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Well, now he'll have a date for the inaugural ball -- though there are still a few hurdles left to getting an invitation. But Charlie Crist, Florida governor and a high entry on most lists of potential Republican veep contenders, is getting married.
Our cousins at The Swamp and the Central Florida Political Pulse have the details. The
bride-to-be and
Crist's flame of the past nine months is Carole Rome, 38, president of her family's century-old costume business, where some of the costumes are of the variety not likely to go over well with the Christian right (may we direct you to Devilicious and Marie Antoinette). Rome and ex-husband, Todd Rome, CEO of Blue Star Jets, have two children, ages 11 and 9. Crist, 51, was married briefly in his early 20s and has no children.
Crist says they're planning a fall wedding in St. Petersburg, where he lives, though that calendar could get awfully crowded if John McCain taps him. And if the Republicans believe Crist on the ticket can land them Florida, you can bet they'll be lobbying hard, though the last word was that Mitt Romney was topping the contender list.
Crist, you'll remember on this day set aside for barbecuing, was one of the trio that McCain invited to his Arizona spread on Memorial Day weekend, the launch of barbecue season, for a little R&R and presumed political talk. Romney and Bobby Jindal were the other two touted guests, all considered to be under consideration by McCain as possible running mates.
-- Scott Martelle
Photo: Carole Rome with Charlie Crist; credit: Associated Press
Might David Vitter belong to that rare breed of politicians who survive the type of scandal that sink most others (see Spitzer, Eliot, and Fossella, Vito)?
Chances are we won't know for sure until 2010, when the Republican senator from Louisiana is up for re-election. But based on a new poll by the Baton Rouge-based Southern Media & Opinion Research firm, Vitter has reason for optimism that he will keep his job.
When we last left Vitter -- almost exactly a year ago -- he was confessing, vaguely, to a "very serious sin" that involved his association with a D.C.-based prostitution ring. Then a New Orleans-based prostitute alleged that she and the senator had once been especially good friends (a connection Vitter denied).
Perhaps the best-remembered moment stemming from the scandal occurred when Vitter held a news conference in Metairie, La., to try to put it behind him (fat chance) and was joined at the podium by his wife, Wendy -- whose pained expression said it all (he didn't look especially happy, either).
In Washington, Vitter has kept a mostly low profile since then. But he's kept going about his senatorial business and, in Louisiana, his standing appears about the same as it was before the commotion erupted.
The new survey of the state's voters found that 55% view him favorably, 38% unfavorably. In April of 2007, a poll by Southern Media put his numbers at 52% favorable, 32% unfavorable.
One of the firm's pollsters, Bernie Pinsonat, told us Vitter has benefited from a reservoir of goodwill he could draw upon. For instance, many voters well remember that as a state legislator several years ago, he led the charge for highly popular term limits.
Nor has he lost that sense of what the public wants.
Louisianans became incensed recently ...
Read more David Vitter seems to have rolled with the punch of last year's sex scandal »
Well this was a little long in the coming but it finally happened -- Barack Obama and Bill Clinton shared a little quality phone time earlier today. Obama communications director Robert Gibbs said Obama made the call and the two men talked for about 20 minutes as Obama rode from Kansas City, Mo., to Independence.
Obama asked Clinton to campaign with him, and for him, and Clinton agreed, though spokesmen for the men didn't break out who spoke for how long during those 20 minutes. The Swamp has a bit of it here too.
Clinton's communications director, Matt McKenna, described the call as "a very good conversation" and said Clinton "renewed his offer to do whatever he can to ensure Sen. Obama is our next president. President Clinton continues to be impressed by Senator Obama and the campaign he has run, and looks forward to campaigning for and with him in the months to come."
Added Obama spokesman Bill Burton: "Senator Obama had a terrific conversation with President Clinton and is honored to have his support in this campaign. He has always believed that Bill Clinton is one of this nation's great leaders and most brilliant minds, and looks forward to seeing him on the campaign trail and receiving his counsel in the months to come."
So what's that you see in the rearview mirror? Looks like South Carolina.
-- Scott Martelle
Well, they did it, though it would have been quite the surprise if they hadn't after all the build up. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton shared the stage in Unity, New Hampshire, a few minutes ago and sought to put their often contentious pasts behind them and focus their supporters on the general election. (See video below.)
Given the goal of the day -- unity -- it wasn't a time to break out new policy, and Obama didn't. They essentially made nice, smiled a lot, sang each other's praises and then tried to rally the troops (The Swamp has a take on this, too).
And the coziness of the day began before they even left Washington, reports our colleague Noam Levey, who traveled with them. Obama and Clinton shared a half-embrace on the tarmac at Washingto n Reagan National airport then boarded the plane that Clinton used in her campaign. They settled in next to each other in the second row on the left side of the plane, Obama taking the window.
