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Down And Personal With The Candidates
by The Associated Press
Posted: December 21, 2007 - 8:00 am ET
(Washington) Bring on the grilled meat. Just
don't plate it with certain vegetables.
The presidential candidates seem more aligned in
their food cravings than their politics. Indulgences include a hearty Southern
breakfast, chocolate and Mexican spice.
Bring them all together for a feast, and
the host would want to pass on the beets, eggplant, mushrooms and carrots to
avoid a turned up nose at the table.
Since the spring, The Associated Press has been
exploring the tastes, traits and backgrounds of the Democrats and Republicans
running for their party's 2008 presidential nomination.
AP asked them about
their ideal jobs and their worst gigs, their hidden talents and their treasured
possessions, to find out more about their personal side.
Deviating from their diets and drinking too much
coffee and soda are among the worst habits that the candidates would own up to.
Mitt Romney said his worst habit is an inability to sit still. Mike Huckabee
can't settle on a television or radio station. Barack Obama can't give his
BlackBerry a rest.
They spoke of their tastes in music - opera,
Orbison and goth rock winning favor - and the can't-miss reality TV that they
scarcely have time to see these days.
John McCain revealed himself as the king
of pets, owning 22 at last count, more than half of them saltwater fish.
Here are highlights from the personal side of
these Democrats, New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, former North Carolina
Sen. John Edwards, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama and New Mexico Gov. Bill
Richardson; and these Republicans, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former
Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, Arizona Sen. John McCain, former Massachusetts Gov.
Mitt Romney and former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson.
Thompson did not answer all
questions because some were asked before he became a candidate.
ALTERNATE CAREER CHOICE
| DEMOCRATS:
Clinton: "Continue to work for causes
and issues I care about, in a setting like a university or
foundation."
Edwards: Mill supervisor.
Obama: Architect.
Richardson: Center field, New York Yankees. |
REPUBLICANS:
Giuliani: Sports announcer.
Huckabee: Bass guitar player for a touring
rock band.
McCain: Foreign service.
Romney: Auto company chief executive. |
FAVORITE FOOD TO COOK
| DEMOCRATS:
Clinton: "I'm a lousy cook, but I make
pretty good soft scrambled eggs."
Edwards: Hamburgers.
Obama: Chili.
Richardson: Diet milkshake. |
REPUBLICANS:
Giuliani: Hamburgers or steak on the grill.
Huckabee: Ribeye steak on the grill.
McCain: Baby-back ribs.
Romney: Hot dog. |
FAVORITE REALITY TV PROGRAM
| DEMOCRATS:
Clinton: "American Idol."
Edwards: College basketball.
Obama: "Other than the U.S. Senate on
C-SPAN? I don't watch them too often."
Richardson: "Fox News." |
REPUBLICANS:
Giuliani: Baseball.
Huckabee: "Nashville Star," USA
Network's country music competition.
McCain: Arizona Diamondbacks baseball.
Romney: "American Idol." |
FAVORITE FITNESS ACTIVITY
| DEMOCRATS:
Clinton: Speed walking.
Edwards: Running.
Obama: Basketball.
Richardson: Horseback riding and tennis. |
REPUBLICANS:
Giuliani: Golf.
Huckabee: Running.
McCain: Hiking.
Romney: Jogging. |
WORST HABIT
| DEMOCRATS:
Clinton: Chocolate.
Edwards: "Drinking soda."
Obama: "Checking my Blackberry."
Richardson: "Straying from my
diet." |
REPUBLICANS:
Giuliani: "Talking too much."
Huckabee: "Channel surfing on TV or
radio."
McCain: "Coffee."
Romney: "Fidgeting." |
"SLEEPING IN" TIME
| DEMOCRATS:
Clinton: "I feel lucky when I can
sleep until 7 a.m."
Edwards: 7 a.m.
Obama: 8 a.m.
Richardson: 7 a.m. |
REPUBLICANS:
Giuliani: 8 a.m.
Huckabee: "Five a.m. is late for me.
Most days I am up no later than 4:30 a.m."
McCain: 8 a.m.
Romney: 7 a.m. |
HIDDEN TALENT
| DEMOCRATS:
Clinton: "I love crossword
puzzles."
Edwards: "Jump shot."
Obama: "I'm a pretty good poker
player."
Richardson: "Boxing trivia." |
REPUBLICANS:
Giuliani: "Listening."
Huckabee: "Voice impersonations of
dozens of celebrities."
McCain: "Barbecue grill chef."
Romney: "Singing." |
RECENT MUSIC PURCHASE
| DEMOCRATS:
Clinton: Carly Simon's "Into
White."
Edwards: U2.
Obama: "The latest music purchase
would probably be 'Ray' - the soundtrack from the Ray Charles movie."
Richardson: George Strait, "50 Number
Ones." |
REPUBLICANS:
Giuliani: Verdi's "Macbeth."
