She’s blond and beautiful. He’s debonair. Together, with irresistible charm and a voracious appetite for self-promotion, they penetrated White House security to attend this week’s state dinner for Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and got close enough to kiss Vice President Joe Biden.

That’s the current media image of Michaele and Tareq Salahi, who could be the world’s most celebrated gate crashers since the British comedian who attended Prince William’s 21st birthday party at Windsor Castle in 2003 while dressed as Osama bin Laden in drag.
    
But is there more to the story?
    
The Salahis’ lawyer, Paul Gardner, suggests there is. “My clients were cleared, by the White House, to be there. More information is forthcoming,” he says in a statement published by the Washington Post.
    
The now-famous couple also plans to appear Monday on CNN’s Larry King Live.
    
Paul Wharton, a friend of the Salahis, tells ABC’s Good Morning America that the couple has had lots of contact lately with Indian officials and has spent a fair amount of time in India. Could that explain why they were at a dinner honoring the Indian PM? 
         
News accounts cast the Salahis as determined publicity seekers who posted their wedding on YouTube and boast an online photo gallery of themselves with loads of celebrities including Britain’s Prince Charles.
    
Michaele, a former Washington Redskins cheerleader, is being considered for cable TV channel Bravo’s upcoming reality series, The Real Housewives of Washington. In fact, the Post reports that she spent seven hours at a posh salon, TV production crew in tow, getting ready for the big night.
    
The camera crew followed Michaele and Tareq to the White House but couldn’t get in. The Salahis did and wound up being snapped for photos with Biden and White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel.
    
The Secret Service, which is charged with protecting President Barack Obama and other high-level officials, says the Salahis were not invited to the dinner. The agency is conducting a comprehensive review to get to the bottom of one of the most embarrassing security breaches in the history of White House dinners.
    
It’s not clear what could happen to the Salahis if they really did crash the party. But another friend of the couple, Casey Margenau, doesn’t sound too worried. “Whatever they do, they’ll land on their feet,” he tells ABC. “Promotion and parties are part of their life.”

Photo credits: Reuters/Jonathan Ernst (Michaele and Tareq Salahi); Reuters/Jonathan Ernst (Biden)

The First Family swooped in for a swift spot of volunteering Wednesday at Martha’s Table, about two miles from the White House, handing out turkeys and groceries to a fast-moving line of the local needy.

On the eve of Thanksgiving, first lady Michelle warmly greeted people and handed them bags of fresh vegetables - she’s big on eating right - while leaning over to gently pinch the face of her youngest daughter, Sasha.

The eight-year-old was busy in the turkey stuffing department next to dad, President Barack Obama. Clad in a black zip-up jacket and open necked white shirt, Obama greeting people with a hearty “Happy Thanksgiving, How Are You,” as he flashed wide smiles and industriously slipped pumpkin pies into food bags while simultaneously shaking hands. Eldest daughter Malia, 11, standing next to her mother, also seemed to be having a good time as she distributed packets of food.

The Obamas were joined by a dozen or so family and friends,  in town to share Thanksgiving with them at the White House, including Michelle’s mother, Marian Robinson, as well as the president’s half-sister Maya Soetoro-Ng and brother-in-law Konrad Ng.

Click here for more Reuters political coverage

(Photo credit: Reuters/Jason Reed (Obamas hand out food on day before Thanksgiving in Washington DC Nov. 25, 2009))

After an evening of high-level state diplomacy, President Barack Obama came face-to-face with the other side of his job Wednesday and found himself speaking a little too candidly.
 
Talking turkey, you could say.
 
“There are certain days that remind me of why I ran for this office,” the U.S. chief executive said as he studied a large Thanksgiving bird nearby.
 
“And then there are moments like this,” he said to laughter, “where I pardon a turkey and send it to Disneyland.”
 
The annual Thanksgiving turkey pardoning came a day after a glittering state dinner at the White House for Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh — the first state visit of the Obama presidency.
 
But duties of another order beckoned Wednesday and this time Obama found himself staring across a table at a large white bird.
 
The turkey, whose name is “Courage,” was provided for the White House event by the National Turkey Federation, which has been doing the honors for more than 50 years, Obama said.
 
“I’m told Presidents Eisenhower and Johnson actually ate their turkeys. You can’t fault them for that,” he said. “That’s a good-looking bird.”
 
