Essential Estrogen

Earlier this week I was attempting to broker a presidential hopeful for a summer event. Not surprisingly the ever-present question of "Would you consider a surrogate?" surfaced. (Have I mentioned how much I dislike being one of four early states and the super chaotic primary Tuesday set for early February?) Up to this point, the conversation was similar to about a million others I've had with campaign staff.

A name was mentioned in passing as one of the potential surrogates and although I thought it odd at the time, it set off a thought process I had not had previously. This truly was one of those "doh!" moments for me so let me be the first to apologize if it was something which has already ran the gamut of your own thought processes.

I was speaking with Iowa staff associated with Sen. Barack Obama and the mentioned surrogate was former Sen. Tom Daschle. My initial response was "huh?" After thinking about it, however, it makes a great deal of sense once you connect the dots.

Who's leading Obama's efforts in Iowa? Paul Tewes. Just two years ago, Tewes joined with a gentleman by the name of Steve Hildebrandt to form Hildebrandt Tewes Consulting, Inc.. Hildebrandt, also involved with Obama's campaign outside of Iowa, was formerly campaign manager for Sen. Daschle.

Amazed with my own political version of Seven Degrees, I decided to confirm my findings with a quick google. An article from the Argus Leader not only confirmed my political expertise - HA! - but left me feeling a bit ignorant for not previously realizing the connection. It was just in the spring of last year when I spoke with Hildebrandt by phone while working to have Daschle keynote an event.

The Argus article goes further than my original observations by linking Daschle's list of 85,000 donors to Obama's recent fundraising successes. Not only that, but the folks there pose the question of Daschle becoming Obama's Cheney. If I were Tom, I'd be offended.

Realizing that some may not be so excited as I was about the revelation and, perhaps, feeling a bit disappointed for reading this far, here's a really good tip for you:

If you're feeling blue ... or if you just need a good laugh ... tune in to Animal Planet's World's Ugliest Dog Competition. It's great for your entire family.