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Campaigning for the U.S. presidency has its really unpleasant personal aspects. Criticism of the candidate is hard for family members to take. And criticism of the family is hard for the candidate to take.
That's why, for instance, in 1999-2000 at their request, George W. Bush kept his teenage daughters out of the spotlight. Until  their recent "Access Hollywood" interview, the Obamas did the same with their younger daughters and later said they regretted that exposure.
But now Sen. Barack Obama says he wishes what he calls the conservative press would lay off his wife, Michelle, because she's a civilian who "didn't sign up for this."
Today, she campaigned in Washington state where the state Republican Party welcomed here with an ad (see video below the Read more line, with a hat tip to WakeUpAmerica).
Obama says he finds criticism of his spouse "infuriating." And he adds: "If they have a difference with me on policy, they should debate me. Not her."
In an interview this week with Glamour magazine, Obama complained that “the conservative press -– Fox News and the National Review and columnists of every ilk” had been too critical in its coverage of her.
He said he thinks reporters from those organizations “went fairly deliberately at her in a pretty systematic way” and, he asserted, “treated her as the candidate in a way that you just rarely see the Democrats try to do against Republicans.”
Obama would get a real argument about that from some....
Read more Barack Obama's infuriated by all this criticism of Michelle »
Presidential campaigns are much like a complex traveling circus, with teams assigned to develop messages to voters, teams designed to scout appropriate sites for candidate visits, teams assigned to prepare them and teams assigned to accompany the candidate and ensure a smooth appearance, most notably with the traveling and local media whose experience is reflected in the tone and detail of the coverage they provide to millions.
Sometimes the campaign venues are too small to accommodate the large press p acks traveling on the campaign plane, whose numbers jockeying for position would spoil the desired "getting-to-know-you-feel" the campaign wants for the TV cameras.
So pool reporters are chosen by turn to represent print and broadcast media, assembled elsewhere, and share what they see and hear with their absent colleagues in detailed Pool Reports, sometimes several a day and sometimes with professional asides to their colleagues.
From time to time through November, The Ticket is going to publish these pool reports in their entirety to give readers an inside feel for the kinds of detail they may not always see in the formal news coverage and to peer inside the raw material that journalists use to compile their coverage. Sometimes, as last night, the pool reports include details of an unexpected encounter.
This morning's Pool Report is No. 4 from Tuesday evening with Sen. John McCain in St. Louis. It includes a humorous addition at the end:
McCain Pool Report #4
7/15/08
ST. LOUIS—Showing his intimate knowledge of the Show Me State’s culture, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) made a pilgrimage to one of its vaunted institutions Tuesday night: Ted Drewes Frozen Custard.
The local dessert stand, which was founded in 1929, made its reputation on its 'concretes' cups of frozen custard that are so thick the servers flip them upside down before they....
Read more Ticket pool report: In the crowd with John McCain »
Necks craned at a town hall meeting in Albuquerque on Tuesday morning when in the middle of talking to voters, Sen. John McCain said he'd take a question from a reporter.
“When do you plan to announce the selection of your running mate?" asked the scribe, Jacob Schroeder.
McCain played it cool. “As soon as we can,” he replied.
Schroeder persisted: “What qualities are you looking for in a vice presidential running mate?”
“Someone exactly like you: vigorous, talented,” said McCain in a shocking display of pandering to the press.
“That person has to share not only my principles and my values, but also my priorities… Could I also remind you, and I am sure you know this because you study hard, the vice president of the United States has only two duties. One is to cast a tie vote in the Senate. The other duty is to inquire daily as to the health of the president, and I am sure that is a big job for whoever the vice president will be.”
Schroeder seemed satisfied. He works for Scholastic Kids News service, and his web page says he is 8 years old.
The last time a Scholastic reporter made news was back in December, when Chelsea Clinton, campaigning for her mother Hillary, took a different approach to a young questioner. She snubbed the Iowa fourth-grader, Sydney Rieckhoff, who wanted to ask her about her dad.
"I'm sorry, I don't talk to the press," said Clinton. "Even though I think you're cute."
(Chealsea's mother finished third in the Iowa Democratic caucus the next month.)
-– Robin Abcarian
Harvey Weinstein has announced that he'll publish next summer a book called "What Am I Doing Here?" by a former Brooklyn delivery boy named Lawrence Harvey Ziegler.
Should be a great read on the subway. All right, we're messing with ya. Lawrence Ziegler was the street name of someone no w known as Larry King, a former radio and now TV talk-show host who has interviewed pretty much everybody in the entire world, except a couple of taxi drivers in India and the Emperor of Japan.
Larry's going to reveal in his book what he thinks of every president since Lincoln. Just kidding. Since Nixon. And which ones he voted for.
Larry, a must-stop for presidential candidates, has left a mark on politics. Everyone who is anyone or wants to be in the world of politics comes through his studio because Larry's got no gotcha. He just wants to talk, actually listen. Lar's got no agenda. Just endless questions like regular people, only triter.
"I remind myself every morning," Larry has said. "Nothing I say this day will teach me anything. So if I'm going to learn, I must do it by listening."