Huckabee: Evanescence, the goth rock group
from Little Rock, Ark.
McCain: Likes "Sounds Of Summer - The
Very Best Of The Beach Boys."
Romney: "Selection of Roy Orbison
songs from iTunes." |
HOME TASK THAT NEEDS TENDING
| DEMOCRATS:
Clinton: "Organizing my closets."
Edwards: "Clearing paths in the
woods."
Obama: "Too numerous to list."
Richardson: "Taking out the garbage at
the mansion." |
REPUBLICANS:
Giuliani: "Cleaning the
fireplace."
Huckabee: "Cleaning garage."
McCain: "Grilling."
Romney: "Clean the gutters." |
RECENT WORK OF FICTION READ
| DEMOCRATS:
Clinton: "Team of Rivals" by
Doris Kearns Goodwin (Nonfiction).
Edwards: "Exile" by Richard North
Patterson.
Obama: "Gilead" by Marilynne
Robinson.
Richardson: "The administration's
energy plan." |
REPUBLICANS:
Giuliani: "The Beach House" by
James Patterson and Peter De Jonge.
Huckabee: "My oldest son's
screenplay."
McCain: "A Farewell to Arms" by
Ernest Hemingway.
Romney: "Term Limits" by Vince
Flynn. |
PETS AT HOME
| DEMOCRATS:
Clinton: "Seamus, our Lab."
Edwards: Golden retriever and chocolate
Lab.
Obama: None.
Richardson: Cats Jake and Squeaky. |
REPUBLICANS:
Giuliani: None.
Huckabee: Jet the 9-year-old black Lab,
Sonic the 1 1/2-year-old Shih Tzu.
McCain: Sam the English springer spaniel,
Coco the mutt, turtles Cuff and Link, Oreo the black and white cat, a
ferret, three parakeets and 13 saltwater fish.
Romney: Family recently lost Marley, a
Weimaraner. |
BEST AND WORST GRADES OR SUBJECTS IN SCHOOL
| DEMOCRATS:
Clinton: "I always loved history and
got good grades, but I never did well at math."
Edwards: Best, English; worst, chemistry.
Obama: Graduated magna cum laude from
Harvard Law; D in 8th grade French.
Richardson: A in spelling; F in music. |
REPUBLICANS:
Giuliani: Best, constitutional law and
contracts in law school. Worst, tax in law school.
Huckabee: A+ (100 percent average) in
debate; C in 9th Grade algebra.
McCain: "I never got good grade."
Romney: A to F. "Fortunately, I got
more A's than F's." |
SHUNNED FOOD ITEMS
| DEMOCRATS:
Clinton: "I like nearly everything.
"I don't like, you know, things that are still alive."
Edwards: "I can't stand mushrooms. I
don't want them on anything that I eat. And I have had to eat them because
you get food served and it's sitting there and you're starving, so you
eat."
Obama: "Beets, and I always avoid
eating them."
Richardson: Mushrooms, specifically.
"I'm not a big vegetable eater." Recalling the first President
Bush's distaste for broccoli, he said: "I sympathize with that
fully." |
REPUBLICANS:
Giuliani: Liver.
Huckabee: "Carrots. I just don't like
carrots. I banned them from the governor's mansion when I was governor of
Arkansas because I could."
McCain: "I eat almost everything.
Sometimes I don't do too well with vegetables."
Romney: "Eggplant, in any shape or
form. And I've always been able to avoid it."
Thompson: "Not much. I've tried to do
better about that. I jokingly say that we kind of have a diet around our
house that if it tastes good, you don't eat it. I haven't quite got there
yet. There's not much that I turn down. That's a good thing on the
campaign trail because you get quite a variety." |
WORST JOBS
| DEMOCRATS:
Clinton: "Sliming fish in a fish
cannery in Valdez, Alaska."
Edwards: Textile mill. "I cleaned out
overhead in the weave room, which is where all the crap goes. And I'd be
up there climbing around, knocking the stuff down. And it would go down on
the looms. The weavers would be, uh, not happy with me for that."
Obama: Scooping ice cream at a
Baskin-Robbins and eating too much of it.
Richardson: Landscaping, while playing
baseball on Cape Cod in 1967. "The pay was terrible. I remember it
was backbreaking work." |
REPUBLICANS:
Huckabee: "Washing windows at
JCPenney's and stocking shelves when I was 14 years old. ... It was a
great job and it was a great company but they worked me hard. Just as I'd
get all the fingerprints wiped off the door, somebody would come and
they'd put their hands all over the glass. To this day, I'm still very
sensitive about never touching the glass, but touching the handles because
I had to wipe those windows so many times."
McCain: "I've never really had a bad
job."
