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As Barack Obama and John McCain take their sweet time settling on running-mate choices, one result is that the net cast in the inevitable guessing game gets wider and wider.
As The Times' Doyle McManus aptly put it in a recent overview on the plethora of vice-presidential prospects: "Never in modern memory have so many eminent people been mentioned for a job that has been compared -- unfavorably -- to a bucket of warm spit."
In the spirit of such speculation, veteran political journalist Paul West this weekend spotlighted two possibilities -- one for Obama, the other for McCain -- who definitely would be surprise picks.
For the Democrats, West offered up Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island.
In a definite understatement, West writes that Reed "isn't flashy, and he wouldn't upstage the star." But here's the core of the case he makes for the lawmaker with virtually no national profile: "He's a Catholic with working-class roots (his father was a school janitor) and could enhance the ticket's appeal to those swing voters. He has expertise on issues at the center of the campaign debate: economics and the housing crisis.
"More important, he would offset Obama's lack of national security experience. Reed, 58, has a reputation as a serious thinker and is a respected voice on defense matters. He's a West Point graduate and Army Ranger with views that are right in line with Obama's. He voted against the 2002 Iraq war resolution and became an early critic of the way the war was fought while working to increase the size of the Army."
For the Republicans, West goes one better in the obscurity department -- dropping the little-known name of Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. He notes: "On a personal level, Huntsman and McCain both have adopted children from Asia. (Huntsman's are from China and India; McCain's is from Bangladesh.) Their moderate-conservative political views are in sync, and Huntsman has gone out of his way to praise McCain's stance on immigration reform."
West's complete piece, in which he also says that Bill Clinton's 1992 selection of Al Gore "is widely regarded by strategists in both parties as the best vice-presidential pick in at least 20 years," can be read on The Swamp blog.
--Don Frederick
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
Barack Obama frequently bemoans that the biggest downside for him about running for the world's most important job is the amount of time he's away from his two young daughters, but lately he's worked more family time into his schedule.
 He spent much of last weekend on the home front in Chicago -- foregoing, somewhat surprisingly, a nearby meeting of the centrist Democratic Leadership Council. And Tuesday night, he got to watch his eldest daugther, Malia, play soccer (working it in after delivering a speech in Ohio on how he would operate the faith-based initiative started by President Bush and before traveling today to Colorado to talk about how he would run a national service program).
The Times' Peter Nicholas was near Obama as the candidate and his wife, Michelle, sauntered onto the athletic field at the University of Illinois at Chicago, well prepared with matching bags containing fold-up chairs.
Nicholas reports that when the Obamas arrived, some friends and acquaintances came over to shake hands or hug them. But after that, they were largely left alone -- there was a game to watch, after all.
Before the action began, Obama playfully kicked a ball around with a small boy. And, Nicholas relates, he showed far more dexterity than he exhibited in that Altoona, Pa., bowling alley a few months back.
During a break in Malia’s game, she wandered over to the sidelines and Obama offered some pointers on proper kicking form. And as play proceeded, his younger daughter, Sasha, sat in his lap for awhile.
Obama's night was not completely given over to recreation, however. About 9 p.m. (CDT), he arrived at his campaign headquarters for a confab that lasted a more than two hours. Presumably, the kids were in bed when he returned home.
-- Don Frederick
Photo credit: Associated Press
It attracted attention last summer when the then-crowded field of Democratic presidential contenders stiffed the annual convention, held in Nashville, of the Democratic Leadership Council (which, we noted in a post at the time, once was "the prime incubator for fresh party approaches to politicking and governing, with an emphasis on addressing middle-class concerns)."
Today, the DLC wrapped up its 2008 gathering in, of all places, Chicago. Yet despite the convenient location for the newly crowned presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, the Windy City's own Barack Obama, the DLC still isn't feeling the love.
Obama was back in his hometown Sunday but, rather than swing by the convention, he was represented by a surrogate. Chicago Mayor Richard Daley pressed his case, explaining to the conventioneers that Obama needed some family time.
Despite the absence of the party's star attraction, DLC members were strongly urged in a closing speech by the group's head, former Rep. Harold Ford of Tennessee, to marshal their efforts on Obama's behalf.
The Chicago Tribune's Swamp blog wrote about the wrapup on the conclave in an item headlined "DLC leaders embrace Obama," which can be read here.
-- Don Frederick
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.