Kennedy declined to consume a turkey given to him, despite a sign around its neck saying “Good Eatin’, Mr. President.” But it was President Bush who 20 years ago issued the first official presidential pardon for a turkey, Obama said.
 
To hear the president tell it, that tradition almost didn’t survive this year.
 
“I am pleased to announce that thanks to the interventions of Malia and Sasha — because I was planning to eat this sucker – ’Courage’ will also be spared this terrible and delicious fate,” he said.
 
Turkey pardoning duties aside, Obama said he was thankful for the “extraordinary responsibility” voters had given him, and he paid tribute to U.S. troops abroad and their families. He acknowledged many are suffering because of the recession.
 
“There’s no question this has been a tough year for America,” Obama said. “We’re at war. Our economy is emerging from an extraordinary recession into recovery, but there’s a long way to go and a lot of work to do.”
 
And with that, he had some formal turkey pardoning to do.
 
“Before this turkey gets too nervous that Bo (the dog) will escape and screw up this pardon or before I change my mind, I hereby pardon ‘Courage’ so that he can live out the rest of his days in peace and tranquility in Disneyland.”
 
Don’t think every turkey’s going to get off so light.
 
Later in the day, Obama said, his family was taking two of Courage’s “less fortunate brethren” to Martha’s Table, a Washington group that provides meals for the hungry.
 
For more Reuters political news, click here.

Photo credit: Reuters/Jason Reed (Obama attempts diplomacy with turkey)

Watch out James Patterson, Stephen King and Dan Brown. Sarah Palin has you beat — at least this week.

All that experience on the campaign trail has served Palin well. The 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate, who is popular among many U.S. conservatives, has excelled in the first week of her multi-state, campaign-style media tour to promote her new book which was released on Nov. 17.

The former Alaskan governor’s memoir, “Going Rogue: An American Life” topped the charts in its first week of publication.  Nielsen Bookscan said the new author eclipsed best-sellers Patterson and King whose books also debuted that week.

In a comparison of other first week book sales by current or past presidents or vice presidential candidates, Palin came in second only to former President Bill Clinton who sold about 606,000 copies of his memoir ”My Life” in its debut week.  The former Republican vice presidential candidate’s sales at 469,000 were just above Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s “Living History”.

The figures don’t include numbers from big box stores Wal-Mart, Sam’s, BJs or libraries.

Fans have told of driving for hours to wait in long, snaking lines at Palin’s book-signings which are reminiscent of last year’s campaign stops.

Palin’s sales were far above those of President Barack Obama, for his 2007 best-seller “Audacity of Hope”, which garnered him so much success as he launched his run for the presidency.

Palin, who stirred controversy with her new book even before it landed on the shelves, complained in her memoir that she was “all bottled up” last year by advisers to her running mate, the Republican presidential candidate John McCain.

After the book was published, McCain strongly defended the top advisers from his 2008 campaign who were sharply criticized by Palin in “Going Rogue.”

For more Reuters political news, click here.

Photo credits:  Reuters/Larry Downing (Palin’s book on sale at a book store) ; Reuters/Rebecca Cook (Palin signs books in Grand Rapids, Michigan on Nov. 18)

President Barack Obama’s mideast peace envoy George Mitchell is an unlikely optimist.

Ten months into an assignment that has confounded generations of U.S. diplomats, Mitchell said on Wednesday he remained upbeat about bringing Israel and the Palestinians back to peace talks — thanks in part to his experience resolving another once-intractable crisis, the dispute between Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland.

Mitchell, credited with shaping the 1998 Good Friday Accord that ended that long and bloody conflict, said the key was not to lose heart.

“Over a period of five years, I chaired three separate sets of discussions.  The main negotiation lasted for nearly two years.  For most of that time, there was little or no progress, and our effort was branded a failure,” Mitchell told a news briefing.

“But then, after two years of saying no, both sides said yes. In a real sense, we had 700 days of failure and one day of success.”

Mitchell, a former Senate majority leader, has thus far had little success in shuttle diplomacy aimed at resuming stalled Mideast peace talks, which have seen the two sides still bitterly divided over the issue of Israeli settlement construction on Palestinian lands.

Mitchell said there was no alternative but to push forward.

“If you’re serious about peace, you can’t take as final the first no, the second no or even the hundredth no.  You can’t get discouraged by setbacks and you can’t be deterred by criticism.  You have to be patient, persevering and determined,” he said.

