Nobody Asked Me, but ...Thanks once more to the late, legendary New York sportswriter Jimmy Cannon, who from time to time wrote a column filled with random insights he called "Nobody Asked Me, But ..." For a speaker at any conservative gathering, there is no more solid guarantee for applause than to launch one more attack on "Hollywood liberals." You know the drill: "pampered-out-of-touch-elitist-self-absorbed narcissists to whom Democratic candidates trade their self-respect and independence in exchange for big campaign bucks." OK? Well, then how is it that politicians such as President Ronald Reagan, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, California U.S. Senator and former dancer George Murphy, biggest child movie star ever Shirley Temple, and Iowa congressman and Gopher on "The Love Boat" Fred Gandy, along with entertainer Sonny Bono, were all nominated by ... the Republican Party? And now, when GOP prospects for 2008 are bleak, where does the party's hopeful gaze settle? On one more alumnus of Sodom and Gomorrah-West, that's who. It's the actor from "In the Line of Fire" and "The Hunt for Red October," who now appears as District Attorney Arthur Branch on TV's "Law and Order," former Tennessee U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson. The Democrats have never drafted or even beseeched Warren Beatty or Barbra Streisand to run for any office. Now, which is the real Hollywood party? The Gridiron Club, Washington's oldest press club, which just held its 122nd annual dinner, prizes self-deprecating humor in the evening's two speeches. This year, Rep. Rahm Emanuel of Illinois, representing the Democrats, called 2007 a year of "inconvenient truths," in which "there are more pictures of Rudy Giuliani in a dress than Hillary Clinton." Taking a shot at the geriatric Gridiron Club membership (CBS's spry 70-year-old Bob Schieffer has just now been admitted), the Republican speaker, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, pointed out that Arizona Sen.
Let's just call the 2008 presidential election over. Forget the formerly crucial New Hampshire and Iowa contests. We only have to read the first quarter of 2007 fund-raising reports of the presidential contenders at the Federal Election Commission to find out who will be our next president. At least, that's the conclusion any consumer of print and broadcast news this week could reasonably reach. Forget McCain — he raised "only" $12.5 million. Romney is now The Man, based not on any surging popular support for his nonexistent four- point plan for peace in Iraq, but on his demonstrated capacity to raise more than $23 million. Illinois Sen. Barack Obama collected unflattering reviews for his lack of specifics in a Democratic candidates' debate on health care. But that was before Obama was transformed into the toast of the political press by raising $25 million from 100,000 individuals. To save press colleagues from an intemperate rush to premature judgment on who will be taking the oath of office on Jan. 20, 2009, consider the following: — Mrs. Ada Mills of Clarksville, Ark. In March 1980 — after more than a year of full-time campaigning and after going through corporate boardrooms like a human Electrolux while raising $12 million (roughly the equivalent of $20 million today) — the former Texas governor, former navy secretary under John Kennedy, former treasury secretary under Richard Nixon and easily the best orator in either party, John Connally, was able to win the support of one Republican delegate: Ada Mills. — In the first quarter of 1995, Texas Sen. Phil Gramm led the presidential field after setting a new fund-raising record of $8.7 million and announcing, "The most reliable friend you can have in American politics ... is ready money." Gramm collected $25 million in private contributions before withdrawing from the race — without a single delegate — before the New Hampshire primary. It's true that there is no honor among thieves. Why should they be any better than the rest of us? To find out more about Mark Shields and read his past columns, visit the Creators Syndicate web page at www.creators.com. DISTRIBUTED BY CREATORS SYNDICATE INC. COPYRIGHT 2007 MARK SHIELDS
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