Why would going to a strip club hurt you politically?
Bruce was giving a speech and Boxer's thugs verbally attacked him and had television video cameras recording everything for maximum saturation. It was a setup. The Dems were winning everywhere, but Bruce had inched ahead. To them the end always justifies the means, and they have the press to amplify, attack, or knock down whatever they want.
Bruce barely lost. He was the strongest member of the GOP ticket in 1992, an unabashed conservative and one of the nicest people in the world. Boxer is a shrew. Words cannot describe this loud, brazen witch. Enough conservatives probably stayed home to push Boxer across. Clinton and Feinstein won in wipeouts. They didn't need to cheat unless you count Perot being in the race as deliberately helpful to Clinton.
“Why would going to a strip club hurt you politically?”
It killed Herschenson. He was running somewhat ahead in the polls and tanked in the two or three days after the revelations. Of course the Old Media ran them 24/7.
And allegations of immorality hurt conservatives more than they hurt dems. Noone expects moral behavior out of dems.