Update: The word on the

Update: The word on the street is that Walter Mondale has cashed in approximately $6 million in stock options on shares of United Health Group, the HMO on whose board of directors he has served for several years. This is potentially explosive because Mondale’s wealth has come not as the result of many years of hard work, but rather by selling his name and attending a few board meetings. In short, this appears to be exactly the kind of sweetheart deal that is fairly characterized as “crony capitalism.” This has the potential to be the issue that blows Mondale’s candidacy sky-high. We will be on top of the issue as the facts develop.