As "America's Mayor" pulls out of the race, we can only imagine the sighs of relief from Caroline and Andrew, who never wanted to be in the limelight even when the press tried their best.
Here's to success in the golfing world and at Duke (Andrew) and to a great experience at Harvard (Caroline). We also say goodbye to Whitney Mayer Houston, Rudy's stepdaughter.
Jill Lawrence of USA Today notices that some adult kids of candidates are campaigning like crazy (Meghan, Sara, Tagg and Bros) while others (Chelsea, Andrew, Hunter) are keeping a low profile.
Darlene Superville of the Associated Press takes a closer look at seven of the First Lady wannabes, summing up the field like this:
A political consultant, two lawyers and a pair of battle-tested veterans of presidential campaigns are in the thick of the fight for the White House, urging their spouses on.
Two of the prospective first ladies are managing life-threatening diseases. One would be the first woman of color with the title. A third recently completed her latest humanitarian trip, to Vietnam.
All but one of them are mothers, including of young children. One's a grandmother of 10, too.
Americans have a variety of women to get to know in the campaign, quite apart from the very well known former first lady who's running for president in her own right.
Elizabeth Edwards is described as "an insomniac, (who) surfs the Web or shops online when sleep won't come; ebay.com is one of her favorite sites. She ... is often caught commenting on other peoples' blogs." Hey! That includes visiting me, right here! Stop by again, Mrs. Edwards!
By PDA, for my extra-geeky readers, I mean public displays of affection, not personal digital assistants. ABC wonders about camera-caught kisses (Gores), lovey-dovey calls taken in the middle of speeches (Giulianis), and romantic cavorts on the beach (Clintons): genuine goopiness or photo op? If you're in the middle of a nasty argument and they ask you to pose in a lip-clench, movie stars like Fred Thompson definitely have the edge.
A while ago Mr. Giuliani got a Sparrow Ding for the least friendly MySpace site, but he's changed his ways. Check out this staffer's intro to the new web-friendlier Rudy, and his invite to join the Giuliani 9/26 national house party:
Lots of press lately about the candidates' wives: a series on Michelle Obama in the Chicago Tribune, an article and photos featuring Judith Giuliani in Vanity Fair, a look at Jeri Thompson's role in her hubby's almost-campaign in the Washington Post, and Fox News' Greta Van Susteren getting a personal tour of Cindy McCain's new condo. Post columnist Peggy Noonan sums up why candidates' spouses walk a fine line these days:
...The press is paying attention to prospective first ladies because in an age in which presidents are always in your face, first ladies are often in your face. It actually matters if people like them, and it can hurt, on the margins, if they don't. And these days wins are marginal ... First ladies were once more or less average, and were expected to be. Now they are accomplished, worldly, and expected to be. Candidates for the first lady's job have to find a balance. It's delicate. Strong is good, aggressive not. A person who cares, yes; a person who pushes an agenda, no.
Like most of us, Caroline Giuliani didn't think about the consequences before she posted. Slate (who else?) discovered that Republican Rudy's daughter's FaceBook page showed her support of Democrat Barack Obama. Caroline's politics aren't surprising -- most young New Yorkers headed to Harvard probably skew left. But what happens when you're a candidate's kid and you disagree with your parent's politics? Do you shut up and not express yourself? Or do you stay true to your convictions even when the press is having a field day, like they are today with the Giuliani family?
Hold on, Caroline, there's hope ahead -- Patti Davis (Ronald Reagan's daughter) proves that you can end up having a sweet Dad-Daughter relationship even if you vote for your Dad's opponent. "Politics isn't what defines a person, and it shouldn't define a relationship," Davis told USA Today. "I made the mistake of letting that intrude on my relationships."
Looks like the YouTube/CNN Republican Debate might not happen on September 17th. Rudy Giuliani's saying his calendar's too tight and Mitt Romney doesn't feel like taking on a snowman. Only McCain and Paul have agreed to be there so far.
On top of that, women are complaining because 70% of the questions chosen for the Democratic debate were asked by dudes (even the snowman was a guy). Also, if only rich-ish, educated types have cameras and computers, how can a poor person ask a question? Ignoring the fuss, the videos keep rolling in from YouTubers -- have you asked yours yet?
Turns out Caroline Giuliani is smart, pretty, and talented:
The New York State School Music Association (NYSSMA) sponsors a festival competition each year for thousands of music students in New York State ... These students prepared a vocal solo from the classical repertoire and performed before a jury of professional musicians who scored them on a comprehensive list of musical categories. They were also asked to sight read a piece they had never seen before. Caroline Giuliani '07, MaryAnne McElroy '06, Danielle Tufano '06, and Anne Sullivan '07 were medal winners this year, scoring A or higher in their evaluations.
