Entries for March 2008

Gun owners in Pennsylvania, which has the highest per capita National Rifle Association membership in the nation, could provide Sen. Barack Obama with a key inroad to rural white voters who have so far backed Sen. Hillary Clinton, according to gun advocates. "The gun vote matters," says Ray Schoenke, founding president of the American Hunters and Shooters Association. And in Pennsylvania, he says, gun owners who follow key Washington legislation aimed at limiting ownership are moving in Obama's direction because of his support of past legislation to prohibit the use of federal money to confiscate weapons during a disaster like Hurricane Katrina. It's the only major difference on gun positions between Obama and Clinton, according to gun advocates, but it's enough for groups like Schoenke's to give the Illinois senator a passing grade. Schoenke, whose group takes a moderate approach to guns, such as endorsing gun show background checks, says Obama's support for the legislation suggests that the senator is high on individual rights. He also says the issue could be a key one in Pennsylvania, where Obama is chipping away at Clinton's lead. Schoenke's positive words for Obama are significant: In 2006, he backed Claire McCaskill in Missouri and her Senate victory was credited in part to the pro-gun vote, despite the NRA's opposition. Schoenke has also been fired on by the NRA for bending on issues the NRA is firm on and for donating to Democrats and even the Brady Campaign.

The government doesn't usually endorse books (and that's a good thing), but it can sure help sell them, even when it's inadvertent. When border officials refused to let flamboyant British writer Sebastian Horsley into the United States earlier this month—citing "moral turpitude"—they certainly weren't aiming to boost the self-described debaucher's writing career. But then the law of unintended consequences took over. It all began on March 18, when Horsley flew to New York to help promote Dandy in the Underworld, a seamy memoir of his drug addiction, sexual decadence, and turbulent glam-rock lifestyle. Agents at Newark Liberty International Airport spent several hours interrogating Horsley—dressed in top hat, tails, and red velvet vest—about various incidents described in his book. Then, deciding he was unfit for America, they sent him back to Britain. The press, naturally, jumped on the story, especially overseas papers delighted by the prospect of a writer blackballed from the land of the free. Horsley's publisher, HarperCollins, says book sales immediately doubled. And now the prestigious international writers' group PEN has invited Horsley to speak at a New York conference in April, along with heavyweights like Salman Rushdie and Joyce Carol Oates—if U.S. authorities will let him in.

ILLUSTRATION BY JOE CIARDIELLO FOR USN&WR

There are few families who understand Harry S. Truman's adage that if you want a friend in Washington, get a dog better than the politically quarrelsome couple of Mary Matalin and James Carville. But they've taken it to a new level. Not only do they own five dogs and eight cats, but Matalin is now the vice president of the Washington Humane Society. "I don't do any heavy lifting," she purrs, but she does promote projects like using strays to help wounded troops and abused women get back on track.

Matalin, the GOP adviser to both Bushes and Vice President Dick Cheney, preaches the healing powers of animals. And she doesn't have to look further than hubby James, the Clinton adviser. He tells us that following the recent death of his fave Cavalier King Charles spaniel, "I haven't been the same since. I just find it hard to transfer my affections, and I was pretty close to this one." Mary playfully calls them "frou-frou dogs with bows in their hair that just brought out a different part of him." He's getting over it now thanks to one of their two miniature dachshunds. "I like that dog," fesses Carville. "Dogs are like people . . . some dogs you just like better than others." Better still, the "Ragin' Cajun" is moving his family back home to Louisiana, where he can get some, ahem, personality-appropriate pets. "We have a pool," says Matalin, "so twin gators are a must."

Insiders say if you want to know why Adm. William "Fox" Fallon was eased out as the top brass in the Middle East, look toward Iraq, not Iran. Much analysis of his hasty retirement centered on his comments in Esquire opposing war with Iran. But the real issue that rankled the White House was Fallon's opposition to Iraq policy and the surge of 30,000 U.S. troops. An insider tells Whispers that Fallon felt the surge would fail because of a lack of political progress in Baghdad. And he demanded that the staff of Gen. David Petraeus, the top commander in Iraq, produce reams of analysis and troop reduction options to push for a faster troop withdrawal plan. The irony is that by March, Fallon was starting to come around to Petraeus's position as the surge worked. But then the Esquire article appeared detailing his older positions as new, and his fate was sealed.

