Rice met former Senator Gary Hart at a 1986-87 New Year's Eve Party at the Aspen, Colorado home of her then boyfriend, rocker Don Henley. Rice later met Hart in Miami, and stated that she was "very interested in getting into fund raising". Soon after meeting Rice, Hart announced that he would run for the nomination as the Democratic candidate for president. Having enjoyed a surprisingly strong campaign in 1984 against the eventual nominee, former Vice President Walter Mondale, he was widely perceived as a front-runner for the Democratic nomination in 1988. Shortly thereafter rumors began circulating about his being a "", leading the candidate to invite the media to observe his public behavior, and to also claim that anybody who did so would "be very bored." However, he never intended to invite reporters to be "skulking around in the shadows" of his home.