Romance on Hill made official [Connie Mack & Mary Bono]

The Desert Sun.com | Dec. 14, 2006 | Cindy Uken

[bpjam]

Call me cynical, but having actually campaigned for Mary Bono I don't have the highest opinion of her. Not that she is evil but she seemed to me to be a fairly dull fork. It appears that she does have a thing for attaching herself to bright, charismatic men though. That may be her primary asset. Lets face it, it Sonny hadn't died she wouldn't be anywhere near Congress.

[billhilly]

I don't know if the word "earned" applies to any incumbent who is reelected. It is pretty much a given.

Other inheritors of congressional offices are Harold Ford, Jr., Jimmy Duncan of Eastern Tennessee, and of course, Al Gore. There are literally dozens of them from other states.

[FerdieMurphy]

She has a fantastic voting record.

Mary has morphed herself into a liberal.

[Katya]

"I always thought that Mary and Lindsey Graham were an item! Wonder what happened there????"

interesting, and here I was sure Lindsay was a little "light" in his loafers.

[Not A Snowbird]

She can be tossed out at any election. Her district chooses to keep her, so that's good enough for me.

[ladyjane]

Life is too short to be miserable and in a failed marriage.

and prayers for those who just found out that they were in a 'failed' marriage and their spouse was moving on to the next one.

[ReignOfError]

Connie Mack's newest glossy photo info, recently mailed to me even though I am not on any mailing list I know of

Voter registration rolls are made available to congressional offices and campaigns. When I first learned about this in school, that was on 1" tape that the campaign would have to pay to translate to a more usable format, but I assume they're distributing them on CD or DVD by now, or even downloadable via (secure, one hopes) FTP.

Those can be cross-referenced to FEC donor records and commercially available databases, including which magazines you subscribe to. Mack could either blanket every registered voter in his district, or try to narrow the field by including other data. Using grocery and drug store "affinity cards," a campaign could decide if it would rather target people who regularly buy condoms or people who regularly buy diapers.

Depending on the data-handling practices of your state, that might include such things as vehicle registrations; some studies have correlated car makes and models with likely voter behavior, so I wouldn't be a bit surprised if some Democratic campaign somewhere preferentially targeted Volvo and Saab owners while a Republican campaign chased after owners of minivans and pickups.

But, I really don't recall any news "announcement" about a divorce.

No reason there would be. Unless they're sealed, divorce filings are a matter of public record, and reporters could dig them out if they wanted to. Connie Mack isn't a Bill Frist or Tom DeLay, or for that matter a Nancy Pelosi or Harry Reid, so I'd imagine the reporters didn't try too hard.

Half of U.S. marriages end in divorce, a number that skews low in a historical perspective because many "cohabiting," "coparenting" relationships that would have been marriages in years past no longer are. I see no reason to believe that the rate would be any lower among members of Congress; in fact, I would expect it to be somewhat higher, as they spend most of their time apart from their families. I wouldn't expect press releases.

Nevertheless, I wish Connie Mack and Mary Bono well in their new relationship. Life is too short to be miserable and in a failed marriage.

More importantly, I wish their children well. The parents made their choices; the kids were not given a vote. I hope that all the exes and steps remember their love for the folks close to them more than the anger toward people who no longer are. I've seen divorces and blended families that go both ways.

[Coldwater Creek]

When Lindsay was still in the House they used to be really tight.

[rabidralph]

Miss Mary Mack-Mack-Mack
All dressed in black-black-black
With silver buttons-buttons-bottons
All down her back-back-back
She asked her mother-mother-mother
For fifteen cents-cents-cents
To see the elephant-elephant-elephant
Jump over the fence-fence-fence
He jumped so high-high-high
He touched the sky-sky-sky
And never came back-back-back
Till the Fourth of July-ly-ly.

[angcat]

He looks younger than her. A feather in her cap.

[linda_22003]

He IS younger than she, as the article says; he's 38 and she's 43. Not exactly a May-December marriage.

[summer]

Re posts #60 and #66 -- Well, there is in fact something called the "pursuit of happiness" but I think you misunderstand me, as I do not regard divorce as 'good news.' Obviously, it means something went wrong, and there is a lot of pain. A good marriage is a lot of work, and people not up to it should think twice.

