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

Comments

[Transplanted Lawyer]

Has it really come down to this -- scrutinizing and exploiting what a candidate eats for breakfast?

People. Get a grip.

[Edward Pikulski]

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

[Lee]

If the waffle was sold I hope the seller would contribute the money to Hillary's campaign!!!!!!!!!!

[Reyna]

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