Top of the Ticket, the start of Year Two

On this, the first anniversary of our Top of the Ticket blog, we are reminded of the mercurial, unpredictable nature of U.S. politics -- part of what makes what we do so fascinating.

Our goal -- one of us on the East Coast and the other on the far more important or at least less humid West Coast -- was to write about Campaign '08 virtually around the clock.

Our second-ever posting, 12 months ago today, previewed an upcoming L.A. Times/Bloomberg Poll; later in the day, we detailed the results of the nationwide survey. The findings were in line with other polls of the time.

In the Republican presidential race, which then seemed the most likely to last deep into the primary season, Rudy Giuliani was perched in first place. His lead wasn't overwhelming, but it was strong enough that he appeared certain to remain a major contender.

His liberal record on social issues loomed as an obvious liability within his party, but his tough-on-terrorism message was attracting substantial support from moderates and GOP-leaning independents.

His major headache among rivals last June was an as-yet-undeclared candidate who was riding a wave as the great conservative hope -- Fred Thompson. He ran a strong second in the poll.

Lagging far behind were John McCain and Mitt Romney, each barely with double-digit support. In our preview posting, we were especially scornful of McCain, noting sarcastically (and foolishly, as it turned out) that in the poll, he found himself "in heated competition with the 'Don't Know' category."

Meriting no mention from us was Mike Huckabee, one of several back-of-the-pack candidates barely earning any support across the country.

The Democratic race, at that point, seemed so much more cut-and-dried.

Hillary Clinton was the clear front-runner; Barack Obama was just as clearly ...

Condoleezza Rice helps the fight against breast cancer

While the spotlight in Washington today was on the National Building Museum, the site of Hillary Clinton's highly anticipated concession speech in the Democratic presidential race, the morning began with thousands gathering near the Mall for the annual Race for the Cure to benefit breast cancer research.

Condoleezza Rice was among those who helped kick off the event, and in comments to the crowd the never-married secretary of State sparked interest with a reference to "a very important man in my life."

President Bush, of course, long has been the mentor of Rice, who's become a real fitness buff, as The Ticket has reported. But that's not who she had in mind. The Swamp's Bay Fang was there, and provides the answer here, along with perspective on Rice's particular interest in battling breast cancer.

-- Don Frederick

Photo Credit: AP / Kevin Wolf

Barack Obama's doctor gives him a clean bill of health

Last week, John McCain's doctors attested to his hardiness to sit behind that big desk in the Oval Office. Now, it's Barack Obama's doctor's turn. McCain let selected reporters sit down for three hours with copies of his medical records. Obama has offered less. But then, his records don't show a history of melanoma, and questions about his age don't crop up nearly as often as they do for McCain.

Obama apparently hasn't had a physical for more than a year. Here's the release from the campaign:

DAVID L. SCHEINER, M.D.
Hyde Park Associates in Medicine, Ltd.
1515 East 52nd Place, Chicago, IL 60615

To Whom It May Concern:

I am David L. Scheiner, a board certified general internist licensed to practice in the State of Illinois.  I am on staff at the University of Chicago Hospitals and Rush University Medical Center.  I have been Senator Barack Obama’s primary care physician since March 23, 1987. The following is a summary of his medical records for the past 21 years.

During that period of time, Senator Obama has been in excellent health.  He has been seen regularly for medical checkups and various minor problems such as upper respiratory infections, skin rashes and minor injuries.

His family history is pertinent for his mother’s death from ovarian cancer and grandfather who died of prostate cancer. His own history included intermittent cigarette smoking.  He has quit this practice on several occasions and is currently using Nicorette gum with success.

Senator Obama’s last medical checkup was on January 15, 2007; he had no complaints.  He exercised regularly often jogging three miles. His diet was balanced with good intake of roughage and fluids.  A complete review of systems was unremarkable.  On physical examination, his blood pressure was 90/60 and pulse 60/minute.  His build was lean and muscular with no excess body fat.  His physical examination was completely normal.

Laboratory studies included triglycerides of 44(normal under 150), cholesterol 173 (normal under 200), HDL 68 (normal over 40), and LDL 96 (normal under 130). Chem 24, urinalysis and CBC were normal, PSA was 0.6, very good.  An EKG was normal.

In short, his examination showed him to be in excellent health. Senator Barack Obama is in overall good physical and mental health needed to maintain the resiliency required in the Office of President.

Sincerely,

David L. Scheiner, M.D.