The chumminess continued once they arrived at Unity, with Clinton telling the crowd of more than 4,000 people, "Unity is not only a beautiful place, as we can see it's a wonderful feeling isn't it?" Obama joined the audience in applauding the sentiment, "And I know what we start here in this field in Unity will end in the steps of the Capitol when Barack Obama takes the oath of office as our next president."
Later, Clinton addressed the sometimes edgy tone of the campaign, saying "It was spirited because we both care so much." But we are one party, we are one America,” she said. We "are not going to rest until we take back out country and put it on the path to peace, prosperity and progress."
Then it was Obama's turn (his prepared comments are after the jump). He sang Clinton's praises as a rival, then made a direct play for unity citing her and Bill Clinton's lengthy presence in national politics. "We need them," Obama said.
"We need them badly... That's how we're going to bring about unity in the Democrat Party and how we're going to bring about unity in America."
After making some odd comments about Clinton campaigning in heels -- that won't do much to dispel anger among some of Clinton's female supporters -- Obama talked about the historic nature of both their campaigns. "Hillary and I may have started with separate goals in this campaign, but we have made history together.
"Together, we inspired tens of millions of Americans to participate, some to cast ballot for the very first time, others who voted for the first time in a very long time. And together, in this campaign, in 2008, we shattered barriers that have stood firm since the founding of this nation."
(UPDATE: Susan Pinkus of the L.A. Times Poll provides the following information:: In our latest Times/Bloomberg national poll, two-thirds of Clinton's supporters said they would vote for Obama, 11% said they would vote for John McCain, the Republican nominee, 12% said they were undecided and the rest went to third party candidates.)
--Scott Martelle and Michael Muskal
Photo credit: Mario Tama / Getty Images
Read more Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton tie the political knot in Unity »
We have to say, we like the (admittedly fanciful) image. Barack Obama sits down at a small table, whips his checkbook out of his jacket pocket, fills out a check for $4,600 (with Michelle Obama smiling and nodding somewhere nearby) then hands it off to Hillary Clinton, who endorses it and passes it off to an aide for deposit.
But it got us wondering. Could that campaign contribution be worth more than the $4,600 Obama presumably scrawled out on the "amount" line? We doubt that Clinton personally endorsed the donation check Obama gave the campaign Thursday -- in fact, we doubt she even saw it  -- but if she had, what would such an historic document be worth to collectors? A check signed by the nation's first bi-racial major party candidate endorsed by a woman who came within a hair of her own historic nomination?
We asked George Houle, of Los Angeles' Houle Rare Books and Autographs, who appraises and deals in historic documents and signatures. He said the value to collectors would be determined by whatever happens in November. " Autographs of politicians are not in much demand, until they get to the White House." Harry Truman checks, he said, can be had for $250 to $500. An Abraham Lincoln check "brings $7,500 and up. A check to his wife Mary and endorsed by her could bring double that amount."
Right now, Houle said, the canceled Obama contribution check would be worth $300 to $500 though "having her ... endorse it for deposit would add considerably to its value. But, should he get elected, the value could triple or quadruple."
Supply and demand comes into play too: "Ultimate value would depend on how many autographs of his come to the market," Houle said.
-- Scott Martelle
Let's just state right up front that if Scarlett Johansson was chattering publicly to even one person, let alone a media crowd, that we had any kind of relationship, The Ticket would in a nano-heartbeat confirm totally whatever she said. She'd be dead-on in our minds, indubitably.
That's partly why we were so down -- well, devastated really -- a couple of weeks ago when The Ticket learned and wrote that Scarlett -- we call her that because we've never actually met --  was talking publicly about her ongoing relationship with presumptive Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.
According to Scarlett, who's a fervent Obama supporter with phone calls and fundraisers and everything, the two of them were going at it pretty hot and heavy with the e-mails, back-and-forth and back-and-forth and back-and-forth.
And all of us, including Ryan Reynolds, Scarlett's alleged fiance, were left to guess exactly what might be in those electronic missives.
We learned of the Obama-Johansson relationship, as we learn of most important things, from our fellow LATimes.com blogger Elizabeth Snead over at the Dish Rag. Because of our nonexistent....
Read more Barack Obama dumps Scarlett Johansson! Denies e-mail relationship »
The combative Democratic presidential primary ended with Bill and Hillary Clinton essentially tied ... with each other (though perhaps with a slight edge for the ex-president).
In the new L.A. Times/Bloomberg national poll, 52% of registered voters expressed positive feelings about Bill and 49% said the same about Hillary -- a gap well within the survey's margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
Negative attitudes toward the two also are about the same -- 36% gave Bill the thumbs down, while 39% said they didn't much care for Hillary.