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
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
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
OK, he didn't bring it up.
But when Adam Boulton, a SkyNews TV reporter in Britain, asked President Bush if his final seven months in office was the end of the Bush political dynasty, he could have demurred, given that some number of folks back home are counting the days until Jan. 20 and his popularity rating rivals the percentage of people who are certain the Cubs will win the World Series this year.
Bush was dismissive about paying attention to his sunken favorability ratings or even high ones. "You can't lead in this world," he said, "if you're chasing something as temporary as a popularity poll."
The president and Laura Bush were asked about numerous subjects during the 19-minute interview, which you can watch in its entirety here. Laura Bush, for instance, said she'd leave choosing a female vice presidential candidate up to each party's nominee.
But asked if she'd like to see a female president, she replied, "Sure," then quickly added with a laugh, "a Republican woman."
The political dynasty question came near the end of the interview. "Well," the president said, "we've got another one out there who did a fabulous job as governor of Florida, and that's Jeb, " Bush said, ever the proud brother. "But you better ask him about running for president."
Unmentioned was George P. Bush, Jeb's son, pictured above, who's campaigned for his family, displayed some political presence and has not hidden his interest in politics someday. But his time has yet to come.
--Andrew Malcolm
Photo credit: Associated Press
For those of you who still can't quite accept the fact that Hillary Clinton is gone, finished, beaten, defeated as a Democratic presidential candidate, her campaign has just posted an online photo album.
For a walk down memory lane, go here. But FIRST, be warned: She's gonna hit you up for money on every page. There's that $2 0-million-plus campaign debt to pay off.
It seems like only two weeks ago today that the gritty, determined candidate who went farther than any other serious female candidate declined to concede and appeared to be ready to fight on for some time.
But then the next morning the Three Democratic Musketeers -- Howard Dean, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid -- launched their preplanned pre-dawn publicity offensive giving party superdelegates two whole days to make up their mind on their favorite candidate, Clinton or Barack Obama, knowing full well the latter already had it in the bag, delegate-wise.
They headed Hillary off at the pass. And after moving through her five stages of grief Clinton gave her gracious surrender/endorsement speech the following Saturday. With those secret signs of friendship buried within.
Since then -- poof! -- she's disappeared. Seems like there's a hole in our life after 17 months of Hillary Clinton all day most days, nothing. Suddenly. Nada.
Some polls seem to show her followers, namely older women, falling in line behind Obama, although our comment board sure doesn't show that.
Anyway, for a little trip down memory lane complete with photos of Hillary and Chelsea and, oops, wait, no Bill photos. Not one little snapshot to commemorate his angry outbursts. No head about to explode after another primary defeat for his spouse. Not one hubby pic in the whole book. Hmmm.
Wonder what that's about? We'll have to wait and see what the National Enquirer can make out of that.
--Andrew Malcolm
Photo credit: AP
First, last fall, there were all kinds of people, a number of them Ron Paul supporters, dashing from Internet site to Internet site suggesting that John McCain could not serve as president of the United States.
That was because he was born outside the United States and, therefore, not native-born, as presidents must be constitutionally.
McCain was, in fact, born in a U.S. military hospital in the Panama Canal Zone, where his father was serving in the Navy. That was, in fact, American-controlled territory at the time.
More importantly, his parents were both American citizens, so he could have been born on Mars and still been an American at birth. And a sense of the Senate resolution took care of any lingering doubts.
Now come the rumors about Barack Obama's birthplace, that he was really born in his father's native Kenya, so like Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who was born in Austria, he can't become a U.S. president.
Same rule would apply as for McCain. Obama's mother was an American. So is her son.
The Obama campaign has provided at The Ticket's request what it says is a copy of the Illinois senator's official birth certificate, reproduced here, showing he was born in Hawaii on Aug. 4, 1961, at 7:24 p.m., which means he was late for dinner, just like a politician. Click on the photo to enlarge for reading.
Now, about the citizenship of all those people planting these rumors.
(UPDATE: In reaction to some of the comments left below challenging the veracity of the document, Ben LaBolt, an Obama campaign spokesman, sent the following reaction to The Ticket: "I can confirm that that is Sen. Obama's birth certificate.")
--Andrew Malcolm
The Ticket celebrated its 1st birthday this week.
