Before announcing his campaign to become Mississippi’s governor, state Rep. Robert Foster made a commitment to his wife, Heather. He’d follow the “Billy Graham Rule” — which, in his words, means avoiding “any situation that may evoke suspicion or compromise of our marriage.”
His personal policy, which is also used by Vice President Mike Pence, presented a problem for Mississippi Today reporter Larrison Campbell. Citing "the optics," Foster declined Campbell's request for a 15-hour ride along, unless she brought a male colleague. Campbell and her editor objected on the grounds that it was sexist, and it prevented her from completing a story assignment about the Republican contenders for governor.