But the 11th-hour scrutiny of Mr. Bush's arrest record, fair or not, shows that he has not escaped vexing sidetracks as well.
For the Travers Stakes last year and the Wood Memorial last week, New York authorities also put the horses under 72-hour scrutiny but let them stay in their own barns.
The mystery and the consistency may share the same root: Mr. Obama, 47, is the first presidential candidate to come of age during an era of relentless, 24-hour scrutiny.
The bill has now undergone more than 200 hours of scrutiny and had more than 1,000 amendments made to it, amendments that have put patients and the people who know them best at the very heart of the legislation.
In the letter, Clegg praises the Lib Dems for their part in more than 200 hours of scrutiny and more than 1,000 amendments to the health and social care bill, which he said "should guarantee the future of the NHS".
Indeed, while companies still use cameras and phone taps to track down the bad eggs and sometimes even send detectives into the office to poke around for evidence after hours, most scrutiny focuses on computers, the weapon of choice for corporate wrongdoers.
He argues that modern-day parliamentarians are no more "venal or self-serving" than those outside politics, but says they are now subjected to "24-hour media scrutiny" that is far more intrusive than in the past, and is having a corrosive effect on how the public views politics.
He said he gained the most confidence when he removed pitcher Ross Stripling from a no-hitter in his major league debut, with five outs to go, and endured 24 hours of scrutiny and second-guessing only to grow more confident in his decision.
What they often reflect is not so much a psychic transaction between sitter and artist, as the sheer tedium of submitting oneself to the painter's constant scrutiny, hour after hour, in the studio light.
The authorities raided a factory in El Monte, about 12 miles east of downtown Los Angeles, on Aug. 2, 1995, and found workers who had been held against their will and forced to work for less than 60 cents an hour under the scrutiny of 24-hour guards.
During a half hour of intense scrutiny Nigel Farage was at times tetchy, even angry.