As we noted on the actual day, June 11, it's been an eventful year that began with front-runners who ended in the rear. We wanted The Ticket to be a virtually round-the-clock, coast-to-coast operation with unpredictable items written in surprising ways.
We wish you could have been at our party. An amazing time. Hillary Clinton was there. A new pantsuit. Barack Obama was hitting everyone up for more money. Mitt Romney was handing it out. Rudy Giuliani was taking some to cover his debts.
John Edwards was hedging on his plans. Fred Thompson was supposed to attend, but he overslept after another long two-hour campaign day. John McCain called for a 100-year party.
And Rep. Ron Paul, the millionaire with his money in precious metals, was warning everyone about an impending financial crisis if we don't dump the Fed. And Al Gore couldn't decide if he wasn't coming or not.
We've published some 2,300 items, received nearly 47,000 reader comments and more than 11.5 million page views in this last year. We're now ranked in the world's top 140 blogs and we thank you for that.
We look forward to thousands more items and comments and millions more readers through this historic election and way beyond.
As a gesture of our generosity here on The Ticket, we wanted everyone to have a piece of our cake. So here you go. Dig in. Enjoy. Thanks again.
-- Andrew Malcolm and Don Frederick
Photo Credit: Scott Kraft
John McCain got an early Father's Day gift from daughter Meghan McCain -- she changed her voter registration from independent to Republican.
"I did this as a symbol of my commitment to my dad and to represent the faith I have in his ability to be an effective leader for our country and to grow and strengthen the Republican Party when he is elected president of the United States," she wrote on her blog. "Happy Father's Day, Dad!"
But the bigger present from daughter to dad might be the book she's working on -- a children's story about her father due out in September. The press release says it's untitled but Simon & Schuster's website says it's called "My Dad, John McCain." The book is geared toward kids ages 5 to 10. Not many voters in that demographic, so you can't accuse the McCains of pandering to the youth vote. But those kids have parents.
"I am truly excited about the opportunity to write a children’s book about my father, who is not only a fantastic dad, but also a great American," the daughter said in the Simon & Schuster release. "This book will offer children the unique opportunity to see the character-building events that happened over his lifetime, experiences that led up to his current bid to become the future president of the United States."
All that in 32 pages. With illustrations (by Dan Andreasen).
-- Scott Martelle
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' »
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 »
John McCain has carefully avoided mentioning the military service of his son Jimmy, a Marine who returned from his first tour in Iraq earlier this year, on the campaign trail -- to prevent anyone from suggesting he would use his son’s service for political advantage.
But this morning, McCain surrogate Joe Lieberman invoked that service to defend McCain, who was under fire from Democrats for saying during an interview that it’s "not too important" when U.S. troops leave post-surge Iraq.
When McCain was asked in the NBC’s "Today Show" interview about whether he could estimate when U.S. troops could leave Iraq, he said "No, but that's not too important." On an ensuing conference call organized by McCain’s campaign, Lieberman charged McCain’s Democratic foes and Barack Obama's campaign with distorting McCain’s words "to distract the American people from the fact that John McCain has been both courageous and right about the surge in Iraq and Barack Obama has unfortunately been consistently wrong."
He noted that McCain was answering a question about his estimate of when troops would return from Iraq based on the success of the troop surge in Iraq.
Lieberman said it was outrageous for McCain's critics to suggest that he’s out of touch with the needs of our troops.
"More than most any American, Sen. McCain knows the sacrifices that our men and women in uniform make and the burden that their families bear, and it really is wrong to suggest otherwise," Lieberman said. "Obviously he knows that from his own—from his father’s service and the impact it had on his family; from his own service and incarceration; from his eight visits to Iraq -- on which I’ve been with him on a lot of them -- and interacting with our troops there; and of course from the fact that his son was deployed to Iraq."
Lieberman dropped off the conference call in the middle of questions from reporters. McCain's foreign policy advisor, Randy Scheunemann, declined to comment when asked whether Jimmy McCain's service would now be part of the campaign.
-- Maeve Reston
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 »
The debate is on: The widely circulated photograph of Barack Obama on a bicycle this last weekend either did the presidential candidate no favors, or actually helped his cause.
In an article in today's New York Daily News, writer David Saltonstall shows no mercy, declaring: "It wasn't a pretty picture: ill-fitting jeans, a tucked-in golf shirt, black-and-white socks and a helmet that could make Michael Dukakis blush."