Larry is an incredible listener, leaning on that shiny desk, sleeves ...
Read more Larry King to write on presidents he's known, his votes and all those wives »
Our friends over or up or wherever they are on the Entertainment section of LATimes.com took one look at today's new New Yorker magazine cover and plunged into researching nine other outrageous magazine covers that are rather eye-popping.
Thousands have read The Ticket's report from yesterday on the either incendiary or satirical cover of the Obamas -- Barack and Michelle -- in Muslim/freedom fighter gear, armed to the teeth, in the Oval office beneath an Osama bin Laden portrait while they burn the American flag. Other than that, what's to get excited about? That Ticket item is right here.
The new cover story photo gallery is also a hoot -- many political, some not. Remember the Yoko Ono/naked John Lennon cover that made you want to take a shower? Is peace political? Or the Time magazine cover story about Bill Clinton's extra-curricular troubles that perhaps accidentally had a pair of devil's horns coming out of his head?
There's Entertainment Weekly's nude Dixie Chicks cover after they said those naughty things overseas about President Bush and lost so much of their music sales in Tennessee and Texas.
Our personal favorite is the cover story in Vanity Fair titled "Is Barbara Bush as Tough as They Say?" that had a nicely-dressed photo of Demi Moore on the cover instead of the former first lady. Demi, Barbara, hey, it probably made sense at the design meeting. Except when you look closely at the photo, that's really not much of a suit on the Demster.
We actually recommend two places to check out. One is our blogging colleague Elizabeth Snead, over at Dish Rag, who's a lovely lady unless you're a celebrity and since we're not, she's good and has an alternative New Yorker cover some might like better.
And the other spot is the aforementioned, semi-political photo gallery, which you can access by clicking on the also aforementioned New Yorker cover below.
-- Andrew Malcolm 
We were somewhat chagrined to learn that The Ticket is not among John McCain's regular stops on the Internet. Then again, virtually no website is.
Indeed, his wife Cindy was completely chagrined that in detailing the very few blogs that his aides direct him to, McCain neglected to mention the one written by their daughter, Meghan.
That would be McCainblogette.com, for those who spend more time on a computer than the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, who is 71. And that category would be just about anyone with access to one.
In his wide-ranging interview published Sunday in the New York Times, he elaborated on his previous self-characterization as computer "illiterate." His wife and close associates “go on for me. I am learning to get online myself, and I will have that down fairly soon, getting on myself."
Once he masters that skill, he'll resist the next step -- "I don't expect to set up my own blog," he said.
Which is too bad, because that would be the perfect venue for him to one day reveal the jest that was on the tip of his tongue when he was asked if it was more difficult to battle Barack Obama for the presidency "because of the sensitivities of race."
McCain, the article reported, "responded wryly: 'I’d like to make a joke, but I can’t.' "
We doubt we are alone in being more than a bit curious just what that joke would be.
-- Don Frederick
As if he's not got enough to worry about with helpers like Phil Gramm, John McCain is learning the hard way that having the Gubernator on the stump for you can be a gamble.
The California governor appeared by tape on ABC’s "This Week" today intended, everybody thought, to give a boost to the Arizona senator's Republican candidacy for the White House.
But instead, when asked, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger seemed to suggest he would have no qualms about joining an administration run by someone called Barack Obama -- who, if memory serves, is the Democrat actually opposing the Republican man the Republican Schwarzenegger endorsed for president.
The show's host, George Stephanopoulos, questioned the governor about a report in Newsweek that the Democratic senator, if elected president, might ask the Republican governor to serve in an Obama Cabinet post, as something like an energy czar. Which is Russian for big kahuna, but you get the point.
The immediate answer from most any other McCain surrogate would be: "Are you serious?" "What are you drinking from that cup, George?" "Of course not." "Absolutely not." "No." An outburst of laughter combined with a shaking head. Or perhaps a cackle.
Everyone understands Schwarzenegger's got to live with his wife, Maria Shriver, who's a Democrat. And she's endorsed the other guy. Fine.
But instead of full support, what the McCain camp got was their surrogate nibbling at the Democratic bait.
Stephanopoulos: “If he were president and he called, you would at least take that call?”
Schwarzenegger: “I would take his call now, I will take his call when he's President. Any time. Remember, no matter who is president, I don't see this as a political thing, I see this as we always have to help no matter what the administration is.”
"When" Obama's president?
The governor might try to "clarify" Monday. But with friends like these ...
(UPDATE: Sure enough, as predicted the Governor made a clarifying statement Monday saying, among other things, "I have no interest in leaving the state of California until my mission is finished.")
-- Evan Halper
Perhaps inadvertently, Sen. Barack Obama tonight lifted a bit of the secrecy surrounding his upcoming trip overseas, telling reporters aboard his campaign plane that Sen. Jack Reed might accompany him to Iraq along with sometimes Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel.
When a reporter asked what might make Sen. Joe Biden and Hagel good traveling companions to Iraq, Obama made a very revealing correction:“It’s actually Sen. Hagel and Sen. Reed who may be coming with us.”