My name (Sameera) fits me to a T, because it means "companion of the night" in Arabic. Did my birth mother know I'd turn out to be a blogging night owl? Or did she just think the name sounded pretty? I guess the orphanage could have changed my name, but somebody looked at my face and thought that "Sameera" seemed like a good fit. And somebody else did the same for you, and chose your name.
Here are Sparrow's Awards and Honorable Mentions for the names given to some of the candidates' daughters:
Best Fit For A First Daughter Wannabe On Nov. 4, 2008:
Abigail (Brownback) means "father in rejoicing" in Hebrew.
Works Great When Your Middle Name Is Joy:
Catharine (Edwards) means "pure" in Greek.
Really Shows What Her Father Wants To Do To President Bush:
Jacqueline (Kucinich) means "supplanter" in Hebrew and French.
Best Fit Right Now Since She Just Graduated From High School:
Caroline (Giuliani) comes from the word for "free man" in French and German.
Hardest To Live Up To:
Bridget (McCain) is "the exalted one" in Gaelic.
Most Poetic in 2 Languages:
Meghan (McCain) means "pearl" in Greek, and Meghana means "thunder" in Sanskrit.
Hardest To Fulfill Unless A Teacher Gets Mad While At The Board:
Chelsea (Clinton) means "chalk landing place" in Olde English.
It's hard not to get cynical these days. Sometimes it feels like politicians spin everything just to sound good. Can you trust anybody to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth (besides my Dad, of course)? Well, now we can at least know if and when a candidate's been lying.
The factoid nerds at Fact Check aren't for any party or candidate. They go after Democrats like Mrs. Clinton, who said that all the Republican candidates support the war and the president. (She must have forgotten about Ron Paul, who thinks the war is bad news.) They also pick on Republicans, like Mr. Giuliani, who claimed that adoptions in New York increased a ton while he was mayor when the numbers actually started dropping. Not to accuse these presidential wannabes of being liars or anything -- it's just good to know when they're wrong about the facts.
Rudy's daughter graduated last week from Trinity School, the oldest private school in New York City -- the very school where the one, the only Mr. HUMPHREY BOGART studied. (Sparrow swoon factor: extreme.) Truman Capote, Jennifer Connelly, and Oliver Stone were students there, too. Time just ranked it as the best high school in New York and second best in the country.
Caroline's Dad was at the graduation with his new wife, Judith, and Mom Donna Hanover was there, too, with her new husband. Some of you I'm sure can relate to the stress of seeing your parents -- obviously not speaking to each other -- in the audience at one of your life's big events. Thank goodness for siblings like older brother Andrew, decked out in a Yankees tie and cheering like a maniac for his sister. Caroline, who graduated with honors and starred in lots of plays while she was at Trinity, is heading to Cambridge, Massachusetts in the fall to start a life of her own at Harvard. You go, girl. I'm thinking Hollywood might be next on your list of destinations.
A full list of First Kid Hopefuls is drifting around in cyberspace; here it is at Yahoo! News. The youngest is Christina Dodd, age 2, the oldest is Doug McCain at 47, and there aren't any candidates with kids in sixth through ninth grades (ages 10-15).
Kids who need babysitters: Christina Dodd, 2, Grace Dodd, 5, Sasha Obama, 5, Malia Obama, 8, Jack Edwards, 9, Emma Claire Edwards, 9, Mark and Jenna Brownback, both 9.
The teenagers: Bridget McCain, 16, Elizabeth Brownback, 17, James McCain, 18, Caroline Giuliani, 18, Andy Brownback, 19, and Ashton Gilmore, 19.
In their 20s: Abby Brownback, 20, Andrew Giuliani, 21, Jack McCain, 21, Meghan McCain, 22, Jay Gilmore, 23, Sam Hunter, 24, Jackie Kucinich, 24, Sarah Huckabee, 24, Craig Romney, 25, Ashley Biden, 25, Cate Edwards, 25, Chelsea Clinton, 27, David Huckabee, 27, Ben Romney, 28.
In Manhattan, Rudy and his wife Judith live in a nine-room prewar co-op on the Upper East Side. A pre-war co-op sounds kinda dowdy, right? Well, it's definitely not. Take a look at this. The Giulianis also own a huge house in the Hamptons.
Giuliani's step-daughter, Whitney Mayer Nathan, is this cover girl who swims, rides horses, sings soprano a capella, and loves India. She's a junior at Skidmore.
