It's baffling: Obama's waffles a hot eBay item or not?
As voters throughout Pennsylvania dutifully trooped to the polls today, no doubt thinking the eyes of the nation were glued on them, it turns out a more pressing drama was being played on ... Ebay.
The uneaten portion of the waffle-and-sausage breakfast that Barack Obama was chowing down Monday at a Scranton diner when -- in his view -- he was rudely interrupted by a press question, showed up on the auction site for several hours (the offer included the plate and cutlery used for the meal).
What ultimately transpired, as with so many aspects of politics, remains a bit murky at the moment.
The Scranton newspaper, understandably wanting to stay on top of a story unfolding in its backyard, reported that after bids topped $20,000 (!!!), the fellow who had stashed away the food, one John Oakes, had decided to pull the plug on the sale. (More on where Oakes was coming from can be read here.)
But according to ABC News -- which had four reporters working on the story -- the unusual memorabilia ended up being sold for 99 cents (not quite as good a deal as it sounds because, the ABC blog asserts, the buyer will also have to pay the $6 Postal Service priority mail charge).
Who to believe?
This we know, because The Times' Pete Nicholas was on the case. At a diner this morning in Pittsburgh, Obama ordered pancakes and left not a morsel. Asked by the ever-vigilant media why no waffles today, Obama replied: "Because they say their pancakes were the best."
No follow-up on whether that proved to be the case.
This afternoon, in Philadelphia, he did what you are supposed to in that city, down a huge cheesesteak with onions. But he tried -- and failed -- to give away his french fries.
Obviously, word of their potential monetary value had not hit the streets yet.
-- Don Frederick
Andrew Malcolm's immigrant parents repeatedly stressed the importance of active participation in a democracy. Early lessons included learning the alphabetical list of states by watching televised roll calls of national political conventions. That childhood exposure led to a lifelong fascination with politics, including 40-plus years of covering them and a brief stint practicing them as press secretary to Laura Bush in 1999-2000. A veteran foreign and national correspondent, Malcolm served on the Times Editorial Board and was a Pulitzer finalist in 2004. He is the author of 10 nonfiction books and father of four.
Johanna Neuman is a veteran Washington correspondent for both The Los Angeles Times and USA Today, having covered presidents and politics as far back as Ronald Reagan. A former president of the White House Correspondents Assn., she authored a book on media and foreign policy, “Lights, Camera, Wars.” Most recently she was co-author of the 
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Has it really come down to this -- scrutinizing and exploiting what a candidate eats for breakfast?
People. Get a grip.
Posted by: Transplanted Lawyer | April 22, 2008 at 02:58 PM
Don,
As online editor at the Scranton Times-Tribune, I can assure you we covered the story accurately. At no point did we say the waffle was sold - let alone for $20,000. If ABC News reported a waffle sale of any price they are wrong.
The auction was removed from the site by Mr. Oakes. We confirmed this with both Mr. Oakes and eBay. You can go to the old eBay link and see that the auction was ended prior to any sale. I can tell you that prior to the end of the auction the high bid was $21,100.
As for what he ate, again, I stand by our story and our photos. Feel free to visit our Website thetimes-tribune.com and see for yourself. We published several photos of Mr. Obama eating (gasp) waffles, not pancakes.
Believe it or not, the accuracy of our "wafflegate" story is not being discussed by anyone other than you. Had you been on top of the story (like us) you could have seen the bids yourself.
How dare you imply we don't know the difference between waffles and pancakes, or a bid and a sale. I'm confident we nailed this story.
For the record, the pancakes at The Glider are the best. I can't even begin to imagine why Mr. Obama ordered waffles. Someone must have steered him the right way though before he finished his breakfast. I have seen the photos of him eating pancakes as well.
The real question is who would bid $20,000 on a half-eaten waffle? Did someone artificially inflate the bids? We'll never know for sure, but what we reported was 100% accurate.
Sincerely,
Edward Pikulski
Online Editor
TheTimes-Tribune.com
Posted by: Edward Pikulski | April 22, 2008 at 08:47 PM
If the waffle was sold I hope the seller would contribute the money to Hillary's campaign!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by: Lee | April 24, 2008 at 08:53 AM
well Obama proved one thing, he's not elite he's just rich and privileged...did you see how he was eating those pancakes? elbows on the table, fork in one hand and knife in the other like an animal...that's not elite, let's hope he doesn't act like that when he's eating with heads of states
Posted by: Reyna | April 27, 2008 at 09:32 AM
The Republicans and especially the Christian "RIGHT" folks are very slow on the uptake, that there is a VIDEO camera everywhere. Macacca killed George Allen's career in 5 minutes. Rush Limbaugh shaking and gyrating to Mock Michael J.Fox's Parkinson's Disease cost Republicans Missouri and hence the US Senate. Ann Coulter spitting on 911 widows saying they were enjoying their husband's DEATHS, and they would have been divoirced any ways,Putrid GOP delegates spitting on EVERY wounded veteran wearing purple heart bandaids, and finally Michelle Malkin arguing FOR Japanese Internment CAMPS.
DeMoss and Whitlock I hope you both accept ALL the congratulations you receive from your GOP colleagues for giving Obama the White House.
So sell this demeaning garbage on every corner in America...do that honey
I'll see you LOSERS Nov 5th when you have been THUMPED so hard you can't walk straight.
Posted by: mark | September 14, 2008 at 10:00 PM
Listen Up!!!!!!!
You people are some of the most ignorant reporters ever. What the hell! This is the dumbest story I have read all day. On top of that why, Edward Pikulski(whoever you are) felt the need to defend his rediculous story is beyond me. Can somebody please stick to the issues. Why are you guys spending time reporting on waffles and pancakes and then finding time to argue about it(Lame).
Posted by: Carmon Epps | September 16, 2008 at 09:28 AM
Its to bad to see racism is alive and well in America today, and this is why you don't see qualified minorities running for president; really some of the outrageous things that I have heard during this election process have just sickened me. My son saw the piece that CNN did on the topic and wanted to know why they were doing this to Obama and if they are going to do this to him, because he wants to be a pilot he grows up! This is a REAL SLAP in the face to my family as I thought that this type of behavior was behind us. This is Racist dig and it is wrong. To see this coming from so call 'Christians' is deeply disturbing! But this is freedom of speech at its best, the same freedom of speech that my husband and I have fought to protect through service in the United States Military. Thanks guys for the latest degrading slam!
Posted by: CeCe | September 16, 2008 at 02:51 PM