Well, now! So Biden, who says he doesn't work for anybody else, is not going with Obama? What's that do to the guessing game about the freshman Illinois senator's vice presidential pick, which had previously focused on Biden's foreign policy experience and his reported upcoming travels with Obama?
And does this put Reed of Rhode Island, a three-term ex-House member, two-term senator and ex-Army Ranger, into the VP mix?
Obama's comments came during an infrequent 20-minute exchange with reporters at the back of his plane en route from Chicago to San Diego, a late-night media availability which will help keep him in the news on an otherwise quiet news weekend when his opponent, Republican John McCain, is inactive.
Obama is scheduled to speak to Latino voters in San Diego on Sunday. He also was asked about recent fundraising figures and a crude comment made about him.
Obama went on to say that both Reed and Hagel are foreign affairs experts who “reflect a traditional bipartisan wisdom when it comes to foreign policy.”
“Neither are ideologues," he added, "but try to get the facts right and make a determination of what is best for U.S. interests.”
Then he added: “And they are good guys.”
Obama didn’t want to confirm a trip to Afghanistan, where....
Read more Obama reveals Biden not going overseas with him; it's Hagel, Reed »
In case you didn't know, there's a brand-new controversy raging about Jesse Jackson's whispered comment on Fox News about what he'd like to do to Barack Obama's private parts.
The controversy is not about whether the reverend's remarks are crude; that seems pretty well-established. And Jackson tried to preemptively apologize on another network as soon as Fox News ask ed him for comment before airing the tape.
The controversy is not over whether Jackson's mutilation desire shows a jealousy between the two Chicago South Side black leaders, at least one way on Jackson's part.
The controversy is over whether Jackson said he wanted to cut Obama's "nuts off" or "nuts out." No, really.
Apparently the actual tape is somewhat muffled. Although establishing such genital distinctions was not covered much back in journalism school, for the record for the moment The Times is going with "nuts off," because that's what Fox News showed on its screen caption.
There is, however, a good bit more to this simmering story, which thrust Jackson back into the publicity spotlight where he always looks so comfortable. And, as usual, The Times' Matea Gold doesn't miss a detail. She has the full engrossing story now over on the Show Tracker blog.
We'll just say also for the record that, frankly, "off" or "out" seems like pretty much the same effect and pretty much the same pain. But we're pretty much speculating there, fortunately.
--Andrew Malcolm
The John McCain "Straight Talk Express" rolled into Hudson, Wis., this morning for a town hall session on women in business. But the conversation wasn't all business, as the attendees also got a prescription from Cindy McCain on weight loss, our colleague Maeve Reston reports.
These kinds of events usually feature two or three introductory speakers, and first up this morning was J&L Steel Erectors Chief Executive LouAnne Reger. She told the crowd of more than 500 people -- mostly women -- about her two divorces, losing weight and a recent Nordstrom shopping trip. Cindy McCain then followed with her own weight-loss experience.
The best way to lose 30 pounds, she said, was to get out on the campaign trail. As proof: The white pants she was wearing were two sizes too big, she said. This, as Reston points out, comes from a woman who told Vogue that she wears size 0 Lucky Jeans. Not the kind of detail that's likely to strike a chord of empathy. Or, for that matter, the kind of experience the women in the crowd -- any crowd -- could replicate. How many will have a chance to hit the presidential campaign trail, as spouses or candidates?
Before the session began, the attendees were sung to by a barbershop quintet wearing American flag ties. The song list? "Let Me Call You Sweetheart," "A Bicycle Built for Two" and "You Raise Me Up" (dedicated to the women in the crowd who have been "touched by cancer").
By the time it was candidate McCain's turn, Reston reports, he looked very relieved to get the mic.
-- Scott Martelle
Yes, it's hard to picture, but good for her.
The woman who made pantsuits a staple of the late-night joke sessions and nearly became the first female presidential candidate of a major American political party has revealed a secret about her new life as presidential loser.
Lost in the thousands of words Hillary Clinton uttered in praise of Barack Obama, her party's nominee, and its political agenda during a speech earlier today to 2,000 women supporters in New York City, were a few litt le-noticed paragraphs that caught The Ticket's eye.
The 60-year-old senator tossed them out to the receptive audience almost in passing. But The Times' Louise Roug was transcribing the speech (which you can find in its entirety in one of our occasional In Her Own Words items here).
And here's what Clinton said in a kind of girlish admission:
"There are some differences (between Obama and myself).
"For example, Barack said (to me), 'you look kind of rested.' I said, 'well, kind of is the right descriptor.'
"But I'm actually -– don't tell anybody –- trying to exercise a little bit, which I'm told does wonders for a person.
"Because during the campaign," Clinton continued in a confessional tone, "I'm sure you've read, Barack would get up faithfully every morning and go to the gym. And I would get up, and get my hair done.
"It's one of those Ginger Rogers-Fred Astaire things that are part of our lives."