Obama and Clinton have added me, but my comment is now waiting for approval. Clinton accepts HTML links, but Obama doesn't. Still waiting for an add from Biden and Giuliani, who gets the Sparrow MySpace Ding for having the least open site, as you have to be added before you even get to view his page.
Before we get back to finding out where and how they live, here's an update on me and them in MySpace.
I tried to friend most of the candidates today and post something about this blog on their sites. John Edwards, Sam Brownback, and Mitt Romney added me and posted my comment after a while, but no HTML code allowed, so people can't click from their sites to this one.
Chris Dodd added me and posted my comment right away, without any long approval process. He also let me link right to this blog like an HTML maniac.
John McCain added me but didn't approve my comment. We'll wait and see what happens. No word at all from Obama, Giuliani, Biden, Clinton, or Richardson.
Results so far: Chris Dodd wins Sparrow's MySpace Award for Freedom of Speech! Sadly, once the Wackos start to post, he might have to change his ways ...
So I'm not the only one keeping an eye on the spawn swimming in the campaign. Today, in The Reliable Source, Post columnists Amy Argetsinger and Roxanne Roberts give a great rundown on the First Kid hopefuls, providing these juicy tidbits:
Abby Brownback's a newspaper editor at Kansas State and her National Merit Scholar brother Andy's on the university's champion math team. Their sister Liz is still in high school in Topeka. The Brownback clan also includes Mark and Jenna, both 9, adopted from Guatemala and China.
Jay Gilmore graduated from University of Virginia two years ago, where his wrestler brother Ashton's a freshman.
Caroline Giuliani starred as Maria in her high school's production of "West Side Story."
The godmother of Jackie Kucinich (a twenty-something who parties with the authors of the Post article) is Shirley MacLaine of the New Age.
The people at techpresident have the numbers. Go here to find out which candidate has the most friends on MySpace (right now Obama's in the lead with 92,274 friends, followed by Clinton with 33,370).
You can also keep track of which candidates' videos get the most views on YouTube. Again, Obama's way ahead of the pack with 2,735,405 views, trailed by Clinton with 94,350. Guiliani ranks third overall, with 59,993 views, slightly beating out Edwards, who comes in with 57,281 views.
Wondering who gets mentioned the most on blogs? Find out here.
To become a candidate's MySpace friend and tell them what you think even though you're not old enough to vote, click on that person's name:
| Democrats |
|---|
| Obama |
| Clinton |
| Edwards |
| Kucinich |
| Richardson |
| Biden |
| Vilsack |
| Dodd |
| Gravel |
| Republicans | |
|---|---|
| Paul | |
| Romney | |
| McCain | |
| Giuliani | |
| Tancredo | |
| Hunter | |
| Huckabee | |
| Brownback |
You gotta respect a guy who (a) was imitated as a kid on Saturday Night Live by the late great Chris Farley; (b) is following his own non-political dream; (c) respects and loves his mom; (c) is honest about the tough relationship he's having with his father, Rudy Giuliani, since his parents split; and (d) still supports his father's shot at the presidency. During an interview with the New York Times, no less.
On his Mom: "I got my values from my mother. She's a strong influence in my life. She's a strong woman." When he was eight, his Mom made this video to help his Dad become Mayor of New York City. Then his Dad ... well, you can google around to find out what happened, because I'm not letting sparrowblog become some kind of Wonkette junior. Warning: you might not want to watch the ad if your parents are divorced and you're still mad at one of them.
On his Dad: "We are both working on our relationship. No matter what he's done, I love my father. He's my father and we love each other. It's not as good as it once was — but it's better than when it was its lowest, and it is getting better all the time."
On his Dad as president: "I have problems with my father, but it doesn't mean he won't make a great president. He was a great mayor. He did great things for New York and would be very effective as a president. He is a great leader. He has vision, and he is willing to stand up for what he believes in."
Andrew's a sophomore at Duke University, and rumor has it that he's no longer dating ice skating champ Sarah Hughes (oops ... got a little Wonketty there, didn't I?) His sister, Caroline, is graduating this June from her private high school in Manhattan and heading to Harvard.
Chances are when you read the title of this post six notes of music and a pair of golden arches danced into your head. Just like Jingle, my lovely lab, obeys me when I say, "Here, boy," we've been trained to think of a product when we hear those three words: "I'm lovin' it."
People trying to be president want to train us, too. They want excellent catch-phrases to pop into our minds when we hear their names. FYI, here's how some candidates are hoping to brand themselves:
REPUBLICANS
Rudolph Giuliani: "America's mayor."
John McCain: "War hero."
Mitt Romney: "Bold, new leadership."
Barack Obama: "Hope."
John Edwards: "Change."
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