage, to Donna Hanover, produced two children. That marriage ended in 2002, shortly after Giuliani announced - at a press conference - that he wanted a divorce.

According to newspaper accounts, Hanover was caught unaware by her husband's bombshell. She responded in the press by implying that her husband had been having an affair with his former communications director, although both denied it.

In 2003, Giuliani married his third wife, Judith Nathan.

Happy ending?

Hardly. Giuliani's two children haven't forgiven him for humiliating their mother, Hanover, and remain estranged. "Andrew and his sister, Caroline, 17, are expected to be absent from their father's campaign," The New York Times reported this month.

Can a man with this much baggage make it to the White House?

Thousands of supporters think so.

And Giuliani is hardly alone in the dirty-laundry department. Former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich, an unannounced presidential candidate, said recently that he was having an extramarital affair at the same time that he was calling for President Clinton's impeachment over his tryst with Monica Lewinsky.

And there's candidate John McCain, of Arizona, who has apologized for committing adultery in his first marriage. Two weeks ago, McCain told reporters he thinks candidates' personal lives should be off-limits to the press: "I would hope that gossip - or, quote, 'family issues' - would not enter into this campaign."

No doubt he's sincere, but McCain is dreaming if he thinks voters aren't interested in - or aren't entitled to know - how a candidate conducts his personal life, how he treats his family. It goes to his character, the very core of his values.

Candor is a good thing, and sunshine is the best disinfectant.

As Giuliani is apparently proving, Americans either have short memories or are pretty forgiving when it comes to marital missteps. I have to think voters also see themselves reflected in candidates. Divorce is mainstream, and 10 percent of all U.S. households with children under 18 include stepparents, stepsiblings or half-siblings, according to Census figures.

Perhaps we've reached a tipping point at which familial troubles are almost desirable in a candidate because the experience is shared ground with Joe Six-Pack:

"That Giuliani - he's felt my pain. He knows what it's like to pay child support, he knows how it feels to have your kids hate you, what it's like to be married to one woman but in love with another."

You have to believe it's better to know about a candidate's warts upfront. Learning about them after the fact, as we did with John F. Kennedy, leaves a deeper scar.

When you're young, you have a fantasy that the people you admire are perfect. It's depressing to discover all their failings.

But you grow up. You learn to take the bad with the good. It's a hard pill to swallow, but once you accept that great leaders aren't necessarily great role models, life is easier.

mwinte@aol.com