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Rocking the nation

He might not be the most popular Republican among conservatives, but Sen. John McCain of Arizona is a favorite among young Americans.

One day after Mr. McCain went on MSNBC's "Scarborough Country" to say regarding the filibuster struggle that Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee "couldn't quite carry it off" (the Republican said the far right and far left were interested only in "a battle to win supremacy," not the fight over judges), we learned yesterday that he's been chosen to receive Rock the Vote's 2005 "Rock the Nation" award.

Other honorees at the June 8 awards gala will be former President Bill Clinton, who will receive the group's lifetime achievement award, Sen. Barack Obama, Illinois Democrat, and the band Black Eyed Peas.

Founded in 1990, Rock the Vote's mission is to build "political power" for young Americans. Last year, 4.5 million more 18- to 29-year-olds voted than in 2000.

Help me, Rhonda

President Bush this week named Rhonda Keenum as White House director of public liaison -- on top of everything else.

"She is living the life of a four-armed circus act," says one acquaintance, observing that in the past year Mrs. Keenum and her husband, Mark Keenum, chief of staff to Sen. Thad Cochran, Mississippi Republican, became the proud parents of triplets -- Katie, Rett and Mary Phillips.

How do they do it?