-- Scott Martelle

John McCain and his 'unremarkable' buttocks

First, we have to start with this reasoned medical opinion buried deep in John McCain's medical files, released for review earlier today. From his oncologist, Dr. Suzanne Connolly of the Mayo Clinic:  "Buttocks unremarkable except for some very light tan freckling." That noise you hear? A massive "thank you" from Jon Stewart's writers.

On a more serious tack, the way the records were made available to reporters wasn't exactly a "release." It was more an environment of controlled access at the Copperwynd Resort and Club in Fountain Hills, Ariz., limited to a handful of media, none of whom were allowed to make copies. From the pool report just disseminated (by Michael D. Shear of the Washington Post):

About 20 reporters -- including CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta and NBC's Dr. Nancy Snyderman -- were allowed to enter a room at the resort in the back of the Alchemy restaurant. We were allowed in at 7:30 and given three hours to review the records and take notes. Most reporters used computers to take notes from the three stacks of documents that were provided to each of them. The main stack, labeled "Records from Mayo Clinic, Scottsdale, Arizona, 2000-present" were the main documents and are summarized below. The other two stacks were backup documents, including handwritten notes, lab results and insurance documents. In all it was 1,173 pages, in addition to 1,500 pages distributed the last time he ran for president.

The backup stacks included the statement of financial responsibility, assignment of benefits and authorization to release information, forwarded documents from the attending physician of the U.S. Congress, including lab results, clinical notes, pathology reports. Insurance details, doctor's orders and anesthesia reports. The documents went into great detail about his operations to remove melanomas and colon polyps.

While the records seemed to be comprehensive, a three-hour review by pooled media isn't exactly a full release. (At least they had a chance to eat: "It was a cloudy day of about 56 degrees and we were given fruit, bagels and some muffins, along with some nicely sculpted mounds of cream cheese. No one ate anything, as far as I could tell.")

Add that controlled environment, though, to the financial records McCain has made available, and there are some pretty significant questions about a McCain administration's approach to openness -- especially against the backdrop of the Bush administration, which has shown a penchant for secrecy.

ADDED NOTE: We've e-mailed the Barack Obama campaign about when his records will be available. Will update when we hear.

UPDATE: From Bill Burton, Obama spokesman: "We'll put out a summary early next week." Note that he says a "summary" will be released. So while Obama seems to have revealed more of his family financial records than McCain, it looks like Obama will be revealing less of his medical records. Unless there isn't anything to reveal (McCain, given his age and experiences, obviously has had a lot going on). So we'll have to be patient and see what the Obama "summary" contains.

Also, for those of you who missed the other coverage (there have been comments to that effect), we blogged about this earlier and our colleague Maeve Reston has a full story elsewhere on the site.

-- Scott Martelle

Ted Kennedy heads home

Edward M. Kennedy, whose brain-tumor diagnosis brought the U.S. Senate to a halt yesterday, headed home this morning after recovering "remarkably quickly" from a biopsy procedure. But the upbeat sound of that obscures a dire prognosis.

Kennedy's illness gives rise to reflection on something of a symbolic and generational shift in American politics. Kennedy, the long-serving senator from Massachusetts, is the last of Joseph Kennedy Sr.'s four sons -- Joe Jr., who was killed in World War II; and John the president and Bobby the senator, both assassinated.

But it was the sense of hope that Kennedy's political brothers tapped in the 1960s t hat Barack Obama, a literal child of the '60s (born in 1961), has been trying to revive in his campaign. So there's an irony in the timing of Kennedy's diagnosis, coming just as Obama nears the tipping point in his quest for the Democratic presidential nomination.

While it might seem cold and premature, Kennedy's illness is already sparking speculation about two elements of succession. Who might assume his seat in the Senate, to which he was reelected two years ago, should he become incapacitated? And who, if anyone, would emerge as the symbolic leader of one of the nation's most significant political families?

-- Scott Martelle

Poll makes more Jeremiah Wright news by finding too much of it

This posting may defy the sentiment behind it: People say the media have over-covered the story of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

So here, to document that point, is more of that coverage.

"The latest round of news about Barack Obama and his former pastor Rev. Jeremiah Wright dominated campaign news coverage last week,'' the Pew Research Center finds in its latest weekly news-interest survey. "Wright's comments are by far the biggest political event of the campaign to date: Fully 62% say they have heard a lot or a little about Rev. Wright's recent speeches.''

And look at this: "Most Americans (59%) think news organizations have overcovered the Wright controversy,'' Pew's Andy Kohut reports. "About two-thirds of Democrats (66%) and nearly as many independents (59%) say that news organizations have devoted too much coverage to Wright's recent speeches. But as many as half of Republicans agree that Wright's comments have received too much coverage.''