Yes, sure, she was dating herself by referencing movies from the '30s and '40s (the nineteen-thirties and forties, when Democrats owned the White House), when the often-paired duo of Rogers and Astaire would glide across studio floors as if their feet weren't moving.
And maybe some of the 30-somethings in the audience were puzzled enough to hustle back to their office and try Googling these Asthair and Rodgers people. And they would learn that she was originally Virginia McMath and died in 1995 and he was originally Frederick Austerlitz and passed away in 1987.
But that's history. Clinton's coiffured confession and romantic reminiscence by someone who looked anything but romantic going after politics' Big Prize these last 18 months was rather refreshing. We wish her luck on the treadmill and the elliptical.
Now, how long do you suppose before someone re-starts pairing up Obama-Clinton as an ideal political couple dancing their way together to Nov. 4?
-- Andrew Malcolm
Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire dance the Oscar-winning number "The Continental" in the 1934 classic "The Gay Divorcee."
File photo
Turns out Jesse Jackson's whispered crudity on Fox News about what he'd like to do to Barack Obama's privates almost made it through without notice.
Jackson, who has eagerly worn microphones over the years almost as much as Al Sharpton, obviously knew he could be heard. Why else whisper? Which he did, criticizing Obama to a fellow black guest on "Fox & Friends" before the show went live.
But as The Times' diligent Matea Gold reports here today, no one in the Fox control room caught the exchange at the time.
It was only during the night that a Fox staffer who was transcribing the program caught the whisper and then noticed Jackson's hand-cutting motion beneath the desk.
The catch worked its way up the in-house news chain and, finally, onto the air Wednesday. But Jackson was tipped about the imminent embarrassment when Fox News fairly asked him for comment before its broadcast, and Jackson immediately arranged to go on CNN to attempt a preemptive broadcast apology.
Judging by online reaction, that didn't work too well. And people ....
Read more Psst, Jesse Jackson's crude Obama whisper almost slipped through »
The unity thing is proving something of a stubborn problem for the no longer officially dueling camps of Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. There've been reports in recent days of some die-hard Clinton supporters being less than supportive of the fellow who crunched her.
But confirmed Clintonite Terry McAuliffe says it's only one or two people. So that can't mean much. And there's probably hardly any Obama folks saying, "Remind me again why I should help pay the bills for the travel and events when she was always attacking Obama?"
But what happened Wednesday night was a little embarrassing.
After the two Democrats voted differently on the Senate's FISA retroactive surveillance O.K. bill, Obama flew Clinton from Washington to New York City on his plane for two fundraisers where they'd both appear together and she'd graciously introduce him and there'd be that cheek peck.
And Obama would repeat his eloquent thing about change and how George W. Bush is really the first two terms of John McCain or something and ask the folks for money and kinda push them toward retiring Clinton's campaign debt. Depending on the numbers you hear, her debts could be as large as $23 million or maybe "only" $10 million, which is like -- what? -- 20 speeches or something for her husband.
So The Times' Louise Roug was at the Hyatt in the crowd of 1,000 who'd each paid $1,000 (what a coincidence!) so they could also pay cash at the bar. She dutifully listened to his familiar, 30-minute talk about promise. The crowd applauded. "Signed, Sealed, Delivered" blasted out of the sound system and Obama bounced off the stage to work the rope line and shake hands, not looking nearly as weary as The Times story says he is.
But about two minutes later Obama bounces back onto the stage. (See the video below.) Waves his hands. Had he forgotten to mention about the jobs program?
The music stopped. Or maybe he neglected to praise his distant cousin Dick Cheney?
"Hold on a second," he shouted. "I got one more thing." Oops! It seems Obama had forgotten to mention the part about giving money to Hillary Clinton in the spirit of unity, the whole reason they were gathered there in the first place.
"Sen. Clinton still has some debt. And I could have had some debt -- if I hadn't won -- so I know the drill. There are many supporters of mine here who have not yet given something to help her retire that debt. I would be very grateful if you looked under your chair. I think there should be an envelope or a pledge sheet or something.
"If people would take the time not only to pick it up but put something in it and mail it back...that is part of the process of making sure that we're unified...Allright, turn on the music again. Let's keep on partying."
And so they did. In perfect unity, no doubt.
--Andrew Malcolm
Photo credit: CNN
This is a new Ticket experiment. We're going to try this from time to time until Nov. 4 with new ads from the presidential campaigns -- maybe even ads for other offices, if they're interesting.
But instead of us writing on what these television commercials are about, we're asking you to tell us and the thousands of other daily Ticket readers what they're about. Why waste time talking back to your television screen?
You, the voters, tell us right here right now what you see in them that you like, didn't know, didn't like, whatever. It's your turn to blog about the campaigns.
This one is from Sen. John McCain's campaign.
Tell us what it's about and what you think in the Comments below. And since this isn't a pep rally for or against anyone, try to be open-minded, regardless of whom you may be currently supporting. We'll have other candidate ads posted here in coming weeks.
-- Andrew Malcolm
Americans like their pets. Two out of three of our homes have pets, a whopping 163 million dogs and cats living as full family members.