For more Reuters political news, click here.

Photo Credit:Reuters/Fadi Arouri (Mitchell during a meeting in the West Bank city of Ramallah in September)

If President Barack Obama opts to increase the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan next week, the decision could be underscored by something a bit unusual for his policies: growing U.S. public support. 
    
Polling data have shown for a while now that most Americans don’t favor many of Obama’s policy positions, despite his enduring personal popularity.
    
A USA Today/Gallup poll depicts Obama battling headwinds on a number of fronts: Americans oppose the closing of Gitmo by more than a 2-to-1 margin; those against healthcare reform edge out those in favor by 5 percentage points; and most don’t want accused Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed tried in civilian court in New York City.
    
Afghanistan is no cakewalk, either. Public opinion is divided over the question of more troops and 55 percent of Americans disapprove of the president’s handling of the war up to now — a reversal of his 56 percent approval rating four months ago.
    
But the polling data, compiled Nov. 20-22, might also suggest a silver lining for the president as he nears an announcement that could send 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan.
    
Less than half of Americans — 47 percent — favor a troop increase. But that’s up from 42 percent in a Nov. 5-8 survey.
    
Plus, the opposition is down: 39 percent of Americans now want the president to reduce the U.S. military footprint, vs. 44 percent earlier.
    
What hasn’t changed for Obama is that Republicans, not fellow Democrats, are his best buddies when it comes to increasing troops. Seventy-two percent of Republicans back a bigger U.S. force in Afghanistan, while 57 percent of Democrats say it’s time to start pulling out.     

That could be important for Obama’s agenda in Congress as the 2010 election approaches and Democratic incumbents in tight races consider how they might fare with Democratic voters.

The USA Today/Gallup findings are based on telephone interviews with 1,017 adults. The margin of error is 4 percentage points.

Photo credits: Reuters/Jason Reed (Obama and Defense Secretary Robert Gates); Reuters/Mathieu Belanger (U.S. soldier departs for Afghanistan); Reuters/Lucas Jackson (NYC crowd watches Obama)

A: When the visitor is not head of state.

The flags are out in Washington for Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who is on what is widely billed as the first official state visit of the Obama administration.

That’s all fine for Singh, whose Congress party swept to victory in May elections, giving him a second term as powerful prime minister of the world’s most populous democracy.

The problem is, India has also a president — Pratibha Patil — who is the first woman to hold that largely ceremonial office and, technically, India’s head of state.

So what’s with all the D.C. pageantry?

A senior U.S. official said the White House had decided to elevate the status of the visit out of recognition of Singh’s friendship and the importance of Indo-U.S. ties, and that everything was set up for full state honors — with one exception.

Those listening to the artillery barrage that marked Singh’s official arrival may have mistaken it for a 21-gun salute, but it wasn’t.

It may have been 19 guns, or possibly 17, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

But definitely not 21. Only “real” state visitors get that.

For more Reuters political news, click here.

Photo credit: Reuters/Larry Downing (Obama and Singh at the White House)

He probably won’t run for New York governor but might for the U.S. Senate … or will he?
     
That’s the speculation swirling around Rudy Giuliani, the Republican former New York City mayor who walked tall after the Sept. 11 attacks and ran for U.S. president in 2008.
    
A spokeswoman says the 65-year-old former federal prosecutor has made no decisions.
    
But the New York Daily News, the New York Times  and the New York Post  all report that Giuliani has decided not to run for New York governor in 2010.
    
Analysts think he could defeat Democratic incumbent Governor David Paterson without much fuss. But overcoming a possible challenge from New York’s Democratic attorney general, Andrew Cuomo, could be have been difficult. Cuomo has not announced his candidacy.
    
The Daily News reports that Giuliani is strongly considering a Senate run against Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand to fill out the remaining two years of Hillary Clinton’s term. Clinton, who lost in last year’s Democratic presidential nomination to Barack Obama, is now U.S. secretary of state.

The Daily News cites poll numbers showing Giuliani losing to Cuomo 53 percent to 43 percent in a race for governor,  but beating Gillibrand 54 percent to 40 percent for the Senate.

But the Senate speculation may not last long.

The New York Post quotes people close to Giuliani as saying a run for the Senate is unlikely.

And even the Daily News  seems to be hedging its bets with a story saying Giuliani doesn’t need to run for the Senate because he already has plenty of money and influence and a private life that’s working out just fine.
    
