Entries for December 17, 2006

Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee has made headlines with his eat-fresh childhood obesity prescriptions and his own 110-pound weight loss, but it's not his personal Biggest Loser victory that has Democrats taking notice. They think this 2008 dark horse presidential candidate is poised to gobble up his GOP opponents and win the Republican nomination. A preliminary internal review of Huckabee by the Dems says: "With national Republicans in disarray and the GOP base angry and demoralized, Huckabee may be the best positioned to run as a true Washington outsider." It's a winning pattern: Bill Clinton, another Hope, Ark., kid, did the same thing back in 1992.

First his dancing shoes and now his bow tie? Yup, Tucker Carlson, host of MSNBC's Tucker and a brief contestant on Dancing With the Stars, has gone traditional. "I ditched the bow tie for the same reason most men make profound life decisions: on a whim," he says. "After 20 years I was looking for a change, and the bolo tie just didn't feel right."

We laughed when Katrina cleanup czar Donald Powell told us last summer: "You can write that on August 22 I predicted that the Saints will make the playoffs." Well, the New Orleans fan is the one laughing now, as the team is indeed headed to the post-season. His new prediction: The Saints will face the San Diego Chargers in the Super Bowl. In the end, he adds, the Saints will top the Chargers 45-42, based on special-teams heroics. The Texan says that the unexpected Saints juggernaut has done miracles to change the mood in nola. "It's huge," he says.

It wasn't long ago that we told you of how the Democrats and Republicans were preparing a new way to reach voters in 2008 through their mobile technology and iPods. Well, now we know why. Republican pollster David Winston tells us that new research found that 40 percent of 2006 voters ages 18 to 34 own iPods. And many don't make time to watch lots of tv, choosing instead to TiVo their faves or record podcasts. So what will be the best way to reach those critical voters in 2008? Through their iPods, he says, especially when the mp3s go wireless. "That's the next environment," he predicts, "where people will get their information." His tip to the pols: Make the ads riveting. The best example: losing Maryland Senate candidate Michael Steele's family-focused tv ads, some of which featured a cute Boston terrier.

President Bush has kept Air Force One pretty busy in his six years, but Washington's pre-eminent expert on presidential travel says that at his current foreign travel rate, Bush won't best his predecessor. "He's creeping up on Clinton's record," says CBS Radio's White House correspondent Mark Knoller, whose records on presidential travel even the White House refers to as the authoritative source. So far, Bush has done 36 overseas trips to 58 countries, an average of six a year. Clinton completed 55 to 72 countries. W did beat his dad: In four years he made just 23 trips to 36 nations.

Here's the scene: A conservative president, say President Bush, is getting ready to be replaced by a liberal, say Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, after a crisis like something worse than 9/11. The nation's national security team is worried that the nation is going to pot. So much so that the heads of a 400-person "supermilitia" created to overthrow governments on behalf of Washington move in to dump Bush, stop Clinton's ascension, and rebuild the nation. Crazy? No, it's just the premise of America's Last Days, a new political thriller out next month and already being looked at by Hollywood. Author Douglas MacKinnon, a former Pentagon, Reagan, and Bush aide, says it rings true. His scenarios were so real—"many of the people are at least partially based on real D.C. individuals who we all know"—he felt compelled to show intelligence officials, and they nixed some as too lifelike. And the part about getting rid of a president? MacKinnon recalls boozy talk during his Pentagon days about sidelining President Clinton. Despite his pedigree, the book takes on both political camps, which may explain the bipartisan lineup of those crowing about it, like former Sen. Bob Dole and James Carville.

Talk about a belated Christmas present with a wow factor. If you can wait a few weeks and have up to $1 million to burn, the first armored presidential limo—built for FDR—is going up for auction to the highest bidder. The 1942 Lincoln, which also lugged Harry S. Truman around, has been in private hands for 44 years and rarely seen. But RM Auctions tells us it'll be rolled out at its annual sale at the Arizona Biltmore Resort & Spa in Phoenix on January 19. This car is a beaut: black with chrome and fitted with bulletproof glass and steel plating. It was the first armored car built just for the White House, a requirement after Pearl Harbor. RM Auctions is the same group that auctioned FDR's borrowed limo, Al Capone's Caddy. That went for $621,000.

"At this pace, without recurrent access to the reserve components, through remobilization, we will break the active component."

"I'd like to see him under oath."

"I'm sleeping a lot better than people would assume."

"This president is really almost a victim of his own success. There's not been another attack in the United States."

Sources: Washington Post, Hardball, People, Laura Ingraham Show

And now our weekly choice of web links. Up first has to be Barneycam, the yearly Christmastime feature this year also featuring Miss Beazley, the first family's younger scotty. I mean Dolly Parton and Emmit Smith. Who could resist? Then there's the new thriller about the creation of the CIA. You can bet that The Good Shepherd will be a must see in government circles. And finally, if you've got a cool million or so burning a hole in your pocket, check out the upcoming auction of the first presidential limo. It's the third one on the list, the 1942 Lincoln built for FDR after Pearl Harbor.