And Americans like their presidents to have pets too, mainly dogs. Apparently voters think it says something about the chief executive's character or something. Try to think of a president who didn't have a dog run out to greet him at the helicopter. Even the jerk in "Dave" had a prop dog.
So while he's out jogging toward the middle of the political spectrum, the petless Sen. Barack Obama may want to stop off at Pets 'R Us well before November.
He's promised to get some kind of dog after the November election. But everyone knows about politicians' promises.
Meanwhile, Sen. John McCain, who has a full menagerie in his Arizona home, is building a lead among pet-owning voters, according to a new poll by the Associated Press-Yahoo News. McCain leads Obama 42-37 among pet owners and is especially strong among dog owners, perhaps because he's got about three of his own, including Ginger, above.
McCain also has a cat, two turtles, three parakeets and a ferret (good thing he doesn't live in California). Talk about a unity ticket.
It's amusing to picture the urban-dwelling, Ivy League lawyer Obama, surrounded by sunglassed Secret Service members, out walking his Maltese on Chicago's South Side and bending over by the curb for the pick-up with a plastic bag on his hand.
Obama does lead McCain 48-34 among non-pet owners. But alas for him there are many fewer of them in these 57 states.
Our blogging colleagues over at L.A. Unleashed have the full political pet story. And the Swamp has its own version too here.
--Andrew Malcolm
Photo credit: Stephan Savoia / Associated Press
OK, now that you've finished poring over the dueling economic plans of John McCain and Barack Obama and how the funding for the freshman senator's package may not equal the costs.
And gone to each of their websites to study the proposals even more thoroughly and learned how Obama is gonna open up next month's Democratic National Convention to 76,000 of his closest friends in a football stadium because that's more personable.
You have done that, haven't you? Because every concerned voter says they want more information on the candidates, at least until they get it. And then maybe it's a little too deep for summer reading.
This is July, after all. A perfect time for lighter fare when the two major candidates, under the direction of their professionally plotting campaign staffs, try to slip in some more easily digestible personal info on themselves and their families. And if voters come to Labor Day finding a candidate a tad more likable, well, the campaigns will just have to live with that.
It's a very interesting competition this time, the likability contest. Because each candidate has the mirror problem of the....
Read more It's July, and John McCain, Barack Obama seek to be seen as regular folks »
Every day, the presidential candidates face probing questions about their plans and policies from the reporters who travel almost everywhere with them. On the weekends, they're grilled by the moderators of the Sunday talk shows. So it must have been a real change of pace for Barack Obama when he sat down in Butte, Mont., over the Fourth of July weekend with “Access Hollywood.”
Yes, the syndicated gossip show that normally brings you the latest in the tabloid-friendly lives of Lindsay Lohan and Britney Spears  is presenting an interview with the Democrats' nominee-in-waiting and his wife, Michelle, along with their children, Malia, 10, and Sasha, 7.
The Obamas have kept the girls out of the media spotlight, but Associated Press reports that they allowed "Access Hollywood" to talk with Malia and Sasha. Perhaps it's because interviewer Maria Menounos is no Tim Russert. If the excerpts sent out by the show are any guide, forget any talk of troop drawdowns or sky-high gas prices. Instead, think fashion and fun and Barack's old slacks.
On his newfound status as a style icon, the Illinois senator says: “I’m baffled by this whole thing myself, because I hate to shop.” (That's true, daughter Malia tells Menounos; on one shopping trip, her father "bought three pairs of black pants and the same jacket in green, brown and black.")
Michelle Obama says she keeps the romance alive in their 15-year marriage by telling her husband that she is proud of him. Sasha and Malia like it, she says, when "Mommy and Daddy hold hands." (Awwww.)
And Malia offers a suggestion to the candidate for wooing young people. After he greeted one of her friends with a formal handshake, she says, she told her dad: "You really don't shake kids' hands that much. ... You just wave or say hi."
The four-part interview -- an excerpt is here -- will be broadcast over three nights this week starting Tuesday.
-- Leslie Hoffecker
Photo credit: "Access Hollywood"; Maria Menounos (second from right) with Malia (left), Sasha, Michelle and Barack Obama
To be sure, no politician goes online like normal people, not unless he/she wants those candid opinions published somewhere or subpoenaed by somebody else.
So it's not surprising that GOP presidential candidate  Sen. John McCain claims to be computer illiterate. When George W. Bush entered the White House, he stopped e-mailing his brother Jeb for the same reasons.
What's a little unusual is that one of the country's most tech-savvy women, Carly Fiorina, is touting McCain's economic plans as tech-savvy and tech-friendly. Fiorina, who used to head Hewlett-Packard, has emerged as a prominent surrogate spokeswoman for the Arizona senator.
She says it matters not whether the former fighter pilot is on IM or Twitter. It's his broad, thoughtful economic and tax plans that are good for the tech world.
Our colleagues over on the Technology blog have the full story.
-- Andrew Malcolm
Photo credit: Associated Press
Part of every presidential campaign is the post-primary shuffle. That's when the Republican nominee tries to show centrist voters that he isn't really as conservative as he made himself out to be to win his party's base, and the presumptive Democratic nominee similarly tries to pull him self in from the left.