But Bill gains an advantage when comparing the gap between their positive and negative numbers. The margin for him is plus 16 points, for her its plus 10 points.
The poll gave Barack Obama a double-digit lead in his White House matchup with John McCain, and this preference among voters is reflected, not surprisingly, in their attitudes toward the two.
In the survey, 59% said they felt positively about Obama while 27% expressed negative feelings -- a difference of plus 32 points.
For McCain, the numbers were 47% positive, 35% negative, a difference of plus 12 points.
The overarching political trends McCain is grappling with were underscored by the results for three similar questions.
Asked about the Democratic Party, 51% said they felt positively about it, 30% negatively, a margin of plus 21 points.
The numbers for the Republican Party were 29% positive, 53% negative, a margin of minus 24 points.
But here's the major drag on all things GOP. Asked about President Bush, 24% gave him positive marks, 68% negative ones -- a difference of minus 44 points.
-- Don Frederick
Photo credit: Associated Press
In case you've been worried, you should know that Ashley Alexandra Dupre, a.k.a. Kristen, of the Spitzer scandal is back. She's fine. Apparently happy. And her mood is "thankful."
That according to her r estored MySpace page.
Alexandra's photo here became very famous overnight because she has this huge pair of sunglasses. In fact, she was so famous so suddenly, we feel like we've known her a long time.
You probably remember her as the high-priced prostitute who traveled all the way from New York City to Washington, D.C., to a high-priced hotel for a high-priced night with a high-ranking government official, who turned out to be New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer, who happened to have been an outspoken prosecutor who prosecuted illegal things like, well, prostitution.
So, with his wife by his side, Spitzer was forced to resign from the governor's office. (Which cost Hillary Clinton yet another superdelegate, btw.)
The jut-jawed Spitzer was replaced by his lieutenant governor, David Paterson, who is well liked in New York's capital, is legally blind and, although no one remembers asking, took the opportunity of his first weekend in office to reveal along with his wife Michelle that they both had had extramarital affairs during their marriage. Is there something in the Albany water?
But that's another story.
Anyway, Alexandra kind of dropped out of sight. But she's back now and busy updating her page. She had so many Friend requests that she got behind and MySpace deleted a whole bunch because they timed out.
So if yours was among them, she asks you to file another one please.
She also wants to thank everyone for their support and publishes some inspirational letters she received. Here's one: "hey i just wanted to say to you, that you truely are the most beautiful women i have ever seen. i am just a nobody in this world and knowing that you might just read this has really made my day."
If you want, you can go to her music page and join the 5-million-plus others who have sampled some. She says she is all about music.
You can also go to her regular page and read some of the comments or leave one of your own. Or not.
We now resume our normal programming.
--Andrew Malcolm
Photo credit: MySpace via AFP/Getty Images
P.S. Here's a bonus for people who read the photo credits. The New York Daily News took a bunch of photos of Alexandra on the beach recently and the big news is she has a tattoo down there.
That Friday get-together in previously obscure Unity, N.H., featuring Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton may well be oozing with goodwill.
First came word earlier today that Bill Clinton, the former president who stumped incessantly for his wife and seemed to take none-too-kindly to her defeat at Obama's hands, soon will be doing his part on behalf of the presumptive Democratic White House nominee.
Tonight came word that Obama would be doing his part to help the Clintons deal with a pressing concern: retire her multimillion-dollar campaign debt.
Mark Silva of the Chicago Tribune's Swamp blog, in a posting headlined, "Obama: Clearing Clinton's credit cards?", has more of the details.
-- Don Frederick
The buzz surrounding Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty has risen to bee-hive levels, with two recent articles offering in-depth looks at the positives and negatives he would offer as John McCain's running mate. And if Pawlenty does end up the pick, it will be interesting to see if he continues his habit of cracking jokes about his wife.
Pawlenty, the product of a blue-collar upbringing who has thrived in a state that McCain would love to snatch from the Democratic column, is known -- as was noted in this Washington Post story on his political pluses and minuses -- for urging the Republican Party to identify itself with "Sam's Club, not just the country club."
Indeed, a lengthy and very readable New Republic profile of him includes a scene of Pawlenty, with writer Noam Scheiber in tow, hanging out with regulars at a bar adjoining an American Legion Hall. (The story also points out that if he is tapped for the veep spot, "Pawlenty will be the first presidential running mate to have worn a mullet into middle age.")
Before this recent burst of publicity, Pawlenty earned some attention in early May with this quip on a Minneapolis radio show: "I have a wife who genuinely loves to fish. I mean, she will take the lead and ask me to go out fishing. ... She loves football, she'll go to hockey games and, I jokingly say, 'Now, if I could only get her to have sex with me.' "
He quickly clarified that he was joking, even as his wife could be heard kvetching in the background.
