They were joined by Carla Hall, a former Washington Post reporter who has covered news and features here for a decade, and many others, most notably Tracy Weber and Megan Garvey.

The undertaking was not easy. How do you find women who say they have been mistreated? How do you persuade them to talk? How do you determine whether they're telling the truth?

The reporters started by asking the paper's many Hollywood sources for names of possible victims. The names of other people who might have knowledge of Schwarzenegger's behavior were gleaned from the credits of his films.

Then the reporters began trying to find the women.

It is hard to overstate the amount of wasted time such work entails. People move from one town to another. Their last names change.

When strangers show up at their doors, they are suspicious.

When the subject of the story is mentioned, they say they're afraid of losing their jobs. They contemplate sharing their private humiliation with millions of readers, and their stomachs ache.

They say they'll think things over and call back. They don't.

Friends counsel them not to get involved.

When a woman finally does agree to tell her story, it must be verified.

Do details change from one interview to another? What do databases show about her background? Does she have a criminal record? Has she been sued?

Can she prove that she actually was employed where she says she was?

And where was Schwarzenegger at the time?

Will she allow her name to be used? If not, how about her occupation? Such discussions drag on and on.

When it's clear that her story holds together, the search for corroborating witnesses begins. This, again, requires database searches, phone calls, home visits and discussions over how much the paper can publish without putting a job at risk.

When all the reporting is done, her story still needs to be written. And then it must be integrated into a larger story including other women.

It was a daunting feat to get all this accomplished during the 62 days of Schwarzenegger's campaign, a year less time than we'd have to cover a normal gubernatorial race.

A critic has claimed that The Times actually finished the Schwarzenegger story long before the election.

"They had the story done two weeks ago," this critic said on national television. "And they should have published it when it was ready to go...."