Ticket Takings: Doomed bipartisanship, smelly tourists, an audacious book

A few quick Ticket hits before the coffee break:

Here's why bipartisanship never works in Washington: Republican Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida got a call on her cellphone this week from the 312 area code. She answered. The caller identified himself as Barack Obama, the president-elect.

Yeah, right, Ros-Lehtinen thought. Sure thing. She knows about southern Florida radio stations' prank calls to public figures. She hung up.

Two minutes later, another call. This guy identified himself as fellow representative Rahm Emanuel, the Democratic president-elect's chief of staff, and he was ca ... Click.

It wasn't until another member of Congress known to Ros-Lehtinen called to tell to her to stop hanging up on the next president that she realized: No prank.

They did have a nice chat after all. Watch the congresswoman tell the story herself on this video.

Always the warm, welcoming political leader, Nevada's Sen. Harry Reid was speaking Tuesday at the regular-citizens' opening of the Capitol's new and incredibly expensive underground tourist center.

As recounted by our Swamp blogging buddy Mark Silva, Reid started reminiscing about the old dog days of summer when tourists in the former Maryland swamp that became Washington would line up on the steps to enter for tours of their Capitol.

It was hot and muggy and sweaty there. "You could literally smell the tourists coming into the Capitol," Reid shared.

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Well, he did work hard to manage the nation's first three-quarters-of-a-billion-dollar political campaign.

So maybe Barack Obama's audacious campaign manager, David Plouffe, deserves to make almost that much off his upcoming book, "The Audacity to Win." The auction begins soon.

He'll tell the inside story of the campaign that its supporters considered a movement. But he'll also offer strategic tips and communications pointers for business people, Plouffe says, as he tries to arouse publisher interest.

The 41-year-old will additionally add critiques of the losing campaigns of good friends Hillary Clinton and John McCain. Plouffe said the book, targeted for next fall, would be heavy on tactics and light on gossip.

In other words, b-o-r-i-n-g.

--Andrew Malcolm

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Photo credit: Associated Press

Comments

[Isaac32767]

Only a Blackberry geek like Obama would have had this problem. Most other Great Leaders would have told a functionary "Get Representative Ros-Lehtinen on the line." She would have picked up the phone, heard "Please hold for the President-elect" and the drama of the moment would have held her attention.

Which is not to criticize Mr. Obama for his do-it-myself communication style. You want Change, you have to do things differently. But it remains to be seen whether this style will work for the guy who runs the biggest bureaucracy on the planet.