Walking a fine line between personal indignation and sympathy with the Levys' pain, Condit repeatedly stressed that what he and his family were going through "is just a little bit of what they have gone through." He said that he drew his own spiritual strength from prayer. "No matter what happens to me," he said, "I will never lose my faith." Asked if he prayed for Chandra, he answered, "Absolutely, every day." And did he miss her? "She's a friend. I miss her, yes. Absolutely."

Condit denied Susan Levy's assertion that he had lied about his relationship with Chandra when she spoke by phone with him shortly after her daughter's disappearance. "I never lied," he said. Levy, he asserted, parsing matters in a Clintonesque manner, had never asked him whether he had been involved with Chandra. "She named some people who she thought might be involved with Chandra. My name was not mentioned.... She asked me about other members of Congress."

He offered to sit down alone with the Levys "to talk about anything they want to talk about," but the offer is unlikely to be accepted anytime soon. On an NBC Dateline aired Aug. 10, Susan spoke of her dissatisfaction with the one meeting she and Condit had in Washington on June 21. She said that his body language reminded her of someone "who is hiding a whole lot." On Aug. 20 on Rivera Live, the Levys' attorney Billy Martin said his clients are "very angry with Gary Condit right now." Referring to statements that Chandra's aunt Linda Zamsky told PEOPLE Chandra had made about how she loved Condit and believed he planned to marry her, Martin said, "Even if he by chance had nothing to do with her disappearance, he's hurt their daughter."

Linda Zamsky has also said that Chandra told her she and the congressman had talked about a "five-year plan," during which Condit would leave his wife and start a family with her. Condit says there were no such plans and, what's more, they never discussed love or marriage: "It didn't happen." To the contrary, he maintained, "I would never do that to my wife. I've been married for 34 years. I love (Carolyn) very much. I'll stay with her as long as she'll have me." He added, "It's about forgiveness. My wife and children know I'm not a perfect man."

Whatever the state of the Condits' marriage, they clearly head a close family. Last week, when the couple arrived for the photo shoot with PEOPLE, daughter Cadee was the cheerleader, fretting over every shot of her mother. She'd say, "There's a hair in the way," or "I think she is too smiley." When Carolyn looked awkward or tense, Cadee leapt in: "If I'm around, she'll relax." Son Chad provided quieter support, assuring his mother after she was made up, "You look beautiful." As for husband and wife, Carolyn appeared frail and uneasy, smiling tentatively at her husband as he placed an arm around her.