Pawlenty couldn't resist another spousal reference during an appearance last week on CNN.
Wolf Blitzer, discussing the speculation over McCain's vice presidential prospects, told the governor: "You're on the short list. That's what everyone says."
Replied Pawlenty: "Well, my wife says I'm on a different kind of list."
He did not specify what list that might be. And perhaps he's learning to curb his tongue. During a follow-up CNN appearance Sunday with Blitzer, Pawlenty made no mention of his domestic tranquility.
-- Don Frederick
Photo credit: Associated Press
O.K., it's the first day of summer. There's still something like 134 days until The Election. No tornadoes in sight. The annual hurricane controversies have yet to form wherever they start. Lots of lakes and sunshine outdoors. And blizzards of blabber on TV.
Hope the traffic wasn't too bad getting home. Here's a reverse birthday gift from The Ticket: What you didn't miss today:
SO MUCH FOR SUMMER IN MONTANA: Tom Brokaw will pause in writing his next book on our grandfathers and take over moderating "Meet the Press" through the election. Not Tim Russert, of course, but wise and he won't talk about the Bills who are hopeless until poor Jim Kelly returns. (See video below.)
If NBC is not going the blonde-in-short-skirt route like over at Fox and since Bob Schieffer is under contract elsewhere, our top permanent nominee is Chuck Todd, (not pictured here) who clearly knows everything about politics and says it succinctly. Seriously.
WHY NOT JUST ARM EVERYBODY ON AIRPLANES? Our blogging colleague James Oliphant over at the Swamp has joined the periodic chorus wondering about Virginia Sen. James Webb as the running mate for Barack Obama.
Webb, you'll remember, is the guy who packs personal heat everywhere, which does tend to diminish disagreements on the street. Obama does need a military mate because he's talked so much about opposing war and the simple peacemaking power of sitdowns with dictators. Also, he seems unlikely to pick Geraldine Ferraro.
Being a turncoat Republican and former Reaganite will surely....
Read more Ticket Takings: A Sunday full of Richardson, Webb, Daschle, Fiorina and Richardson »
Our crafty collegial blogger over on All the Rage confesses that she can't take her eyes off Cindy McCain's chest.
But it's not w hat you guys might think.
It has to do with Republican bling, which the possible next first lady seems to like. (Come to think of it, why would she like Democratic jewelry anyway?)
Our jewelry fetish at The Ticket extends only to collecting political buttons of all kinds. So we can claim no knowledge of such particularly female finery.
As a result, we'll leave it to the pro, Monica Corcoran, with the full story over here.
(Warning to guys: Yes, the idea of marrying a blonde multimillionaire heiress to a beer distributorship in a part of the country that never sees snow or chains may sound like an intriguing job opening, especially during football and hockey seasons. But the aforementioned jewelry discussion is, uh, somewhat catty.)
-- Andrew Malcolm
During the 2000 presidential campaign, NBC reporter Lisa Myers sat in the living room of the Texas governor's mansion and asked the leading Republican candidate's wife, "Will you be more like Hillary Clinton or like Barbara Bush?"
And Laura Bush replied, "I think I'll be more like Laura Bush."
Her answer was dead-on for the spouse of any presid ential candidate.
They each craft their own campaign personality and find their own way through the noise, the bewildering crowds, the media landmines, the catty criticisms, the anguishing debates and unexpected audience questions, the policy innuendoes, the endless hotel rooms and late-night flights, the repetitive interviews and family strains, not least on the children back home.
They each seek to help their spouse's campaign, or at least not hurt it. But the national election ritual, now stretched over nearly two years, is a mind-numbing experience in the truest sense of the word.
Americans still don't know all that much about Cindy McCain or Michelle Obama. That will come out in dribs and drabs in coming weeks as the two parties' strategists' seek even the slightest advantage.
On "The View" Wednesday, viewers learned that Michelle, a strong public speaker though a presidential campaign rookie, is a relentless saleswoman with her eye on every opportunity to push her husband's candidacy.
A magazine cover story this weekend will reveal she has shopped at Target, as our colleague Elizabeth Snead reports over on the Dish Rag.
Michelle will probably relax some over time; most Americans seem to prefer their campaigning spouses on the softer-sell side, witness the resistance engendered by Hillary Clinton in the 1990s and to Bill Clinton's aggressive spousal touting this year, while...
Read more Poll finds Americans know Michelle Obama more, like her less than Cindy McCain »
In the best tradition of their show, the folks at "The View" quickly dispensed with one bit of serious business they were compelled to confront during Michelle Obama's "co-hosting" stint today -- a discussion of her comment about being "really proud of my country" for "the first time in my adult lifetime" (which you can read about here).
