Politics 101: Pose With Young People

Sen. John McCain dares to stand near retiring colleagues. No wonder they call him a maverick. (By J. Scott Applewhite -- Associated Press)

No response as of yesterday.

One of These Things Is Not Like the Others

Chatham House, the prestigious British variant of the Council on Foreign Relations, has announced its four finalists for the 2008 Chatham House Prize, which is "awarded to the statesperson who is deemed by Chatham House members to have made the most significant contribution to the improvement of international relations in the previous year."

The winner gets a "crystal award and a scroll signed by our Patron, Her Majesty The Queen." If you're lucky, Helen Mirren also will sign it.

And the candidates are: the Aga Khan, founder and longtime head of his own worldwide development program; two-term Ghanaian President John Kufuor, a major democratic leader and peacemaker in Africa; German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who headed both the G-8 and the European Union and survived a shoulder massage from President Bush; and Christopher Hill, assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, who most recently brokered a nuclear deal with North Korea.

Wait a minute. Don't they still have nukes? Maybe Chatham needed an American candidate and found slim pickings.

This is an online election. We tried to vote, but you have to be a member. Unclear whether there are campaign finance limits.

Not to Mention . . .

The Pentagon e-mails us that Wednesday's column about U.S. aid to China after recent winter storms omitted mention of the Defense Department dispatching about $800,000 worth of winter coats, blankets, sleeping bags, gloves and those yummy MREs, or Meals Ready to Eat, to help recovery from the disaster that killed 80 and destroyed 300,000 homes.

Also, President Bush has nominated Navy Reserve Rear Adm. Julius S. Caesar, now reserve deputy commander at the Naval Installations Command here, for a second star. Just in time for the Ides of March.