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Michelle Obama’s Surprise for White House Tourists
Tweet Share on Facebook January 20, 2010 Comment (14)By Paul Bedard, Washington Whispers
It's the dream of every White House tourist: to catch a glimpse of the first family walking through the executive mansion.
But on Wednesday, Michelle Obama did that dream one better. She and first pup Bo surprised tourists with an impromptu receiving line in the Blue Room, where she greeted around 400 guests.
"Most of the people were just genuinely surprised," says one visitor. "One woman had tears in her eyes. Some of the kids walked in, saw Mrs. Obama, then saw Bo, and exclaimed, 'Bo!' "
Here's the picture the White House provided us.
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10 Keys for Democrats to Avoid Election Disaster
Tweet Share on Facebook January 20, 2010 Comment (22)By Paul Bedard, Washington Whispers
In recent elections, President Obama and his Democrats are just 1 for 4, having won only the New York House District 23 seat. Now suffering the biggest loss of all, Republican Scott Brown's election to fill the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy's seat in Massachusetts, many party leaders are looking for ways to avert a total election collapse in the fall midterms.
One key: fixing the economy and curbing unemployment. But there are several others, and in the debut of the Washington Whispers List, we explore the 10 plays Democrats need soon to sidestep the GOP wave. See a slide show of the list.
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Tim Kaine’s New Role: Bridge to the South
Tweet Share on Facebook January 20, 2010 CommentBy Paul Bedard, Washington Whispers
All eyes are on Tim Kaine as he becomes the full-time boss of the Democratic Party after turning over the keys to the Virginia governor’s mansion. Party big shots are eager to see what role he’ll play. Typically, party national chairmen take orders from the White House when the party has the presidency, but the moderate Kaine is different, having turned Republican-red Virginia a bipartisan purple. “He can be our bridge to the South,” says a party source. Others are curious with how he will deal with the organization’s split personality: the traditional Democratic National Committee and the Obama campaign shop, Organizing for America, which some say has an elevated status because of the Obama connection.
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Reid’s Comments in Game Change Signal End of Off the Record
Tweet Share on Facebook January 19, 2010 Comment (4)By Paul Bedard, Washington Whispers
The new 2008 campaign tome Game Change—which revealed Sen. Harry Reid's suggestion that Barack Obama could win because he is "light skinned" and has no "Negro dialect"—did more than tarnish the Senate majority leader's reputation. It signals the demise of the journalist-source practice of talking "off the record." The ground rules of the Reid interview are unclear. Reid's folks say it was off the record, but the words still ended up in print. Whatever, say two political PR giants. "I believe the media's own Internet services and the bloggers have rendered almost all the old reporting rules obsolete," says former Bush 41 spokesman Marlin Fitzwater. "I always told my young press assistants that there is no such thing as off the record," adds former Clinton White House spokesman Mike McCurry. "The transaction of information is based on trust, but I can see that breaking down between reporters and sources through episodes like this."
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Secrets of Nazi’s Josef Mengele For Sale
Tweet Share on Facebook January 19, 2010 Comment (5)By Paul Bedard, Washington Whispers
Few names make one cringe in horror like that of Josef Mengele, the Nazi concentration camp "doctor" who performed gruesome human experiments—especially on twin children—before dodging Allied troops and fleeing to South America in 1945. Yet despite some people's obsession with the medical monster and all that's been written about him, little of Mengele's own work has ever been seen. "Mengele," says Bill Panagopulos, president of Alexander Autographs, an auctioneer of historical goods, "is very, very rare."
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It’s Bad All Around, But Obama's Hanging Tough
Tweet Share on Facebook January 15, 2010 Comment (7)Pollster John Zogby updates our weekly Obama Report Card with a grade on the president's performance. Zogby uses his polling, expert analysis, and interaction with major players to come up with a grade and some comments that capture how he see's the president's week ending.
John Zogby on Week 52:
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GOP-ers Donate Big to Scott Brown in Race for Kennedy Seat
Tweet Share on Facebook January 15, 2010 Comment (45)By Paul Bedard, Washington Whispers
A wave of positive polls and the chance of grabbing the Senate seat long held by Massachusetts's Edward M. Kennedy have spurred Republicans to pile millions of dollars into the insurgent campaign of Scott Brown.
Knowledgeable sources tell Whispers that Brown has raised over $1 million every single day this week. And that's just from online contributions. More contributions are arriving in the mail, said the sources.
Much of that money is expected to go into TV ads this weekend, just days before the election Tuesday that pits state senator Brown against longtime Democratic State Attorney General Martha Coakley. That spending will probably settle the stomachs of some in the national party who've thought that the National Republican Senatorial Committee has erred in not running its own ads to counter some by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. Party sources say Brown has had such success raising money for his own media campaign that the NRSC hasn't had to buy advertising time and is spending its money elsewhere to support him.
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Profits, Not a Bailout for Ford
Tweet Share on Facebook January 14, 2010 Comment (6)By Paul Bedard, Washington Whispers
Look for a little crowing by Ford boss Alan Mulally when he keynotes the opening ceremony of the Washington Auto Show later this month. But it won't just be about the redesigned Taurus or eco-friendly autos in his fleet. He has the keynote because Ford, unlike GM and Chrysler, didn't take the Obama bailout, and there's talk that he plans to gently rub Washington's nose in the fact that only Ford has turned a profit and seen a major jump in sales since the nation's finances fizzled. "He is driving what the future of the auto industry will look like in a competitive, global market," says a Ford insider.
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Becker's Fight Over Beer Tax Recalled
Tweet Share on Facebook January 13, 2010 Comment (2)By Paul Bedard, Washington Whispers
One of Washington's fabled lobbyists, Beer Institute President Jeff Becker, was buried today. But it wasn't the parade of top GOP officials, led by House Minority Leader John Boehner, who tipped off the importance of Becker, 51, who died Thursday after a long bout with cancer. Some of the 1,500 who attended his wake Tuesday night and this morning's funeral in Alexandria, Va., say it was the Budweiser Clydesdale the company sent to stand vigil.
"It was the most amazing thing I've ever seen. The Clydesdale was decked out and just stood in front of the funeral home for four hours," said one of Becker's friends. The horse is also expected to stand vigil at a reception this afternoon.
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Why Not Young Luke Russert for This Week?
Tweet Share on Facebook January 13, 2010 Comment (21)By Paul Bedard, Washington Whispers
As hard as they tried, fans of NBC correspondent Luke Russert never really had a chance of getting him installed as the host of Meet the Press after his dad, Tim Russert, died in June 2008. The job went to David Gregory.
But now as ABC struggles to find a replacement for George Stephanopoulos, who left as host of This Week to cohost Good Morning America, young Luke's fans are starting to suggest again that he might make a good host or cohost, especially as the Sunday shows drive for a younger audience.
