Hillary Clinton in 1975: A young lawyer, defending in a rape case

(CNN) – Many believe Hillary Clinton's current tour is less about selling books, than selling a potential candidate.

Since the media blitz began, Americans have seen many different sides of Clinton.

Most recently, the conservative site the Washington Free Beacon uncovered audio recordings of Clinton from the early 1980s, including one clip of Clinton discussing a 1975 legal case in which she was the defense attorney for a man charged with raping a 12-year-old girl.

"He took a lie detector test. I had him take a polygraph, which he passed. Which forever destroyed my faith in polygraphs," Clinton is heard saying on the tape.

"But you know what was sad was that the prosecutors had evidence, among which was his underwear ... so they presented the underpants with a hole in it. I said, 'What kind of evidence is that?' A pair of underpants with a hole in it. Of course the crime lab had thrown away ... the piece that they had cut out. It was really odd. I plea bargained it down, because it turned out they didn't have any evidence."

This is "not typical talk for a lifelong defender of women and children," a Washington Post columnist says of the audio recording, pointing out that in the affidavit, Clinton cast the victim as "emotionally unstable, with a tendency to seek out older men and to engage in fantasizing."

Is this enough to poison the well with female voters?

CNN's Brianna Keilar, Ddana Bash, and Gloria Borger weigh in.