 That dispensed with, Obama settled into free-flowing chitchat during the ABC program that produced these tidbits:
** Her typical breakfast consists of toast, fruit and bacon. Indeed, "We're bacon eaters," she said of herself and her husband, Barack Obama. The dietician sharing the segment with her predictably recommended "lean, turkey bacon."
** She long ago gave up on panty hose, in part because they run so easily, particularly for a woman of her height (5' 11").
** "Kids are drawn to" her husband, she speculated, because "his first name is easy to say." In fact, some tots have been known to refer to him as "Baracko."
Obama made a point, as she made her entrance onto the set at the show's start, to offer her co-hosts what she wryly termed her "signature greeting" -- fist bumps.
That was a reference, of course, to the boneheaded segment Fox News recently aired on the fist bumps the Obamas exchanged two weeks ago on the night Barack snared enough delegates to become the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee.
Obama seems to be adapting to her heightened profile, which includes sharing the cover with her husband on the new edition of US Weekly (which our friends at the Chicago Tribune's Swamp blog write about here). She was cool and collected during her "View" appearance; if anyone was nervous, it was Whoopi Goldberg, who spilled the contents of her coffee cup just as the show broke for its first commercial.
For Ticket coverage of Cindy McCain's TV appearances, including "The View," go here.
--Don Frederick
Photo credit: ABC
Michelle Obama revealed this morning that she's got a role model who many might consider an unlikely choice for her: Laura Bush.
 In one of the highlights of her much-anticipated appearance on ABC's "The View," the prospective first lady told Barbara Walters and the show's four other regular hosts that she was "touched" by understanding words the current first lady recently directed her way.
Bush, in an interview with ABC News, had been asked to comment on the quote that continues to dog Obama -- her comment four months ago, as her husband grabbed the lead in the battle for the Democratic presidential nomination, that "for the first time in my adult lifetime, I'm really proud of my country."
Bush let her off the hook, saying, "I think she probably meant ‘I’m more proud.’ ... You have to be really careful in what you say because everything you say is looked at and in many cases misconstrued.”
We noted previously that Obama owed Bush a big thank you. And, it turns out, that's exactly how Obama reacted -- she said she has sent Bush a note expressing her appreciation.
She also said she's "taking some cues" from how the first lady has handled life in the political spotlight, praising her "calm, rational approach." (The Times' Johanna Neuman, writing for our new "Countdown to Crawford" blog, has more on Obama's comments here. And, because so many were eager to see how Michelle handled herself, so does our Show Tracker blog.)
Obama had sought to clarify her "proud" remark almost immediately but, not surprisingly, she was asked about it again today. She's pretty much got her answer down pat now, saying, "Of course, I'm proud of my country. Nowhere but in America could my story be possible."
What she was trying to express back in February, she added, was how proud she was of the "political process" and the interest the race between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton had sparked.
-- Don Frederick
Photo credit: ABC
Fresh from its fist bump flap, Fox News is taking new flak for a screen caption that referred to Michelle Obama as her husband's "baby mama."
Even conservative commentator Michelle Malkin, who was on camera Wednesday afternoon when the line "OUTRAGED LIBERALS: STOP PICKING ON OBAMA'S BABY MAMA" flashed underneath her, has distanced herself from the phrase. In a posting Wednesday night, Malkin wrote: "I did not write the caption, and I was not aware of it when it ran (the Baltimore studio doesn’t have a monitor). I don’t know if the caption writer was making a lame attempt to be hip, clueless about the original etymology of the phrase, or both."
Still, Malkin goes off on a tangent on how Michelle Obama, in the past, has referred to her mate as her "baby's daddy" (the point being, presumably, that the phrase was thus in play). You can read Malkin's post here; it includes some of the nasty e-mails she received following her Fox appearance.
The folks at Fox are developing something of an obsession over Barack Obama's wife. Tonight's Bill O'Reilly show, according to network promos, will include a discussion of her by conservative radio talk show host Laura Ingraham.
The other recent brouhaha ...
Read more Fox News in trouble again over Obama smear: 'baby mama' »
This might shock you, but Bill and Hillary Clinton's people are still seething over Hillary Clinton's defeat in the Democratic primaries. It's already been -- what? -- five days since she surrendered after XX years of planning, working and dreaming of winning the biggest political prize in America.
Now comes word that those close to the Clintons are reportedly keeping lists of disloyal former associates who have defected to the camp of Illinois Sen. Barack Obama. A less polite term might be "traitors." Or even "enemies."
According to a new article, "the Clintons get hundreds of requests for favors every week," said Terry McAuliffe, the chairman of Hillary Clinton's recently deceased presidential campaign. "Clearly, the people you're going to do stuff for in the future are the people who have been there for you."
