"Jeff and I are pretty different," Cara says from her apartment in Los Angeles, where she's now pursuing an acting career. "Jeff's just in general more of a firstborn, Type A and I'm much more of a wild middle child. He's sort of more pensive and more focused and I'm sort of more spontaneous, and, you know?"

Before each show airs, a copy of each episode is sent to the cast members. The package that arrived at Cara's apartment on Monday, March 11, was not well received. In the episode that was to air the next night, Cara is shown in very intimate moments with Djordje, a friend of a fellow roommate in town for the night. Stunningly, the two are caught on a night-vision camera, in pre-in flagrante delicto positioning, with sheets covering up the appropriate parts, though Cara hovers above Djordje like a vinyl LP about to drop onto a turntable. The two discuss the fact that she will never see him again after that night. Djordje is then shown tossing a familiar wrapper onto the bedroom floor. Fade to black.

Even for envelope-pushing MTV, this was fairly scandalous stuff. Cara had watched previous seasons of "The Real World" and had never seen such a thing aired, though she assumed that previous cast members had similarly acted upon their hormones.

If they did, it wasn't captured as graphically as it was for Cara. "Cara has unusual courage and willingness to open her life," says Bunim. "She was very outspoken about having just left a relationship and wanting to explore her new freedom." As for Cara being stunned by the inclusion of her moment with Djordje, Bunim says, "certainly, after all these seasons, everyone knows how many microphones and cameras there are in the house."

Nonetheless Cara was shocked. She called Jeff, their parents and grandparents, friends and cousins, telling them not to watch the show. "It's brutal," she says. "It's explicit; it's embarrassing." Cara says that she's angry at herself "for not having this sort of reserved control that my brother has, for not having even a piece of that in me."

It did pose a unique problem for her brother. The Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call had twice poked fun at Nussbaum for his sibling's growing stardom, and the buzz grew. According to Nielsen Media Research, the March 12 episode of "The Real World" was the 10th highest rated cable TV show that week, viewed in 2.85 million homes.

Some colleagues were sympathetic. "I, for one, have a younger sister, so I'm especially sensitive about giving him a lot of shit for it," says Carson. Carson's magnanimity aside, senior Daschle staffers seem quite sensitive to it all. After tentatively agreeing to allow me to ask the senator about his curious connection to the MTV hit, or at least to give me a written statement about the matter, Daschle's office suddenly rescinded the offer. It was, I was told, a pretty clear attempt to keep Daschle far from young Cara Nussbaum and her Generation Y misadventures.

"Our office is not commenting about this," Ranit Schmelzer, Nussbaum's boss in the communications department, offered tersely.

"I think people recognize that not only is my sister's life not my life," Nussbaum says hopefully, "but my life -- as boring as it is -- shouldn't reflect on Daschle." Like any good press secretary, he underlines the main point he wants to make sure I get clearly: He loves and is proud of his sister. "I would actually expect someone to talk about your family or your character. But I think people recognize that if you put a camera on yourself 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and give someone else sole editorial control, you'd be lucky to come out looking as good as Cara does."

Or as good as her brother. However much his superiors are freaking out about Caragate, Nussbaum seems to take it all in stride. "I'm sure people involved in politics have had siblings do things a lot worse," he reflects. "In fact, most presidents have."

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