 Yet in comments to Saltonstall, some Big Apple fashionistas cut Obama major slack. Simon Doonan, creative director of Barneys New York, says: "I like seeing my politicians in goofy weekend attire. It means they're thinking about more important stuff."
Newsweek's Andrew Romano notes today that when the shot of Obama on the bike as part of an excursion with his family in Chicago "hit the wires, the heavily trafficked right-wing message boards of Free Republic went wild."
Those postings, as you can imagine, weren't complimentary toward Obama (but several were creative).
Romano, though, argues that the "bike moment" will be a plus for the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee because it "makes him look like a normal, nerdy American dad."
Boston Herald columnist Margery Eagan also sees a political upside for Obama, and in doing so she directly confronts the race issue. She writes: "It’s hard to get Willie Hortoned -- turned into the radical black guy who gives white America the heebie jeebies -- when you look as suburban, as unchic, as let’s-hop-in-the-Explorer-and-head-to-Costco wonky as Obama looks in this oh-no! photo."
The rest of her piece can be read here.
On one point, we think all can agree: As Obama took some time to relax along Lake Michigan, it's wise that, unlike Democrat John Kerry during the 2004 campaign, he avoided windsurfing.
-- Don Frederick
Top photo: Barack Obama rides a bicycle built for one over the weekend in Chicago. Credit: Associated Press
Bottom photo: Former presidential candidate John Kerry gives windsurfing a whirl during his push for the White House in 2004. Credit: Agence France-Presse
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? »
After tending to one last bit of pressing business -- an unpublicized visit Thursday night with Hillary Clinton in Washington for a chat the entire political universe would have killed to overhear -- Barack Obama headed to his Chicago home for what his schedule listed as three days of downtime.
Cant' say the fellow didn't earn a long weekend. It was roughly 17 months ago that he began the quest that ended successfully this week for the Democratic presidential nomination; his schedule has been mostly nonstop over that period. And he routinely notes that the biggest negative about aspiring to become the leader of the Free World has been the long stretches he's away from his two young daughters.
Still, his timing also happens to be politically perfect.
Clinton, after doing her best to pretend not to have noticed that Obama beat her to the delegate majority finish-line Tuesday night, carved out Saturday for a farewell bow as a presidential candidate (at least in '08). It's unorthodox -- most vanquished candidates don't linger in their also-ran status quite so long, or finally pull the plug with quite so much grandeur.
But Clinton was no ordinary candidate and she ran no ordinary campaign (as she will no doubt point out -- frequently -- on Saturday).
So if you're Barack Obama -- and you need a break anyway -- why not stand down.
We don't imagine, though, that he'll stray too far from a television set as Clinton prepares to take the stage.
-- Don Frederick
The political drama of the day seems to be when will Hillary Clinton quit, but the real issue facing the Democrats now is how to retool themselves for the fall showdown with John McCain. And as our colleague Doyle McManus points out in today's paper, Barack Obama has some clear strengths, and some decided weaknesses, to wo rk on -- many of them exposed by the same primary and caucus process he narrowly survived to claim he has enough delegates to win the nomination at the August convention. Writes McManus: "Even
while celebrating his improbable achievement Tuesday night, Obama faced stinging reminders of challenges he has yet to overcome.
"He lost the primary election in South Dakota, as senior citizens and working-class white voters defiantly stuck with a fading Hillary Rodham Clinton, exit polls showed. Both voter groups are considered crucial to victory in November.
"After controversies over his former pastor and other issues, Obama has lost ground among the independent voters who are important in any presidential election. In February, 63% of independents said they had a favorable impression of the Illinois senator; last month, that number was down to 49%, the Pew Research Center said."
It's worth taking a moment to recall what's happened so far, because sometimes the full weight of history is hard to feel when you're in the midst of it. With the nation at war and the economy teetering on recession, a white woman -- a former first lady no less -- and a biracial man were the l ast two serious nomination contenders in a Democratic primary battle that lasted five months, burned through $400 million and shattered state voter-turnout records for primary elections and caucuses.
On the Republican side, we could well have witnessed the end of the dominant influence of social conservatives within the party, a role that has had a deep effect on national policies going back to the rise of Ronald Reagan a quarter-century ago.
And the fall general election could well be just as historic, as the Vietnam War generation squares off against those for whom that war exists in textbooks rather than personal memory. It also will likely be a fight over class -- the white working-class -- as well as Latinos, and independent and moderate Democratic women.