McAuliffe emphasized that "revenge is not what the Clintons are about." The accounting is more about being practical, he said, adding: "You have to keep track of this."
These details come from a New York Times story, since denied by the Clintons, about how the pair track those who cross them. High on that list would have to be New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, who was given several plum jobs by President Clinton, only to turn around and endorse Obama.
Good luck living long with that kind of anger bottled up inside. Oh, wait, the lists don't exist.
-- Andrew Malcolm
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 ...
Read more Top of the Ticket, the start of Year Two »
Our colleague Robin Abcarian has a good piece over on The Times' Campaign '08 page and, being the great writer that she is, she sums it up best herself with her lede: "They loved to hate Hillary Rodham Clinton. They loved to hate Teresa Heinz Kerry. And now, it appears, conservative voices are energetically taking on Michelle Obama."
Abcarian delves into the Tennessee Republican Party's Web video mocking Obama's "For the first time in my adult lifetime, I am really proud of my country" comment and how it will echo through the fall election. More significantly, the piece raises the question of whether a candidate's spouse is fair game. There are several ways to slice that up, but you have to figure that if a spouse is out t here on the campaign trail, the spouse -- be it Obama, Bill Clinton or Cindy McCain -- is fair game, for fair criticism.
What's curious is that the most vocal critics, as Abcarian writes, tend to be conservatives sniping at Democrats. (But then, Republican candidate spouses haven't made as much news as the Democratic spouses). And fairness tends to be in the eye of the beholder (Evidence: the comment sections on this and other blogs).
But for the candidates, the prime issue is to make sure the spouse isn't stumbling around off message, and saying things that anger the very people you're trying to appeal to and give ammunition to those who oppose you.
-- Scott Martelle
Photo: Justin Sullivan / Getty Images
You know that unidentified estranged wife of a Reno doctor that the governor of Nevada is not having an affair with?
Well, during one month last year he exchanged 850 text messages with her phone from his official state phone, at 15 cents per.
It's all part of an increasingly messy divorce after 22 year s between the 63-year-old Gov. Jim Gibbons, a former military and commercial pilot, and his wife, Dawn, 54, who formerly ran two Las Vegas wedding chapels. She's also served in the state legislature. Hey, it's Nevada remember.
The Times' Ashley Powers has all the background in her story here this morning.
Anyway, Dawn's original divorce papers included references to her husband's infatuation and infidelities with a marital intruder who was the estranged wife of a Reno doctor. (Are there any other kinds?)
Today, the Reno Gazette-Journal published Nevada....
Read more Nev gov Gibbons sends 100s txt msgs 2 other womans cell, not wifes »
Every White House needs a doghouse. Americans, who spend more money on their pets than many countries do on education, expect their presidents to have pets. And it's easy in the White House because there's not that many white carpets and always ample staff around to clean up after them.
President Bush and Laura Bush had Spot, who had the run of the Texas Governor's Mansion and pretty much thought he was in charge. He used to hang out under the desk in the security office, where he could monitor all the cameras and alarms that told him when to bark. Then the Bushes had Barney, a gift from former New Jersey Gov. Christie Todd Whitman. And the Clintons had a dog too, but Secret Service protection apparently didn't apply to him; he got run over in Chappaqua, N.Y.
So what are petless aspiring White House wannabes like Barack and Michelle Obama to do? They don't have a dog. This could cost them a chunk of the crucial pet vote come Nov. 4.
Petless lives may make sense for busy young urban couples in big cities such as Chicago, which has a doggie doo-doo pickup law, and especially on that city's South Side, which is known as the kind of lawless place that cheers for the White Sox.
Oh, what we'd give right now for a photo of Obama, his hand in a plastic bag, bending over the grass by the curb as his relieved dog pulled on the leash.
We can't find that one yet, so we have to settle for this thing on the right, which has nothing to do with the Obamas but is cute and likely to attract more blog readers and comments about the appropriateness/stupidity of dressing up animals like people.
Never mind meeting unconditionally with the loopy Iranian president. What's the Obama campaign's political pet solution for the Democrats' presumptive nominee? Ah-hah, that decision has some parental conditions. The Obamas' decision will be postponed until after the election.
The Obamas have reportedly promised to get their two young daughters a dog. But not before the fall election. In fact, the girls have gotta wait for their doggie until next spring (because Mommy and Daddy are hoping to have a new address by then and lots of servants).
Now our blogging colleagues over at L.A. Unleashed, thanks to The Times' Robin Abcarian, bring the waiting world word that the Obamas' future dog could well be a goofy-looking thing called a goldendoodle. No, really. You can see a picture of one and read more by clicking here.
A presidential goldendoodle?