The Swamp notes this morning that the perception among some progressives that Barack Obama is leaving the left for the center has given rise to an unusual way of tethering the candidate to their issues. They're putting their money on the table, hoping to raise $1 million in an "escrow" fund that Obama can't tap until he displays "progressive leadership" on issues.
The issue that sparked the mini-revolt was Obama's support for giving wiretapping immunity to the phone companies under the recent FISA vote, something he had earlier said he would oppose. In a memo to fellow progressives, Bob Fertik, president of Democrats.com, said he still backs Obama but thinks the candidate could use a little wake-up call from the folks who played a significant role in securing him the nomination. We're asking you to put some of the money you plan to give Obama "in escrow" until he demonstrates progressive leadership on the issues we care about, like warrantless wiretapping.
We are absolutely not trying to hurt Obama -- we'll give him our money at some point. We're just asking for a little R-E-S-P-E-C-T like Aretha Franklin sang about.
We can get Obama's respect because needs our money -- he turned down $85 million in taxpayer dollars because he believes small donors like us will contribute $300 million. And now is the best time to use our modest leverage, before the campaign goes all-out after the convention.
-- Scott Martelle
Photo: Francine Orr /Los Angeles Times
Political -- and Batman -- junkies probably already know about Sen. Patrick Leahy's little infatuation with Bruce Wayne's alter ego, Batman. He loves the character, and all those colorful evil incarnates,  like the Riddler, the Penguin and the Joker. Leahy has even talked his way into cameo roles in Batman movies, and in "The Dark Knight," which opens July 18, Leahy gets himself roughed up by the Joker's goons. Bam! Pow! Ooof!
So strong is the Democratic Vermont senator's infatuation that he wrote the introduction for a 1992 book collecting some of the Batman comics, "The Dark Knight Archive," and has done voice-overs for childrens' Batman cartoons. And on July 12, Leahy will play host to a special premiere of "The Dark Knight" in that hot spot of Hollywood's elite, Montpelier, Vt. The proceeds will go to a local library that has named a wing after him. Leahy, that is, not Batman.
So as we head into the long Fourth of July weekend (that phrase is a journalism cue that it's a slow news day, at least at the moment), we wonder what other politicians might harbor secret infatuations with fictional crusaders, caped and otherwise? Or even better, what superhero might actually dwell beneath those dark (pant)suits?
Maybe John McCain in his, shall we say, crankier moments, as The Hulk? Barack Obama channeling The Flash? Hillary Clinton as Wonder Woman -- the first major female superhero? John Edwards as Batman's sidekick, Robin?
And they don't have to be the heroes. Go ahead and link politicians up with your favorite bad guys, too.
Can't wait to see what you all come up with for Ralph Nader and Dick Cheney.
-- Scott Martelle
Image: Warner Bros.
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
Further evidence that the economy is taking a severe beating: Starbucks is closing 600 outlets and could cut 12,000 jobs as customer visits have declined. True addicts see Starbucks coffee as their lifeblood but for most people it's a luxury, and with the economy moribund and a gallon of gas costing more than a la tte, people are deciding it's a luxury they can do without.
Now we're sure there will be snarky comments posted here about Barack Obama supporters going into withdrawals, shaking behind the wheel of their Volvos. But 12,000 cut jobs is a big hit, and judging by the staffs you see at the stores, it will put a lot of college kids, or young adults in that general age group, out of work. Add them to the already unemployed construction workers, auto workers -- just fill in the blank ________.
Yes, the Iraq war is a crucial issue for the nation, and the world. But poll after poll shows that at least for now, four months away from election day, it's the economy that has people's attention. And news like this will keep it alive until the picture improves.
The question for Obama and John McCain is who can forge the better -- or at least more convincing -- policy proposals.
-- Scott Martelle
We all remember John McCain's "bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran" mini-aria, and many of us have caught McCain during his late-night talk show appearances. He can be funny (though the laughs at his reworking the Beach Boys' "Barbara Ann" were far fewer than he may have anticipated). But can comedy kill the campaign?
Gawker has a piece (which includes some language inappropriate for this blog and which we want to warn readers about) on McCain's sense of humor and parallels to Ronald Reagan. It concludes McCain is no Gipper.
What strikes us as interesting is the issue of timing the piece raises. McCain made his "bomb Iran" joke more than a year ago -- before before his spectacular political collapse and resurrection. In many ways, McCain got a pass then. There was some backlash from people who likely wouldn't support McCain anyway, but the feeling was his campaign was moribund anyway, and the mini-flap quickly faded.
But what would happen if McCain cracked that joke now? Would that kind of stumble derail him? Or would it just further separate the pro-war from the antiwar votes?
Politics -- it's all in the timing.
-- Scott Martelle
The Democratic National Convention is making a show of trying to be environmentally friendly, and as longtime polar bear fans we can't object. And as fans of a certain beverage that has been part of the human experience since, well, forever, we can't object to the way they plan to fuel their ethanol cars.
