Picking Palin: Loop Fans' Fearless Prognostications

By Al Kamen
Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Surprised by John McCain's pick of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate? Thought Barack Obama might pick Hillary? Well, Loop Fans called both choices. Yes, we're proud to announce the winners of the In the Loop "Pick the Veep" contests.

While almost all the distinguished members of the political punditocracy -- people who do these things for a living -- were stunned by McCain's selection of Palin, the highly vetted grandma-in-waiting, two of the nearly 600 entries for McCain were right on the money. And remember, this contest was conducted in mid-February.

The first winning entrant was Nina Freeman, a computer specialist who works for the Bureau of Engraving and Printing here. Freeman said she was "Googling some possible choices" and picked Palin. "It struck me" at the time "as a long shot," she said.

Eugenia Sidereas, a Foreign Service officer based at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, e-mailed her winning entry 20 minutes later on Feb. 15. It was "almost completely a lucky guess," she said by phone Monday. "I thought McCain would have to go with a woman to have a legitimate shot" at winning, and Palin was "known as an up-and-comer" in Republican circles.

Obama's pick of Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (Del.) was hardly a shocker. A review yesterday of the first few hundred returns in that contest -- launched Feb. 22, after Obama effectively won the nomination -- showed the losing candidates, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, former senator John Edwards (N.C.), Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.), and Biden sharing a substantial percentage of the entries.

The first 10 entrants to pick Biden were:

James J. Tenant, a retired Navy lieutenant commander in Centennial, Colo.

Michael Copeland, a Democratic campaign consultant in Missoula, Mont.

Jed Ela, a law student in Los Angeles.

David Carttar, a geographer in Lawrence, Kan., who works for a California-based company that advises other firms about risks from natural and man-made catastrophes.

Barry Geisler, general manager of the Patriot Center at George Mason University in Fairfax.

Marc Kutylowski, a student at Kent State University.

Kyle Bell, a student at Indiana University at South Bend.

Len Hoffman, an accountant in Cedarhurst, N.Y.

Howard Cohen, an unemployed political analyst in Los Angeles and three-time Loop contest winner.

Edward Homan, a Harvard graduate student in chemistry.

Congratulations to all, and thanks for entering. The official In the Loop T-shirts are headed your way.

Is He Clairvoyant, or What?

Speaking of the political pundits, it turns out that Douglas Burns, columnist for the Daily Times Herald of Carroll, Iowa, and IowaIndependent.com, predicted on July 29 that McCain would pick Palin and mentioned Biden as a likely Obama running mate.

Under a headline "Why McCain will pick Sarah Palin as running mate," Burns wrote that Palin, of all the possible picks, "brings the most to McCain" and "is a likely selection." Palin has "five children, a captivating TV-mom look and a brief but weighty background as a reformer governor," he wrote.

Republicans might worry she "would get knocked around in a vice-presidential debate" with Biden, Burns wrote, but the Dems would "have to be careful about bullying her, and she would be a vessel for disaffected Hillaryites, bulging with estrogen, looking for a reason to bolt the party."

Mr. Jefferson Takes the Pledge

The blogosphere has been all over the responses Palin gave on the 2006 gubernatorial candidate questionnaire of the conservative Eagle Forum Alaska. The group published the candidate's responses on July 31 of that year.

Question No. 11 was: "Are you offended by the phrase 'Under God' in the Pledge of Allegiance? Why or why not?

"Not on your life," Palin responded. "If it was good enough for the founding fathers, its (sic) good enough for me and I'll fight in defense of our Pledge of Allegiance."

(The pledge was written in 1892 by Francis Bellamy, a Baptist minister and a Christian Socialist. The words "under God" were added in legislation signed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower on June 14, 1954.)

Question No. 3: "Will you support funding for abstinence-until-marriage education instead of for explicit sex-education programs, school-based clinics and the distribution of contraceptives in schools?"

Palin: "Yes, the explicit sex-ed programs will not find my support."

Obviously not.

Yes, but He's Our Fredo!

Fredo Fights Back! It's the Web site launched yesterday to defend former attorney general Alberto "Fredo" Gonzales-- who was dinged yesterday by an inspector general's report for mishandling "eyes only -- top secret" documents about the administration's surveillance programs.

The site, GonzalesFacts.com, says that it's "written by friends and supporters of Judge Alberto Gonzales to inform the public about the truth about this fine man."

The Justice Department's inspector general, Glenn A. Fine, also investigated the role of politics in hiring and enforcement matters at the department, which Gonzales headed until his resignation a year ago. But the investigations continue.

"Judge Gonzales has been under relentless assault by those who disagree with President Bush about politics and policy," the Web site says, although it's unclear whether Fine is included in that crowd. "This Web site will dispel the myths, rumors and false statements that have been made about Judge Gonzales."

The site features responses by Gonzales's attorney, George J. Terwilliger III, to the IG's reports, contending that Gonzales didn't know about the political shenanigans because no one bothered to tell him. And there are citations of reporting errors and numerous "misstatements of facts" in the media.

There are at least two more reports expected from the relentless Fine. One is on the dismissal of nine U.S. attorneys, the source of the uproar that sparked Gonzales's resignation, and another that focuses on Justice's civil rights division.

That's obviously why we need GonzalesFacts.com. When these or other assaults become public, you'll have a place to find the genuine facts. But wait! There's more. The Web site includes a contact for his spokesman, another for an agent who books his speeches and a link to http://www.gonzalesdefense.com, which accepts contributions for his legal defense fund.