-- Andrew Malcolm 
Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois is, of course, back on the campaign trail today, pitching his economic plans, as word leaks out about the wonderfully mundane weekend he enjoyed with his family for a change in Chicago.
Just don't ask about the golf game, please.
On his first weekend as the Democratic Party's presumptive presidential nominee -- and as Sen. Hillary Clinton surrendered her onetime front-runner's campaign to the inevitable delegate math of Obama's victory and endorsed her competitor with all the right words -- Obama headed out for the golf course.
Never mind.
All right, so the media asked. They had to after seeing the Illinois senator heading out of his South Side Chicago house Saturday with a golf bag over his shoulder just as Clinton was preparing to speak in Washington, D.C. So we can now add golf to the list of recreational sports that Obama has not mastered, the list that started with his 37 score bowling in Pennsylvania. Actually, that may win him some votes from sympathetic dufus duffers.
Asked about the senator's weekend of rest and relaxation after clinching the Democratic presidential nomination, his spokesman had this to say about a golf outing:
"They went to a golf course, and they swung golf clubs," said spokesman Robert Gibbs, "but I don't think it was real pretty."
The senator, Gibbs said, also parented "a slumber party for his new 7-year-old,'' and added that Obama also "went for a bike ride with his wife and kids and some neighbors. ... He had a nice, relaxing weekend.''
For more on the Gibbs interview, click here.
-- Andrew Malcolm
Chances are, variations of the introduction Cindy McCain got today from former Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger are going to become standard before Republican crowds.
"Cindy has always been a proud person and proud of her country. Not just once, but always," Eagleburger said in yielding the dais to McCain at a fundraiser for her husband, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, in Virginia (John McCain also was at the event, speaking after her).
The reference by Eagleburger, who served as State Department head under President George H.W. Bush, was to the mid-February remark by Michelle Obama that remains the most indelible mark she's made on the public consciousness.
"For the first time in my adult lifetime, I'm really proud of my country," Obama said at a Wisconsin rally as her husband staked out a lead in the Democratic presidential race that he would never relinquish.
The candidate's wife quickly offered a clarification to try to tamp down the resulting tempest, but the effort has proven largely futile (thanks in part to GOP partisans and conservative bloggers who rarely miss an opportunity to draw attention to her comment).
Coincidentally, before Eagleburger did his part along these lines, First Lady Laura Bush gave Obama a pass ...
Read more Michelle Obama's "proud" comment remains resonant »
We never saw THIS linkage coming: Michelle Obama and ... Barbara Bush?
Guy Trebay, writing in the New York Times Sunday Style section, admits it's an unlikely pairing --  even as he makes it. Here's the lead of his piece: "While it’s not often that Michelle Obama and Barbara Bush appear in the same sentence, there are those who think that, as Barack Obama’s historic candidacy powers along, his wife seems to be borrowing from the playbook of the wife of Bush 41 and mother of Bush 43. We are talking here in terms of image and style."
To see how Trebay backs up his contention, in a story headlined "She Dresses to Win," go here.
Michelle Obama's fashion sensibility also figures prominently in a Sunday commentary by the Washington Post's Robin Givhan (a Pulitzer Prize winner who caused a stir last summer with a controversial column on Hillary Clinton).
Givhan goes on at length about the striking sheath that Obama chose to wear as she shared a stage with her husband last Tuesday before he declared that the Democratic presidential race was over and that he was the party's presumptive nominee.
Writes Givhan: "The choice of violet stands out because it's not one of the primary colors so beloved by political spouses. ... Michelle Obama seems to choose her hues based on what looks best on her, ignoring the political how-to manual. And so it's no surprise that we should see colors like violet -- or chartreuse -- that are atypical. She is not standard first lady material. She is a black woman dressing to flatter her skin tone. Can shades of pumpkin or mustard be far behind?
Such questions are far beyond our keen, but now ...
Read more Michelle Obama spotlighted in two fashion-related articles »
Nobody's complaining here, but did anybody else notice a couple of unusual things about Hillary Clinton's weekend "event" where she suspended her own one-time, sure-thing presidential campaign and endorsed her more successful Democratic presidential rival, Sen. Barack Obama?
Obama himself couldn't make it to the Washington unity event. The victor had the day off in Chicago and was seen heading out with his golf clubs. Aides said he watched the speech on a computer.
Who knows, maybe he wasn't even invited. Clinton and Obama have exchanged some pretty sharp barbs in recent months and that's going to take some time for each of them to pretend to get over. They'll no doubt have some kind of friendly joint media event in the near future. Ten gallons of gas says they raise clasped hands.
Clinton said all the right things in her speech, mentioned Obama 15 times by name. It was, not surprisingly, a moment for her people and mostly about her campaign. You can read The Ticket's account of her remarks and the full text here. (There's also a new retrospective photo gallery of her historic campaign available here.)
