This story made me laugh a little:
Sen. Barack Obama vows to bring a "new kind of politics" to Washington. But a copy of a 36-page fax from Obama's Senate office, obtained by NEWSWEEK, shows that the rookie presidential candidate, riding the biggest wave this side of his native Hawaii, needs to keep a sharp eye on the details of his own campaign. Senate ethics rules allow senators with active campaigns to "split" the work time and salary of official schedulers such as Obama's Molly Buford. According to Obama's campaign spokesman, Robert Gibbs, she in fact is paid by both entities. But Senate rules and federal law forbid the use of official equipment—such as faxes and phone lines—to conduct campaign business, which was what Buford was doing last Thursday when she faxed Obama's political "call list" to the senator's personal aide at a Columbia, S.C., hotel. "These are the call sheets for tomorrow's call time," she wrote on the official cover page, emblazoned with the seal of the U.S. Senate.
One, this is a minor, minor thing - a classic example of another campaign playing "gotcha" with a stupid unforced error by a staffer - not even by the candidate.
Two, Sen. Obama has set himself (and allowed the media to elevate him to a level) "above politics." This is why Speaker Madigan called him "The Messiah." But for every silly, stupid, nothing-to-it little mistep like this one, the metamorphosis into Just Another Politician™ continues.
Three, some Champaign County Democrats have a history of calling for investigations of officials who use government faxes for political purposes. Which of our principled local Democrats will stand against such a blatant abuse of official resources? Just kidding, just kidding - but I will be waiting for someone to demand a special prosecutor. ;-)
