The Democratic presidential campaign is getting stranger every day. First, Barack Obama goes bowling to show he’s just a regular guy. Then he rolls a 39 and proves anyone can wind up in the gutter if he doesn’t know the 10-pin from Adam’s off ox.
All of this led Hillary Clinton to challenge Obama to a match. “I’ll even spot him a couple of frames,” she said.

Next, Obama says people in small-town Pennsylvania and the Midwest are bitter and cling to their guns and religion as a result. That caused Hillary to call Barack an elitist and proclaim herself a staunch defender of the Second Amendment.

Give me a break. Everyone who knows Hillary realizes she would grind up every gun in America if she had the chance.

Then, Sen. Clinton takes a camera crew to a bar in Indiana and knocks back a shot and a beer to prove herself one of the guys, too.

Who talks them into this nonsense? Their stereotypes are so ridiculous as to be laughable – even worse than Howard Dean and his guys with Confederate flags in their trucks.

I hope our future politicians will learn something from these little charades. First, you don’t try something (such as bowling or goose hunting) if you don’t know anything about it. And, you don’t go around swigging whiskey to show how tough you are.

Hillary’s married to Bill, for heaven sakes. I suspect she needs a couple of belts just to maintain her sanity.

Finally, a person shouldn’t assume everyone who lives in the country bears a close resemblance to Gomer Pyle. Some of us do, but not everyone.

One thing I’m thankful for is that these candidates haven’t been out jogging to prove what good shape they’re in. Apparently, they’re saving that for later – when they go after John McCain.
Don’t do it, John! Don’t let them suck you in there and risk a heart attack.

I remember a campaign some years ago when Paul Tsongas swam the length of a swimming pool to prove his physical fitness. Then, Pat Buchanan jogged around the block for the television cameras – and nearly killed himself.

They showed Pat on the evening news, red-faced and panting like he had just run the Boston Marathon.

Obviously, he wasn’t used to jogging. Why try to fake it?

All of this posturing for the cameras is a modern-day phenomenon, it seems to me. Hubert Humphrey didn’t have to prove he could swim, and Adlai Stevenson probably couldn’t bowl a lick … though I’m sure he could break 40.

The media always made fun of Gerald Ford for his errant golf shots. But President Ford wasn’t trying to appeal to anyone; he just liked to play golf. He would have left the cameras in the clubhouse if he could.

Readers with questions or comments for Roger Pond may write to him in care of this publication.