He got another one. Lou Dobbs, the Howard Beale of CNN, that is. Former Colorado Gov. Roy Romer, a former Democratic Party chairman, tells us that he was watching Dobbs recently and turned mad as hell at the anchor's opinions. "I'm a news hound and I [sat] in front of the television," he says. He turned to Dobbs, the popular though controversial host of Lou Dobbs Tonight. "I was after news," says Romer, but "the people who were supposedly delivering the news to me have deliberately assumed points of view and personality types that I think frankly are part of their market. I was so offended I had to just turn the damn TV off." Romer fears cable news is now more entertainment than facts. "The written press has got tremendous responsibility to help this nation," he implores.

President Bush is being urged to do something he's never done in public: Visit the graves of fallen Iraq war soldiers. Organizers of a "National Remembrance" day have invited the president to attend their event at Arlington National Cemetery April 9. They've teamed with family members of the fallen in the graveyard's Section 60 to plead for his attendance. It's a touchy issue for the prez. While he tries to focus on the successes of the war, the fifth anniversary just passed with the 4,000th death in Iraq. No response yet from the Oval Office, but there is a model to follow. At the 1863 dedication of Gettysburg cemetery four months after the fateful battle, Abe Lincoln stepped forward and gave his most memorable speech, the Gettysburg Address.

Talk about conflicted. House Democrat Lois Capps of California is one of those sought-after superdelegates sitting on the fence. And can you blame her? Capps has political ties to Bill and Hillary Clinton, both of whom played a role in helping her win election to the Santa Barbara seat opened by the death of her first-term husband, then Rep. Walter Capps, in 1997. But she also has personal ties to Sen. Barack Obama. His flack, Bill Burton, is her son-in-law. Burton wed Capps's daughter, Laura, in a 2007 ceremony that he dubbed "The Audacity of Taupe," since the guys wore tan suits. Stuck in the middle, she's staying uncommitted. "I want to stay nimble, if you will."

Socks lives! Really. The most famous White House kitty in recent memory is now 18½, and we hear he's cheering on his former mom, Sen. Hillary Clinton, in the presidential race. Socks still lives in Maryland with former President Clinton's executive secretary, Betty Currie, and spends his days much like he did in the East Wing, lazing around in sunny windows. Presidential historian Barry Landau, who just wrote The President's Table: Two Hundred Years of Dining and Diplomacy, is a pal of Currie's and reveals that Socks has a minor thyroid condition but is ok.

We knew President Bush was a workout nut, but we didn't figure this. Laura Bush recently joked to federal workers that the prez works out "eight days a week." The funny came during the first family's last pep talk to federal workers, which also featured a call to hit the gym. Bush urged his team to follow his workout model of at least 20 to 30 minutes a day. "If potus can find 20+ mins a day, surely I can!" E-mailed a Bushie. The prez described his morning routine this way: Wake up early, read the Bible for a while, then work out. Bush told the group that he gave up desserts for Lent, but asked: "Is giving up something that's bad for you a sacrifice?"

"I say a lot of things... so if I misspoke, that was just a misstatement."

Sen. Hillary Clinton, on her erroneous claim that she landed under fire in Bosnia in 1996 as first lady

"I'm so sick of being called dumb because I like, you know, movies and music and fashion."

Meghan McCain, Sen. John McCain's daughter, who blogs on those issues and more for the candidate's Web page

"It's a long weekend that most Americans get about 50 times a year."

Sen. Barack Obama, on his 2½-day vacation in the U.S. Virgin Islands

"My first impression was that it was kind of Jackie Kennedy meets Madeline the little French schoolgirl."

Lucy Yeomans, editor of the British Harper's Bazaar, on newlywed French first lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy's outfit to meet the queen of England

"I wish the election was being held tomorrow. I'm bored!"

Tom Hanks, actor and supporter of Sen. Barack Obama

Sources: Philadelphia Daily News, Washington Post, New York Times, AFP

JACK OHMAN/TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES/THE OREGONIAN