BTW, I literally cried when I read this recent article, about a woman married for FORTY YEARS whose husband then divorced her. And, I know she's not the only one out there, as I have seen this happen to others, too:

Paradise Lost (Domestic Division)

By TERRY MARTIN HEKKER

Published: January 1, 2006

....In the continuing case of Full-Time Homemaker vs. Working Mother, I offer myself as Exhibit A. Because more than a quarter-century ago I wrote an [NYT] Op-Ed article for The New York Times on the satisfaction of being a full-time housewife in the new age of the liberated woman. I wrote it from my heart, thoroughly convinced that homemaking and raising my children was the most challenging and rewarding job I could ever want.

"I come from a long line of women," I wrote, "most of them more Edith Bunker than Betty Freidan, who never knew they were unfulfilled. I can't testify that they were happy, but they were cheerful. ...They took pride in a clean, comfortable home and satisfaction in serving a good meal because no one had explained that the only work worth doing is that for which you get paid."

I wasn't advocating that mothers forgo careers to stay home with their children; I was simply defending my choice as a valid one. The mantra of the age may have been "Do your own thing," but as a full-time homemaker, that didn't seem to mean me.

The column morphed into a book titled "Ever Since Adam and Eve," followed by a national tour on which I, however briefly, became the authority on homemaking as a viable choice for women. I ultimately told my story on "Today" and to Dinah Shore, Charlie Rose and even to Oprah, when she was the host of a local TV show in Baltimore.

In subsequent years I lectured on the rewards of homemaking and housewifery. While others tried to make the case that women like me were parasites and little more than legalized prostitutes, I spoke to rapt audiences about the importance of being there for your children as they grew up, of the satisfactions of "making a home," preparing family meals and supporting your hard-working husband.

So I was predictably stunned and devastated when, on our 40th wedding anniversary, my husband presented me with a divorce. I knew our first anniversary would be paper, but never expected the 40th would be papers, 16 of them meticulously detailing my faults and flaws, the reason our marriage, according to him, was over....

...My anachronistic book was written while I was in a successful marriage that I expected would go on forever. Sadly, [my book] now has little relevance for modern women, except perhaps as a cautionary tale: never its intended purpose. So I couldn't imagine writing a sequel. But my friend Elaine did come up with a perfect title: "Disregard First Book."

[justshutupandtakeit]

If you believe that is always the case I suggest you are wrong.

[TravisBickle]

Sonny left the music industry for Congress. Imagine the things he's seen!

[summer]

I see no reason to believe that the rate would be any lower among members of Congress; in fact, I would expect it to be somewhat higher, as they spend most of their time apart from their families. I wouldn't expect press releases.

Well, it's his office that claims to have "announced" his divorce -- not He isa public figure, and quite well known in Florida. So, it's not surprising to me his office would say they did announce it. But, it's somewhat surprising to me to see her office issue an official statement, in a local CA newspaper -- while nothing from the FL press, unless I missed it.

And, yes, of course, congressmen and women are people, too, and they do get divorced as well. (Sonny Bono was also divorced, for those on this thread who may have forgotten that fact!) However, I am not a proponent of divorce, especially when young kids are involved. I do wish everyone well though. Maybe his ex and Mary Bono's ex will someday meet and have a lot to talk about.

[summer]

I meant to say: his office claims to have "announced" it -- not me...

[summer]

*Sonny Bono was truly a representative citizen politician, NOT a career demagoguerial politician.

Very true.

[VadeRetro]

That would be Cornelius Alexander McGillicuddy.

[purpleland]

"Sonny left the music industry for Congress. Imagine the things he's seen!"

I wish Sonny Bono was still on the political scene.
Fresh, idealistic yet savvy.

[Valigator]

Mary Bono is inept, useless and dead wood resting on the fame of her ex-husband. How in the world this woman came to the position and power she did is beyond me. She has absolutely no ethics and no morals and to have a place as a representative of our people is embarrassing and sends a wrong message to anyone with the slightest moral compass. With this said her so called partner in lack of ethics (Connie Mack) just doubles the embarrassment. These two carried on an affair all over the country leaving their respective families in shambles. Both continued to campaign for contributions thru their families contacts, while arranging schedules on the taxpayers dime to meet for sex. These two are the poster children for "bad politics" and even worse politcal "bedfellows". She is a slut and he is the perfect definition of Washington gone bad.