With beer. Coors beer, to be precise.
Turns out Coors has been converting some of its bad beer -- yes, there is such as thing -- into ethanol at a plant in Golden, a Denver suburb. They make about 3 million gallons of it a year to blend with gasoline for E85 ethanol (85% ethanol, 15% gasoline).
And come August, some of it will be poured into part of the Democrats' convention fleet of 450 vehicles, 20% of which will run on E85, DNC transportation director Al Timothy Andrew Ballard told KUSA-TV in Denver.
Coors is the official ethanol sponsor for the convention, and you have to wonder if someone in Coors marketing pondered the sagacity of being known as the firm that gave gas to politicians. But it all makes us wonder which will consume more alcohol August 25-28 -- the cars, or the delegates?
Our money's on the delegates.
-- Scott Martelle
Neither John McCain nor Barack Obama will be inclined to dwell on this, but different as they are in so many obvious ways, similarities between the two are beginning to stack up.
Both are left-handed (indeed, as the New York Sun's Russell Berman recently detailed, it now appears certain that for the fifth time in the last 35 years, a southpaw will be president).
Both swear by the Ernest Hemingway novel in which the flawed American hero volunteers to fight in the Spanish Civil War, "For Whom the Bells Tolls." [Thanks, commenters, for correcting the title. Mea culpa, mea culpa.]
And both have an affinity for lucky charms.
McCain's superstitious nature long has been remarked upon; The Washington Post's Dana Milbank wrote this piece about it during the 2000 Republican primary race.
Obama's comparable proclivity gained attention last week, when while campaigning in New Mexico he pulled out a pocketful of trinkets to show some voters. In doing so, he struck an international chord.
Obama's tokens included a small monkey king replica, and in India they took notice. As a Sunday post in the Chicago Tribune's Swamp blog noted, "the charm is presumed to be an image of Hanuman, Hinduism's popular monkey god."
Nor does the tale end there, as the item relates; check it out here.
-- Don Frederick
Remember how Alec Baldwin promised to leave the country if George W. Bush was elected president.
And Alec never got around to the exit part of his vow. Pr etty comfortable life here. And politicians don't keep their promises either.
Well, his actor brother Stephen is a Republican. He says he doesn't understand why Americans care about celebrity endorsements.
But today he did make the same self-exile vow if Democrat Barack Obama is elected. The Ticket would never point out there are certain tax advantages to living abroad, not that that would ever figure into a wealthy celebrity's residential decisions.
Our colleague Johanna Neuman is over at the very new, very popular Countdown to Crawford blog that politics fans will want to bookmark. She has the full Baldwin story today.
As well as video of Stephen's funny answer on Fox News when Laura Ingraham criticized Alec.
--Andrew Malcolm
Among the concerns some of Hillary Clinton female backers have with Barack Obama is the perception that he can slide into misogynist comments at the blink of an eye. And as we mentioned in an earlier post today, he made an odd, unplanned comment about women and heels during his Unity moment of rapprochement with Clinton. (The Swamp looks at Obama and John McCain on women's rights.)
This is from the transcript of the appearance: "[B]ecause of the campaign that Hillary Clinton waged, my daughters and all of your daughters will forever know that there is no barrier to who they are and what they can be in the United States of America. They can take for granted that women can do anything that the boys can do (cheers begin) -- and do it better, and do it in heels. I still (Obama laughs) -- I still don't know how she does it in heels."
Clinton laughed with him, but for a guy with some pretty good political instincts -- or who has at least hired people with good political instincts -- it was an odd verbal cul de sac to turn into. Remember, Obama caught some serious flak a few weeks back by dismissing a Michigan television reporter with a "sweetie." And he was criticized during a debate performance for another off-the-cuff comment about Clinton being "likable enough." Now he falls into the faux-joke of expressing amazement that a woman can outperform a man despite wearing heels.
That's not likely to go very far in mending fences with women already suspicious of him.
UPDATE: Tommy Vietor, Obama spokesman, says via e-mail that although Obama didn't cite Ann Richards, that was the genesis of his comment: "Sen. Obama was referencing Ann Richards' famous quote: 'Ginger Rogers did everything that Fred Astaire did. She just did it backwards and in high heels.' Certainly Gov. Richards didn't mean [to] make that comment, as you described, as a 'faux-joke of expressing amazement that a woman can outperform a man despite wearing heels,' and it's disappointing that you'd draw that cynical conclusion."
Fair enough. But Vietor -- like many posters below -- missed the point of the blog item. For a candidate with past troubles with off-the-cuff comments on gender, it struck us as an odd comment. Some took offense; many did not (read the comments for a rather scathing discussion). Remember, this is a political blog, where we write about the political implications of campaign events and appearances.
-- Scott Martelle
Barack Obama and John McCain may differ on everything from U.S. policy in Iraq to how many town hall debates they should schedule but -- who would have thought? -- they share reading tastes.
 McCain long has pinpointed Ernest Hemingway's 1940 novel "For Whom the Bell Tolls" as his favorite book (for more on the presumptive Republican nominee's favorite things, see this profile).
