Daddy Watches Malia Play Soccer

How would you like to be a "pool reporter" assigned to track a candidate? Talk about feeling like a stalker ...

When Your Parent's The Prez

Some people feel sorry for First Kids because of the glare of the limelight, security worries, and a continuous struggle to have a "normal life."

But don't waste time worrying about Sasha, Malia, Bridget, Meghan, Jack, Jimmy, Sidney, Doug, or Andy, because as Jocelyn Noveck of the Associate Press points out, there are definite perks to the deal, like meeting world-changers and history-makers:

"Sure, maybe a few times I wished my father was just a congressman," Susan Ford Bales, now chairman of the Betty Ford Center, said in an interview. "But in fact I wouldn't trade it for anything. The travels, the people you meet. From movie stars to heads of state. It was like, 'Oh my gosh, look who I'm meeting now!'"

Her advice to the next president and his wife: "Keep being a parent. Keep loving your children and keep being available to them." She notes that when she needed something from her parents, she could interrupt them at any time - and did. She recalled a meeting her dad was having with Henry Kissinger, then secretary of state. "I walked in and said, 'Hi, Mr. Secretary. Dad, I need my allowance and Mom doesn't have any cash.'" The leader of the free world obliged.

Jack McCain Taught Mom to Drift Race

According to People Magazine, Mrs. McCain gave Ryan Seacrest the scoop about learning from her oldest son:

"My son and I got into car racing together," said McCain, who is also a pilot. "I always enjoyed cars, anyway. [But] he was the one that encouraged me – and ... we built a drift car together and began drift racing together."

Malia Obama's Access Hollywood Interview

Here it is! What with Malia's comments about her Daddy's lack of fashion sense, it sounds like the Senator's already regretting his decision to let the girls meet the press.

Malia Obama: Happy Tenth Birthday!

Senator Obama's oldest daughter makes it into double digits today, with a picnic and parade in Butte, Montana, and a private party later on.

Meghan McCain: Vietnam Smiles

Videographer and mccainblogette Shannon Bae captured the highlights of Mrs. McCain's visit to Operation Smile in Vietnam, along with Meghan's commentary:

Auntie Maya Helps Malia Obama Turn 10

Dr. Maya Soetoro-Ng (second from left) is a professor and teacher in Honolulu, Hawaii

Independence Day is also Malia Obama's birthday, and this year she goes into double digits. To help celebrate, Aunt Maya Soetoro-Ng (half-sister of Senator Obama; they share the same mother but her father is Indonesian) is joining the family on the campaign trail. 

No idea if cousin Suhaila, age 3, is coming along, but one of Malia's birthday stops will be in Butte, Montana, where she'll be marching in the town parade.

Photo Source: barackobama.com

A Plane With The Name of McCain

Here's a cool campaign perk for Doug, Andy, Sidney, Meghan, Jack, Jimmy, and Bridget: a Boeing 737-400 with their family name logoed on the fuselage (that's plane speak for body).

The new ride has two phones, a fax machine, and power outlets for laptops, which means Meghan can compose blog posts in the air. I'm not sure about internet access, but the Senator's missing the television fix they had on the JetBlue charter they were using until now -- apparently he's a Lost fan and loves the Office.

Photo Source: Mccain Campaign

Fresh Princess Chelsea Clinton

Chelsea's still having fun now that there's no more campaign partying (at least until Senator Obama announces his veep choice.) She's been chilling in black tie with Mr. and Mrs. Fresh Prince, for example, even though Will Smith called Obama last December to sign up for the winning team in the Democratic race. Guess you have to forgive and forget fast when you're a First Daughter wannabe.

Malia Obama: It's About Time!

Senator Obama, appearing with Hilary Clinton at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington D.C yesterday, said that thanks to the hard work of many people, his daughters now take it for granted that we could have a woman and/or an African American president:

...He told of being surprised that his 9-year-old daughter Malia had been well aware of the historic nature of the Clinton-Obama duel. Her father, she knew, could be the first African American president. But she also observed that Clinton could be the first woman. "Then she said, it's about time, and rolled over and went to bed," Obama said.

Photo Source: Barack Obama via Creative Commons.

Meghan's Eye-Opening Trip To Cambodia

Meghan McCain and her mother stopped in Cambodia on their Asia trip (which has been"profoundly affecting," as Meghan says), visiting a school that provides vocational training so that young people can get jobs once they graduate.

One of the many reasons I love mccainblogette is because photographer Heather Brand's front-row candids reveal the mother heart of Cindy McCain. This moment doesn't seem at all staged, for example, and it's gorgeous.

Malia and Sasha: Is Rap Good For You?

Barack Obama told Rolling Stone magazine that while rap music has helped to desegregate America, he worries about some of the lyrics:

"I am troubled sometimes by the misogyny and materialism of a lot of rap lyrics," he said, "but I think the genius of the art form has shifted the culture and helped to desegregate music."

He said hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons and rappers Jay-Z and Ludacris were "great talents and great businessmen."

"It would be nice if I could have my daughters listen to their music without me worrying that they were getting bad images of themselves," he added.

Senator Obama will appear on the cover of the magazine's July 10th issue, and already has their endorsement. Wonder what the oldest First Daughter wannabe left in the race, Sidney McCain, music mogul and general manager of V2 records, thinks of that?

First Dates: Barack, Michelle, John, Cindy

Michelle Robinson was mentoring Barack Obama at a law firm in 1989 when he asked her out. They went to the Art Institute, strolled down Michigan Avenue, and watched Spike Lee's "Do the Right Thing."

John and Cindy McCain had a more complicated first meeting, but the short version is that in 1979 at a military reception in Hawaii he talked her into joining him for drinks afterwards at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel.

Strange to think that without those two dates, sparrowblog wouldn't be hosting all you google, live, msn, and yahoo searchers on the hunt for news about Meghan, Jimmy, Jack, Bridget, Sasha, and Malia. And then what would I do with myself?

Cindy McCain: A Mother's BlackBerry

Reporter Holly Bailey of Newsweek tagged along with Cindy McCain and daughter Meghan during their recent trip to Singapore, Vietnam, and Thailand. In her fascinating profile of the Senator's wife, Bailey describes the two times that reporters have seen Mrs. McCain break down on the campaign: 

McCain lost the South Carolina primary after a vicious dirty-tricks campaign, in which his opponents smeared Cindy as a drug addict and spread rumors that Bridget was really McCain's illegitimate child. Cindy cried in full view of reporters...

When Jimmy was in Iraq during the primary season, Cindy, like every mother whose son is at war, lived to hear his voice. She kept her BlackBerry in her hands at all times so she wouldn't miss his call. When she went onstage, she would hand the phone to a campaign aide who would stand with it in her line of sight. "She slept with that BlackBerry in her hand," says Harper. Earlier this year Cindy approached the senator backstage at a campaign event. She was on the brink of tears. "He called," she told McCain. "I missed it."

Bottom line: go ahead and mess with the husband, people, but not with his babies.

Meghan and Mom: Smiles in Vietnam

Meghan McCain's face always seems so happy when she's with her mother. She and the blogettes joined Cindy McCain on a trip to Vietnam to visit a center run by Operation Smile, an international organization that provides surgery for kids born with cleft palates.

The McCains reunited with Phuoc Thi Le, a girl Cindy McCain brought back to Arizona for surgery in 1997 -- five years after Bridget's journey from Bangladesh for the same operation. Le went back to her parents and Vietnam; Bridget, of course, who had been in an orphanage, stayed in Phoenix and became a McCain.