Inside Politics

Expedient vote

Democrat Barack Obama was inclined to vote for John G. Roberts Jr. for Supreme Court chief justice back in 2005, but decided against it when told it could hurt him in the Democratic presidential contest, said the senator’s chief of staff.

Mr. Obama, who has based his presidential campaign on the boast that he is a different kind of politician — a Washington outsider who can get along with Republicans — confirmed his aide’s account in a Page 1 article in The Washington Post yesterday.

“Talking with his aides, the Illinois Democrat expressed admiration for Roberts’ intellect,” Post reporter Perry Bacon Jr. wrote. “Besides, Obama said, if he were president he wouldn’t want his judicial nominees opposed simply on ideological grounds.”

And then Pete Rouse, his chief of staff, “spoke up,” The Post said. “This was no Harvard moot-court exercise, he said. If Obama voted for Roberts, Rouse told him, people would remind him of that every time the Supreme Court issued another conservative ruling, something that could cripple a future presidential run. Obama took it in. And when the roll was called, he voted no.”

Unlike presidential rival John Edwards, who appeared embarrassed and issued a denial earlier this year when former political adviser Bob Shrum said he had talked Mr. Edwards, then a senator from North Carolina, into a reluctant vote for the Iraq war resolution for political reasons, Mr. Obama praised his aide for guiding him back to a politically expedient position.

Mr. Obama, when asked about that discussion over the Roberts nomination, told the newspaper: “Pete’s very good at looking around the corners of decisions and playing out the implications of them. He’s been around long enough that he can recognize problems and pitfalls a lot quicker than others can.”

Very subtle

“Political junkies and HBO fans have been wondering if ’Big Love’ would ever include a Mitt Romney story line,” reporter Christina Bellantoni writes in her blog at www.washingtontimes.com.

“Finally that question was answered Sunday night, and the Mormon presidential hopeful got a mention during the season finale of the popular HBO drama about a Mormon family engaged in polygamy.

“You had to listen really close to catch the Romney line; it was that subtle,” Miss Bellantoni said.

“At the beginning of a scene halfway through the episode, the show’s polygamist patriarch Roman Grant, aka ’The Prophet,’ is watching television. The TV screen isn’t in the shot, but you can hear a female’s voice weighing in on a recent Romney scandal.

” ’He saved the Olympics. Who cares if he lets his dog ride on the roof of his car,’ the woman says, referring to a Boston Globe profile detailing a family trip where the Romney dog, Seamus, traveled 12 hours in a pet carrier on the roof of the station wagon.

” ’People are just out to get him for any little thing,’ the pundit continues. She starts a new sentence with ’Critics …’ but her voice is drowned out when the show’s main character, Bill Henrickson, enters the room.

“The pundit does not mention Mr. Romney by name, but it is obvious she is referring to the Republican, who managed the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City.

“A Romney spokesman laughed when I told him about the ’Big Love’ episode, but said his boss probably isn’t a regular viewer of the show and he doubts it would have much bearing on voters.

“Mr. Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, has often joked about polygamy. HBO wasn’t prepared for calls from political reporters yesterday, but the press shop assures me they will let me know soon whether season three might include a Romney plot line. A spokeswoman said she wasn’t sure if the producers filmed the pundit’s segment or if it was a clip from a real news show.”

Lack of context

“Reporters have been breathlessly and endlessly covering every event and comment in the 2008 race for the White House. In what may be the longest election coverage in history, a look at the Republican nomination process raises questions as to whether the reporters are paying attention to the things that really matter,” pollster Scott Rasmussen writes at www.realclear politics.com.

“The most recent example of this is the straw poll held in Ames, Iowa, a couple of weeks ago. Despite the fact that leading prospects such as Rudy Giuliani, Fred Thompson, and John McCain did not participate, the press coverage hailed the event as being terribly significant. The big winner, of course, was Mitt Romney. Second place went to Mike Huckabee, who hoped the strong showing would vault him into the top tier of candidates,” Mr. Rasmussen said.

“Two weeks later, the national polls show that the Iowa event had virtually no impact. Romney remains mired in third place, barely ahead of John McCain. Huckabee’s support continues to be measured in the mid-single digits.

“It’s not really that the press got the coverage wrong. Romney did what he had to do in Iowa and did it well. Huckabee did exceed expectations, apparently on the strength of a well-received speech. What the reporters got wrong was a sense of context and scale … Less than half the nation’s voters even knew that Romney was the winner. It is fair to assume that a much smaller number attached any particular significance to it.”

Anti-Iran bulwark

President Bush will describe Iraq as the front-line against Shi’ite extremism championed by Iran and the Sunni extremism of al Qaeda, Agence France-Presse reports.

Mr. Bush will make the claim today in a speech in Reno, Nev., to the American Legion veterans group, the second of two presidential addresses meant to bolster support for the war in Iraq ahead of a critical Sept. 15 progress report, the news agency reported last night.

“The president will talk about Sunni extremism and Shi’a extremism. Neither represents Islam. They represent a brutal and heartless ideology of death and destruction,” a senior aide told reporters in a preview of the speech.

“Iraq is at the heart of where these two extremisms must be dealt with,” the official said on the condition of anonymity as Mr. Bush traveled to Washington state for a political fundraiser.

Greg Pierce can be reached at 202/636-3285 or gpierce@washingtontimes .com.