Romney: "Worst job was probably
spending about a week sawing a sewer pipe at the ranch in Idaho I worked
at. And getting down in the sewer and sawing through a sewer pipe that
still had active sewage occasionally passing through it."
Thompson: "I've worked in a factory, I
was a bouncer at my uncle's drag strip, I worked at the post office, I
sold children's shoes, I sold ladies', I sold men's clothing, I was a
night clerk at a motel. I can't think of a job that I had that I wasn't
thankful for at the time."
Giuliani: Declined to answer. |
NICKNAMES
| DEMOCRATS:
New York Sen. Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton:
No nicknames that stuck
Former North Carolina Sen. Johnny Reid
Edwards: John
Illinois Sen. Barack Hussein Obama Jr.:
Barry
New Mexico Gov. William Blaine Richardson:
Coyote Bill |
REPUBLICANS:
Former New York Mayor Rudolph William Louis
Giuliani: Rudy
Former Arkansas Gov. Michael Dale Huckabee:
Mike and Huck
Arizona Sen. John Sidney McCain III: Johnny
Former Massachusetts Gov. Willard Mitt
Romney: "In high school, my friends called me Bird Legs. And how did
I get it? Take a guess."
Former Tennessee Sen. Freddie Dalton
Thompson: Mr. President
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FIRST CARS
| DEMOCRATS:
Clinton: A 1963 Oldsmobile Cutlass with a
battery she kept in her law-school dorm on cold nights so the car would
start when she needed it. (Now: A Ford hybrid, and Secret Service vehicles
as former first lady)
Edwards: Plymouth Duster. (Now: Ford Escape
hybrid, 2004 Chrysler Pacifica midsize SUV, 1994 GMC truck.)
Obama: Grandfather's Ford Granada was the
first car he used extensively. (Now: Chrysler 300C, a full-size
sport-luxury sedan.)
Richardson: Secondhand Ford Mustang. (Now:
Official state vehicles and "Jeep Wrangler, although my security
doesn't like me to drive." |
REPUBLICANS:
Giuliani: A used Dodge. (Now: "I don't
drive, I navigate.")
Huckabee: Mercury Montego. (Now: 2007
Chevrolet Tahoe and 1995 Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck)
McCain: 1958 Corvette. (Now: Cadillac CTS,
a midsize luxury sedan)
Romney: A used 1963 Rambler Classic, which
he got in 1965 when he went to college. (His father, then Michigan
governor, had helped develop the Rambler as American Motors chief) (Now:
2005 Ford Mustang convertible and 1962 Rambler American.)
Thompson: Red pickup. Now: Unknown. |
FAVORITE GADGETS
| DEMOCRATS:
Clinton: iPod
Edwards: iPod
Obama: BlackBerry
Richardson: BlackBerry, "my Crackberry." |
REPUBLICANS:
Giuliani: CD player
Huckabee: "Probably my laptop. Or my
bass guitar and amplifier."
McCain: Razr cell phone and the TV remote
Romney: BlackBerry
Thompson: iPod |
MISCONCEPTIONS
| DEMOCRATS:
Clinton's campaign: "Too many to
choose from; she is the most famous person nobody really knows."
Edwards: "That I have an accent.
Actually, the rest of the country does."
Obama: No answer.
Richardson: "That politicians are
late. I work very hard to be on time." |
REPUBLICANS:
Giuliani's campaign: "That he's too
serious."
Huckabee: No answer.
McCain (grinning): "I think there are
many, starting with my good looks, winning personality, the fact that I
have never lost my temper. Frankly, I think there's been enough visibility
in all these years in public office that Americans have me pretty well
figured out, both failings as well as virtues."
Romney: "It probably relates to the
issue you raised the other day that I changed positions on a number of
issues. And that is just not an accurate characterization."
Thompson's campaign: "Really not much
of a break dancer." |
PRIZED POSSESSION
| DEMOCRATS:
Clinton: No answer
Edwards (laughing): "I hate these
questions because they always require more thought than I have time to
give them. Prized like long-term or short-term? My running shoes are very
important to me."
Obama: "Photograph in my office of the
cliffs of Oahu's South Shore, where my mother's ashes are scattered."
Richardson: "Baseball signed by Ted
Williams." |
REPUBLICANS:
Giuliani: "My grandfather's pocket
watch."
Huckabee: "Probably my Tobias bass
guitar or maybe, I've got a handmade musket rifle that was made by a guy
in Eureka Springs, Ark. I've hunted turkey with it. It's really an amazing
firearm. Probably one of those two as far as just real heirlooms."
McCain: "I have a baseball signed by
Ted Williams, my childhood hero, a Marine pilot as well."
Romney: 1962 Rambler American, which his
sons bought for him. "The last year that my dad was president of
American Motors and made Ramblers was 1962, so it's a connection with my
dad and that era."
Thompson: ( tongue in cheek) "Trophy
wife." |
©365Gay.com 2007
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