And, after eight years of an increasingly unpopular administration, and with Congress already shifted from Republican control to Democratic, the Fall could complete a realignment that began with the 2006 midterms -- a shift just as radical as the change between Jimmy Carter and Reagan, and between Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.
History unfolds, and as Walter Cronkite used to intone, "You are there."
-- Scott Martelle
Obama photo: Rick Loomis/Los Angeles Times
McCain photo: Mark Boster/Los Angeles Times
Have you heard the one about the powerful vice president who got up in front of a bunch of people that he probably dislikes the most of any, other than maybe special prosecutors? And he told the most hilarious joke about incest in West Virginia.
Which couldn't possibly have been funnier unless it was about incest in Mississippi.
But this being an election year, even though not for this vice president, and West Virginians being as totally humorless as everyone knows they are, Dick Cheney had to quickly issue a statement apologizing to the people of the little state without whose five electoral votes in 2000 he would long since be a full-time fly-fisherman or dove killer.
Widely considered the most powerful No. 2 in the country's history, Cheney also absolutely loves the media. Can't get enough of them. Us. Which is why he agreed to present a bunch of awards at a Monday lunch at the National Press Club, the same institution where....
Read more Dick Cheney, the constant comedian, lets some good ones fly »
A few weekends back, John Hager was the proud papa of the groom, no doubt beaming with pride and joy as his son, Henry, married President Bush's daughter Jenna at a relatively low-key wedding near Crawford, Texas.
This last weekend, the elder Hager had little reason to celebrate -- he was ousted as chairman of the Virginia Republican Party at a confab in Richmond.
It is awfully tempting to assume that Hager's fate just goes to show that there's little political percentage in getting too close to Bush these days.
Tempting, but off point.
Hager, 72, was defeated by 32-year-old Jeff Frederick (of no known relation to your dutiful blogger). The winner offered himself as a more conservative, vigorous leader for the Virginia GOP. And if there was a connection that was hurtful to Hager, it was his link to former Democratic Gov. Mark Warner. Hager held a midlevel job in the Warner administration, proof of moderate credentials that the state's Republican hard core didn't much appreciate.
Warner, who after a successful term as governor briefly flirted with launching an '08 presidential run, is back in the political news as his party's candidate for an open Senate seat in Virginia. And at the same convention where the state's Republicans consigned Hager to the sidelines, they picked as their candidate a former governor and a onetime (though very brief) presidential contender, Jim Gilmore.
-- Don Frederick
While Democratic honchos sought today to untangle the problems caused by the rogue Florida and Michigan primaries, the party was in danger of losing a high-profile vote -- that of Tony Rodham Hugh Rodham, the brother of Hillary Clinton.
[UPDATE: Correction from the original post; our reporter got it right, but we wrote Hugh when we meant Tony. Many, many apologies. And our thanks to readers who caught our error].
The Times' Faye Fiore found Rodham sitting in an Irish-themed bar across the street from the Washington hotel where the Democratic rules committee was grappling with the mess. He was drinking a pint ... and fuming.
“I’m just here to make sure Americans are represented by one vote for every person," he said, parroting the Clinton line that the results in the two states should be reflected in their totality at the Democratic convention.
With the Democratic National Committee likely to settle on, at some unknown point, a different solution that results in fewer delegates for Clinton, Rodham opined: "What the DNC and (Chairman) Howard Dean are doing is an absolute disgrace.”
The upshot?
Rodham, a self-described “yellow dog Democrat all my life,” is unsure who he would support in November if Clinton is not the party's standard bearer.
"If my sister doesn’t end up with the nomination, I gotta take a look at who I’m gonna vote for,” he said.
Horrors.
Does that mean, Fiore asked, Rodham would vote for Republican John McCain?
“I didn’t say that. It could be Bob Barr,” he said, referring to the Libertarian presidential candidate who, as a House member from Georgia, was a prime player in the impeachment of Rodham's brother-in-law, Bill Clinton).
With that, Rodham paid his check and gathered his family: his son (the grandson of California Sen. Barbara Boxer, whose daughter, Nicole, was once married to Rodham), his baby by his second marriage, asleep in a stroller, and his pregnant wife. They headed back ...
Read more Hillary Clinton's brother is one unhappy camper »
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
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