Giuliani ran for the Senate in a 2000 campaign that pitted him against Clinton. But events and declining poll numbers were against him and he withdrew after a quick succession of revelations: he had prostate cancer, he had a girlfriend, and he was separating from his second wife.
    
Giuliani has since beaten cancer, divorced his second wife, Donna Hanover, and married his former girlfriend, Judith Nathan.

Photo Credit: Reuters/Brian Snyder (Giuliani)

Like one of those grizzly bears way up yonder in Alaska, Sarah Palin was in hibernation for months while she wrote her book. And now that the book is out, she’s become unplugged.

The conservative firebrand, who says she was all “bottled up” by the John McCain staff on the campaign trail last year, is chock full of opinions and letting lose on all manner of subjects.

Let’s go over several of them.

The shootings at Fort Hood were “an act of terrorism” and authorities missed “massive warning flags” about the alleged shooter, Major Nidal Malik Hasan, she said.

“And I think it was quite unfortunate that, to me, it was a fear of being politically incorrect, to not — I’m going to use the word — profile this guy, profile in the sense of finding out what his radical beliefs were,” she told Fox News Channel’s Sean Hannity.

Over at ABC News’ “Good Morning America,” Barbara Walters asked Palin what she would do about 10.2 percent unemployment if she were president.

“I’d start cutting taxes and allowing our small businesses to keep more of what they’re earning, more of what they’re producing, more of what they own and earn so that they can start reinvesting in their businesses and expand and hire more people,” Palin said.

President Barack Obama’s healthcare and energy plans are “back-assward ways of trying to fix the economy,” she said.

Turning to foreign policy, Palin disagreed with Obama’s pressure on Israel to halt the expansion of Jewish settlements.

“I disagree with the Obama administration on that. I believe that the Jewish settlements should be allowed to be expanded upon,” she told Barbara Walters.

“Because that population of Israel is going to grow. More and more Jewish people will be flocking to Israel in the days and weeks and months ahead and I don’t think that the Obama administration has any right to tell Israel that the Jewish settlements cannot expand,” she said.

What about Obama’s lengthy quest for an Afghanistan strategy? Go ahead and send more troops, she said.

“It frustrates me and frightens me, and many Americans, that President Obama is dithering around with the decision in Afghanistan,” she said.

Hannity, on his radio show, asked Palin about the 2010 congressional elections, in which Republicans hope to rebound from 2006 and 2008 losses and cut into Democratic majorities in the U.S. Congress.

“There’s going to be a huge shift,” she said. “2010 is going to be an earthquake politically across our country because people are just as you are suggesting not putting a lot of hope in this Congress,” she said.

For more Reuters political news, click here.

Photo credit: Reuters/Rebecca Cook (Palin autographs copies of her book “Going Rogue: An American Life” in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on Nov. 18; Palin’s book tour bus)

A new poll by the Pew Research Center and the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life suggests that concern about federal funding for abortion is very low on the list of factors driving opposition to President Barack Obama’s effort to overhaul America’s healthcare system.

The results of the poll, released on Thursday, show that just 3 percent of healthcare opponents cited abortion funding as their main reason for opposing congressional healthcare proposals.

The biggest reasons, cited by 27 percent of respondents to an open-ended question about their opposition, were that the overhaul would be too expensive and lead to higher deficits and taxes. Another 27 percent said they did not want government involvement in healthcare.

The nationwide poll of more than 1,000 Americans was conducted from Nov. 12 to 15.

The poll’s publication comes as the U.S. Senate prepares to begin debate on its version of a healthcare bill that does not include language approved earlier this month by the House that would strengthen the existing prohibition on using federal funds for abortion.

Many analysts say the abortion issue — which has been fanned by conservative evangelicals associated with the Republican Party and Catholic clergy whose flock lean to the Democratic Party — threatens to unravel Obama’s top domestic priority.

But the Pew poll highlights its apparently minor role in stirring opposition to the healthcare push which aims, among other things, to expand coverage to tens of millions of Americans who lack health insurance.

Has this hornet’s nest been opened by a vocal but very small minority of the U.S. public, which would appear to have more pressing concerns when it comes to healthcare?

Photo credit: REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst (Anti-abortion activist wears mirrored sunglasses and a piece of tape over his mouth in Washington, June 1, 2009)