With all of that exposure for Obama, the Democrat who now stands the strongest chance of claiming his party's presidential nomination, and the most incendiary remarks of the fiery, longtime and now-retired pastor of Obama's church on the South Side of Chicago, comes a certain political price.

"By the end of the week a quarter of all Americans, including 26% of Democrats, said their opinion of Obama had become less favorable in recent days,'' reports Kohut, president of the Pew Center. "Fewer than half as many (11%) said their opinion of the Illinois senator had become more favorable. ''

Those whose opinions had changed were asked about any specific incidents that prompted that. "Overall, a majority of those who said their opinion of Obama had become more negative volunteered a specific incident, with the Wright controversy mentioned most frequently (by 60% of those who cited a specific event).''

Of course, nearly four in ten Americans surveyed said they also had seen the photographs of Miley Cyrus that had stirred an uproar over the young skin of Hannah Montana. And that didn't do much for her image either -- among those who saw the bare-backed photo and others, 59% thought they were inappropriate.

-- Mark Silva

Mark Silva writes for the Swamp of the Chicago Tribune's Washington bureau.

Tobacco dollars still in politics, but few go to Clinton, McCain or Obama

California competes with Utah as the state with the lowest per capita tobacco use. Less than 14% of the adult population smokes, California health officials estimate.

Now, in honor of the primary tomorrow in North Carolina, the nation’s largest tobacco-producing state, The Ticket takes a look at political donations by the growers of those ground-up leaves to the 2008 presidential campaigns. “The golden leaf is a bedrock to North Carolina,” that state's Department of Agriculture proclaims on its website.

The truth is, The Times' indomitable campaign finance expert Dan Morain finds, where once tobacco interests and money carried a lot of influence, this time there's not much tobacco money flying around this cycle.

The candidates who took the most tobacco money have dropped out of the White House race. So much for big business picking winners. One-time Republican front-runner and cancer survivor Rudy Giuliani took $114,000 during his unsuccessful run. Democratic Sen. Christopher Dodd of Connecticut, whose home state is home to UST Inc., formerly known as U.S. Tobacco Inc., accepted $55,000.

Among candidates still standing or running...

John McCain on '60 Minutes': Reintroducing himself, in a new role

Just a few months ago, John McCain's White House hopes were barely on life support. The Republicans getting all the attention -- and the money -- included Mitt Romney, Rudy Giuliani, Mike Huckabee and Fred Thompson; no one, it seemed, wanted to hear from the Arizona senator, whose campaign was almost broke (he fired many of his staff and flew on commercial flights by himself, in coach, to campaign appearances) and whose bipartisan work on legislation (including campaign finance reform and a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants) made him a pariah among the party's conservative base.

But in one of the most remarkable turnarounds in recent political history, McCain clinched the GOP presidential nomination last week. Now he's beginning another sort of campaign -- introducing himself to the American people not as the self-styled maverick on the Straight Talk Express, but as the presumptive leader of his party, hoping to knit its various skeins -- social conservatives, moderate pragmatists, immigration hard-liners, and so on -- into a tapestry that pictures him taking the oath of office on the Capitol steps in January.

To that end, he appeared Sunday on CBS' "60 Minutes" ...

William F. Buckley Jr., one private memory

The nation's political scene, as it stumbles through another leap year party nominating process, has all the trappings of a fully functioning democracy -- the banners and bunting, the overheated rhetoric, and hyperbole, the scientifically-sculpted, carefully-uttered campaign message phrases, the feigned outrage and pointed fingers for the cameras' benefit.

This process also has stale, divisive and short-term political strategies that cause and exacerbate, rather than relieve, turmoil and frictions. Proposed policies aplenty. But real, new ideas seem dessicated.

From that well-televised scene in recent years, William F. Buckley Jr., a fountain of ideas who led two generations of conservative political thinking, had left New York, sold his beloved sailboat and settled into his packed study in Sharon, Conn., to intensely compose letters, columns and books, of which he's written 55.

In that sacred private place, he thought and wrote and coughed in the short raspy breaths of emphysema and endured the regimen of diabetes, either of which could have killed him Wednesday at 82. Buckley, who was widowed last spring, was found by a cook, at his desk, where, despite the pain and short breath, he would write every day, including his last.

With a Barry Goldwater book due out this spring, Buckley was within two months of finishing a book on Ronald Reagan with his sights set on another; ironically, a collection of the 450 graceful obituaries he wrote for the magazine he founded in 1955, National Review. There, he displayed his famous wit, announcing one week after Lyndon Johnson's inauguration in 1965 that he'd lost patience with that administration. He was also famous as a sesquipedalian, someone who routinely uses long words like that.

