You are sort of right. He was the first to publish it, and it put him on the map, but the rest of the story is that the real heavy lifting was done by people at another news source (Time maybe?) who could not get enough corroboration to have their editors publish it.
So, they gave the story to Drudge and he ran with it.
It was Newsweek and as I remember it they were afraid to go with the story. It was still unconventional at that time to report on presidential love affairs. Also, Drudge still has a link to FR. His links show that he tries to be balanced, but those who go to his site frequently have a feeling for his politics.
He’s called the Internet’s front page.
I love the way he puts inappropriate and sometimes hilarious photos UNDER the news story. Of course they apply to the following story but I get a lot of laughs out of it. It’s not too blatant, just a bit kooky.