Obama, in a just-published interview with Rolling Stone co-founder and publisher Jann Wenner, names "For Whom the Bell Tolls" as one of the three books that have inspired him.
The two others -- Toni Morrison's "Song of Solomon" and, in an answer that deftly expanded the scope of the question, the tragedies of William Shakespeare.
The interview is teased here, with readers advised to read it all in the magazine's new issue. But the full text was e-mailed to the media, and Wenner sure wasn't trying to put Obama on the spot, as the final exchange illustrates: Wenner: "Good luck. We are following you daily with great hope and admiration."
Obama: "We're going to get this done."
Ben Smith at Politico.com notes that Wenner also publishes US Weekly, which recently featured Obama and his wife on its cover (see this post on the Chicago Tribune's Swamp blog). That prompts Smith to predict an Obama-related cover next on the "Wenner-owned Men's Journal."
A fair amount of the interview focused on the candidate's musical tastes and what's on his iPod, prompting items on our own sisterly Technology blog here at LATimes.com and over at the Swamp.
We were also struck by Obama's answer when Wenner asked what he had learned about himself during the campaign, a response that can be seen as self-serving or self-revelatory (probably it's a mixture of both). Said the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee: "I've learned two things, and I think these two things are connected. One is that the older I get, the less important feeding my vanity becomes. I've discovered that I don't get a lot of satisfaction from being the center of attention, but I do get a lot of satisfaction about getting work done.
"And that, in turn, has led to a confirmation that I have a very steady temper. I don't get too high when things are high, I don't get too low when things are low, which has been very helpful during this campaign and is reflected in the people I hire and how we run our organization."
-- Don Frederick
Photo credit: A.E. Hotchner / For the Associated Press
We are often otherwise occupied when the late-night comedy shows air, so we appreciate the diligence with which the hard-working folks at the National Journal's "Hotline" political report monitor the parade of yuks. And we especially appreciate it when, as was the case Tuesday, we've missed a politically inspired Top Ten list on "The Late Show with David Letterman."
So here, with all due thanks to the "Hotline," are the "Top Ten Things Overheard on Hillary Clinton's First Day Back at Work" in the Senate: 10. Nice of you to show up.
9. Did you win?
8. We chipped in for a welcome back pantsuit.
7. Should I take the Madame President nameplate off your door?
6. Hillary's choking another superdelegate.
5. On the bright side, you can once again partake in endless debates about agricultural subsidies.
4. Senator Clinton, please stop throwing wads of paper at Senator Obama's head.
3. I can't believe your shrill message of fear didn't resonate.
2. Please stop taunting her, Senator Kerry.
1. We'll begin as soon as Senator Craig returns from the restroom.
Our favorite was a close call between No. 8 and No. 2. But we give the nod to the latter, perhaps because we previously noted that when it comes to being able to share the experience of dashed White House hopes, the Senate is the perfect club in which to belong.
The Times' Richard Simon has a more serious take on Clinton's return to the Senate, and the expectation that she will wield increased clout.
-- 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.
Sen. John McCain stood up at a fundraiser late last evening at the oceanfront home of former ambassador George Argyros in Newport Beach. There were probably 80 people there. They dined on filet mignon, which cost $25,000 a couple.
McCain held his arms in that stiff bent way that he always does, a result of his nearly six years of POW imprisonment in Vietnam. The Republican nominee-to-be looked out at the guests and he told the truth:
"My friends," he said, "this is a tough race. We are behind. We are the underdog."
And then he uttered another truth that McCain's competitors ignore at their peril, "That's what I like to be."
He says it all the time. But that's no canned stump speech. The Ticket's been publishing a multipart video conversation in recent days with Matt Welch about the man in his new book, "McCain: The Myth of a Maverick." We'll publish the eighth and final episode later Wednesday.
But in Part V, Welch described how McCain's literary heroes are those who disregard the odds and how integral being an....
Read more Inside John McCain's game plan: 'It's not supposed to be easy' »
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer today defended a California Democrat facing ethics questions over her personal finances, while appearing to downplay his involvement in a fundraiser for her this week.
Rep. Laura Richardson's Sacramento house was sold in a foreclosure last month, according to news reports, and she has gon e into default on properties in San Pedro and Long Beach. She still owed $9,000 in county taxes on the Sacramento house.
The Long Beach Press-Telegram reports that in 1995 Richardson stiffed a local mechanic on a $735 bill to repair her heavily damaged BMW, and then had it towed to another body shop and abandoned it. Then a member of the Long Beach City Council, she began using a city-owned car, according to the Press-Telegram, which she continued to drive for five days after joining the California State Assembly.
The watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington has called on the House Ethics Committee to investigate.
Hoyer, known in political circles as a prodigious fundraiser, is hosting a Capitol Hill event on Wednesday to help Richardson retire her campaign debt. Matthew Hay Brown has the rest of the story over at the Swamp.
-- Andrew Malcolm
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their recent "Access Hollywood" interview, the Obamas did the same with their younger daughters and later said they regretted that exposure.