"Today, as I suspend my campaign," she said, "I congratulate him on the victory he has won and the extraordinary race he has run. I endorse him, and throw my full support behind him. And I ask all of you to join me in working as hard for Barack Obama as you have for me."
The clear words were delivered dutifully with a strong voice and we'll all no doubt see them repeated many times in coming weeks by the Obama campaign, which must desperately find a strategy to hold the crucial Clinton supporters in the Democratic column on Nov. 4. Clinton says she'll help with that.
But watch the video here. And look at Clinton's face. Are those teeth clenched? Because that face is sure not smiling warmly as she carefully reads verbatim her heartfelt words of admiration and endorsement.
The other thing that had escaped our notice until we got a message from loyal Ticket reader Michelle and heard about a heated debate going on over at Facebook is, look a few seconds at the Clinton family in this photo from Saturday.
Notice anything?
The Ticket usually leaves celebrity sartorial observations to our fellow bloggers at LATimes.co m. But check out the Clintons' wardrobes for this celebration of a remarkable, genderly historic and narrowly defeated campaign and the earnest endorsement of the party's new Chosen One.
All three of the Clintons are perfectly dressed -- for a funeral.
Nothing wrong with that, of course. It was a death of sorts. Personal choice rules. But in major national political campaigns, where appearances are so important because television images are so important, such things don't happen by accident.
Perhaps these simultaneous wardrobe selections are not symbolism or a silent statement or an unconscious reflection of their feelings after all these months and millions of dollars of useless campaigning.
Three dark suits all at once is probably just a coincidence. What do you think?
(To see some of Sen. Clinton's other color preferences during her campaign, click on the Read more line below.)
--Andrew Malcolm
Photo Credits: Justin Sullivan / Getty Images
Read more Were other messages sent from Hillary Clinton's Saturday surrender? »
In the concession speech Barack Obama's team would have written for Hillary Clinton, she might not have waited quite so long to first broach his name.
And, as she hailed the barriers she broke as the first woman to mount a sustained run for the White House, the Obama campaign definitely would have included more mention of the history he made. (Our sister blog, Show Tracker, has a discussion of gender and the Democratic race here.)
But, bottom line, Obama got what he wanted: several succinct sound bites of Clinton pledging her fealty to the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee (whose achievement, let's face it, still must be difficult for Clinton to process).
Assuming that the vast, vast majority of Americans had better ways to spend their weekend than tune in to Clinton's Saturday speech -- which began about 45 minutes later than its scheduled start at noon EDT -- it will be through these sound bites that most will learn of her message.
She had talked for more than six minutes to a packed house at Washington's National Building Museum without mentioning Obama (for a retrospective new photo gallery of Clinton's historic campaign, go here).
She had reached a point where the omission was calling attention to itself. But then the payoff moment came, and in retrospect the buildup was appropriate.
Her listeners, after all, were her people, and they had come to shower her with affection. So after giving them that chance, as well as patting herself on the back, she turned to the future, urging her supporters to "do all we can to help elect Barack Obama the next president of the United States."
From then on, the well-crafted speech included periodic references to Obama, including the big one: "I endorse him and throw my full support behind him."
And then there was this embrace of Obama's slogan: "Today, I am standing with Sen. Obama to say, 'Yes we can.' "
The words did not ring hollow. And she already, in a private chat with her major donors on Friday, has stressed her willingness to hit the campaign trail on his behalf and, if he wants, with him.
The latter half of Clinton's address (full text available at the end of this item) ....
Read more Hillary Clinton gives Barack Obama the quotes he wanted »
OK, give yourself a little treat for making it through to Friday afternoon and in a couple of minutes go read the revealing and entertaining interview by our colleague, James Rainey, of one of the neatest bylines going these days in online or print journalism -- Mayhill Fowler.
Sound familiar?
She just happens to be the Huffington Post media writer who revealed that "inartful" bitter small-town guns and religion crack of Barack Obama's some weeks back at an allegedly private fund-raiser in a San Francisco mansion that got the Ivy League-educated lawyer in so much trouble for an elitist streak that didn't go over too well with central Pennsylvania's small-town voters.
Imagine politicians saying one thing in San Francisco and another in a Keystone State bowling alley. And while the professional ...
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bride-to-be and
Crist's flame of the past nine months is Carole Rome, 38, president of her family's century-old costume business, where some of the costumes are of the variety not likely to go over well with the Christian right (may we direct you to Devilicious and Marie Antoinette). Rome and ex-husband, Todd Rome, CEO of Blue Star Jets, have two children, ages 11 and 9. Crist, 51, was married briefly in his early 20s and has no children.