To a generation that finds the Bee Gees ancient history, Buckley must seem a strange duck. Well-educated, well-read, well-spoken, wealthy, he almost single-handedly cradled the modern conservative movement in the early post-World War II years.

Then, through the '50s and '60s, he drove it with the power of his spoken and written words, enduring the painful but formative 1964 candidacy of Goldwater, the last Arizona Republican nominee, which ...

Giuliani, back on the trail, explains his medical problem

Having felt completely miserable and been briefly hospitalized in the Midwest the other day, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani returned to the campaign trail today and tried New Hampshire this time for a change.

An energetic Giuliani hit the home of Manchester Mayor Frank Guinta late this afternoon to make his regular pitch to supporters and some undecideds. Afterwards, he told The Times' Maeve Reston, “It was a severe headache, yeah, and everything has turned out fine. All the tests turned out 100%. As you can see, I’m very healthy.” 

Though his campaign, to ease the load a little, canceled a town hall meeting scheduled for Friday in Merrimack and removed an Exeter house party from his public schedule for Sunday, Giuliani insisted his campaign was back in full swing.  “Now we’re right on schedule,” he said.

News bulletins flashed late the other evening when Giuliani, en route home to New York after a full day of campaigning across Missouri, ordered his plane turned around and returned to St. Louis. There, on the telephoned advice of his New York doctor, Giuliani spent the night in Barnes-Jewish Hospital, which specializes in cardiac care. The ex-mayor's staff cited "flu-like symptoms," a catch-all public relations phrase that sounds minor and forthcoming while really saying nothing that can be contradicted later. They said the symptoms had been worsening all day. 

In a taped interview to air Sunday morning on ABC-TV's “This Week with George Stephanopoulos," Giuliani says it was actually a severe headache -- the most painful he's ever had -- that worsened all day and especially after takeoff. Within 10 minutes of departure, he said, he ordered the plane turned around.

Giuliani, a prostate cancer survivor, said he was tested for "everything" and "every test came back normal." His doctor saw him Thursday in New York and pronounced him in good health, but Giuliani said the doctor would be making a full statement after Christmas, when more test results will be back, to assure all of his continuing fine health.

"I'm back on the trail, hale and hearty, ready to go, feeling great," said Giuliani, "and, you know, actually reassured by the fact that I had so many different tests and they all came back 100%."

So after all that, what kind of prescriptions did the doctors give him? Said Giuliani: "Take one aspirin a day."

--Andrew Malcolm

The eyes of Texas are upon Sacramento

Former assistants to California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger are finding themselves much in demand these days -- in Texas.

Walter von Huene, a onetime television director who worked with Schwarzenegger on some of his final films and then became a trusted aide when the actor transitioned into politics, has resurfaced as the speech coach for a likely contender for the Texas governorship in 2010.

Meanwhile, two other ex-Schwarzenegger associates have linked up with famed cyclist Lance Armstrong, who, it is speculated, may be laying the groundwork for a political run of some sort and at some point in the Lone Star State.

First, about Von Huene. ...

Obama ad gets personal

As our friends at the The Swamp point out, in recent speeches Barack Obama has been using his mother's 1995 death from ovarian cancer as a lead-in to argue that he's best suited to fix healthcare. Iowans tomorrow will see a new ad that takes the appeal one step further -- opening with a brief still image of his dead mother with a toddler-age Obama at her side.

The ad is aimed at affirming Obama's theme that, despite his experience as an Illinois state legislator and his three years in the U.S. Senate, he's a Washington outsider.  And of course, a certain Democratic front-runner with her own healthcare policy baggage would, by contrast, be a Washington insider.

- Scott Martelle

The other Thompson's challenge

Fred Thompson surges in the polls of Republican candidates without even declaring his candidacy yet. Tommy Thompson can't get anywhere in the same polls by working Iowa possibly harder than any other candidate.

The former governor from next-door Wisconsin, who calls himself "a reliable conservative," has set out to visit all 99 of Iowa's counties before the straw poll in Ames about a month from now. Which, if you've ever tried to drive across Iowa even one way, is an awful lot of driving and visiting. While other candidates come in and hit the Des Moines and Dubuque TV markets the same day by plane, Thompson's grassroots tour in a Winnebago (Iowa-made, by the way) stopped in Grinnell, Marengo, Mount Vernon, Shellsburg, Gladbrook and Marshalltown yesterday.

Today he's in Allison, Hampton, Mason City, New Hampton, Waterloo and Grundy Center. Tomorrow it's Independence, Dubuque, Maquoketa, Clinton, Davenport and Oelwein. The guy just won't give up. He speaks to...