Awwww,
aren't Baby Candidates so cute? Look at those chubby legs. Look at
those pretty smiles! Remember when they couldn't walk or talk or
propose
immigration policy with a team of top experts and the latest opinion
polls?
During these quiet moments on the Mega Election Day, let's take a look back at the candidates. In this next installment of Scrapbooking the Election, Political Nanny cracks open the babybooks (or, at least Mitt Romney's -- he's the only candidate with a full pictorial life history online -- that's him up there) and look at the youngest, cutest versions of these already haggard possible presidents.
Mitt Romney (here as the hunky missionary on the right)
Mitt is a "miracle baby," the son his mother wasn't supposed to be able to have.
Fun Mitt baby fact: his name honors two important men in his father's life -- J. Willard Marriott, a family friend and future hotel magnate, and
Milton "Mitt" Romney, a cousin of George's and a former quarterback for
the Chicago Bears. Uh, connected.
(Is it bad that Political Nanny finds Mitt's father way more charismatic in old black and white photos than she finds Romney in other more dynamic media? Read the entire hagiography on Mitt the boy, the Mormon, the man, the president.
Hillary Clinton (the girl, the bigger girl)
Cute (!), but we all know she's a little sad. (Mean dad issues.)
Disappointing self-description that makes us think, "nature or nurture": her favorite subject in school was history and she got good grades, but she was ... here we go ... "bad at math." Did she throw like a girl, too?
Next youngest photo in the Campaign Scrapbook is a high school picture of Mike Huckabee. (No hunky missionary shots of him, just a knowing smile that says "Jesus loves me!")
Unsurprising Mike fact: At 14, he was an AM disc jockey in Hope, Ark.
Who doesn't love a McCain in uniform? (He's the hunky one, the other guy is his father.)
WTF McCain fact: the movie he most often references is "Weekend at Bernie's"
Ron Paul (he's super not into the fun part of campaigning, so there are no pictures of his uber-serious, gold-standard, ungovernment-funded youth to be found. You'll have to settle for a billion years ago, when he was in his 40s and visiting Ronald Reagan -- look, the pic is signed!)
Mundane yet at the same time fascinating Ron Paul fact: his favorite foods are tilapia and chocolate chip cookies
Baby Barack! (Or, little boy Barack, in Hawaii with his grandfather)
Excellent Barack family fact: His grandmother was called "Toot"!
Photos: boston.com, hillaryclinton.com, Chicago Tribune, deathby1000papercuts.com, CBSnews.com, azcentral.com
