[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2008/images/11/06/art.barney.gi.jpg caption="A happier Barney, with President Bush."]WASHINGTON (CNN) - President-elect Barack Obama's daughters have been promised a puppy for the White House - President Bush's dog, Barney, demonstrated his technique for dealing with the media Thursday...sinking his teeth into Reuters TV White House correspondent Jon Decker.
Call it a case of biting the hand that covers you.
First Dog Barney and his handler were out on the front lawn for a walk when Reuters' Decker and another reporter approached.
"He looked very nice and friendly," says Decker. "I bent down to pet him and he just snapped at me."
Decker holds up his right index finger, now sporting two band aids. The First Dog's teeth punctured the skin and Decker started bleeding, so he was sent to see presidential physician, Dr. Richard Tubb. Tubb gave Decker a two- to three-day supply of antibiotics, and told him to come back Friday for a tetanus booster.
"I don't know what he did, but apparently Barney didn't like it," says April Ryan, White House correspondent for American Urban Radio Network, who captured the entire incident on her Flip video camera.
Decker insists he didn't provoke Barney, and that in fact he's good with Scottish terriers. Decker's mother's dog, Fergus, came from the same New Jersey breeder.
"I don't know what set him off," says Decker. "Maybe it was the Republican debacle Tuesday night, the fact that soon he'll be replaced as America's first dog or that I happened to have bacon for breakfast."
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2008/images/11/06/art.palin07.gi.jpg caption="Palin has been the target of tough leaks from some former McCain staffers."]
(CNN) - The war of words between supporters of each half of the Republican presidential ticket escalated Thursday, as a spokeswoman for Sarah Palin called charges circulated by former campaign aides to John McCain ‘sickening,’ and the Alaska governor herself said the advisers spreading the rumors were ‘small, evidently bitter’ people.
Former McCain campaign aides have been sources for a string of embarrassing stories about Palin that have become public since GOP defeat Tuesday night, including the charge that she spent thousands of dollars more on clothing for herself and her family than the $150,000 that has been reported.
There have also been reports of a somewhat distant relationship between John McCain and his running mate.
“This is so unfortunate and, quite honestly, sickening,” said Palin aide Meghan Stapleton in a statement. “The accusations we are hearing and reading are not true and since we deny all these anonymous allegations, there is nothing specific to which we will respond.
“We have the highest regards for Senator John McCain. Governor Palin was honored to be chosen as McCain’s running mate. And as Governor of Alaska, Governor Palin looks forward to working with President-elect Obama on securing energy independence for America.”
Back home in Alaska, Palin herself said she would not respond to individual accusations.
“If they’re an unnamed source, then that says it all,” she said. “I won’t comment on anybody’s gossip, or allegations that are based on anonymous sources. That’s kind of a small, evidently bitter type of person who would anonymously charge something foolish like that, that I perhaps didn’t know an answer to a question. So until I know who was talking about it, I won’t have a comment on false allegations.”
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2008/images/11/06/art.palin.ap.jpg caption="Some McCain advisers were frustrated by Palin."](CNN) - Republican VP nominee Sarah Palin had prepared to deliver a concession speech before John McCain’s Tuesday night — and brought her remarks with her to his Phoenix concession - but senior McCain campaign adviser Steve Schmidt told her she could not.
Two McCain sources say Palin clearly did not understand the protocol of a concession speech, and expected she would have the chance to deliver one of her own.
Update: Palin camp fires back
McCain advisers were also upset with the Alaska governor for setting up what she thought was a call from French President Nicolas Sarkozy. The call, which turned out to be a prank from Quebec radio hosts, was not cleared with the McCain campaign and some saw the effort to set it up as evidence of her future presidential ambitions.
A Palin ally involved in setting up the call, however, suggests McCain advisers had ample time to object given the call was on her schedule for three days.
Two McCain sources also say Palin did not know Africa was a continent and could not find it on a map. A third source, a Palin ally, says that was a miscommunication.
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2008/images/11/06/art.bidenreturnday.cnn.jpg caption="Vice President-elect Joe Biden rides in a horse drawn carriage during Delaware’s Return Day."]
GEORGETOWN, Delaware (CNN) – Wearing a long dark coat to keep the cold rain off of him, Vice President-elect Joe Biden and his wife Jill rode around the streets of this small town in their home state Thursday afternoon in a white horse-drawn carriage as part of the biennial 200 year-old Delaware tradition known as ‘Return Day.’
“Thank you!” Biden repeatedly called out to the cheering crowds as he drove past, ducking in and out of the carriage to wave to voters who on Tuesday elected the Delaware senator to his seventh term in the U.S. Senate. (Deleware's governor will soon name a replacement Biden.)
“No matter what office I hold, I’m still Delaware,” Biden later said to loud cheers from the shivering masses in front of Georgetown’s courthouse. “There was Joe the plumber, well, I’m Joe from Delaware. And folks, it’s been an honor, it’s been a great honor representing you as a United States Senator since the first time I stood on this platform…”
“The bad news for you is Jill and I are not leaving Delaware,” he continued. “I may be the Vice President-elect but we’re going to be home every weekend so you know where we live.
Palin's staff in the Alaska governor's office decorated the former Republican VP nominee's office in Anchorage in anticipation of her return. (Tracy Sabo/CNN)
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2008/images/11/06/art.papers.gi.jpg caption="Join the conversation on Jack's blog."]
Barack Obama made history Tuesday night, after voters came out in record numbers to support him and many voting for the first time.
It was a stunning rise to the presidency for a 47 year-old freshman senator, let alone one who is African-American.
Along the way, he beat out a handful of familiar Washington names for the top spot on the Democratic ticket...Former Vice Presidential candidate John Edwards, Senator Chris Dodd, Senator Joe Biden who eventually became his running mate and, of course, most notably, Senator Hillary Clinton.
Her star power and powerful ties weren't enough to beat out Obama, but was there something more at play?
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