The naming of the Presidential Pooch

[Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com>]

The stakeout before the press conference. Note the hard-hitting questions
from DC political reporters:

	Q     There he is.  So what's his name?
	PRESIDENT CLINTON:  Isn't he pretty?
	Q     But what's his name?
	PRESIDENT CLINTON:  Press conference.  Press conference.
	Q     (Laughs.)  His name is "press conference"?
	PRESIDENT CLINTON:  Huh?
	Q     His name is "press conference"?
	PRESIDENT CLINTON:  That's a good idea.  That's probably what I
should have called him.
	(To the puppy) Do you want to go see them?
	Q     Mr. President, where does he sleep?  Where does the puppy sleep?
	PRESIDENT CLINTON:  Upstairs.
	Q     Upstairs?  Does he have his own little doggy bed?
	PRESIDENT CLINTON:  He has a little house in the kitchen.  He's
sleeping in the kitchen right now.
	Q     Does he sleep in a little dog house?
	PRESIDENT CLINTON:  Yeah, he sleeps in a little dog house.  And we
got another -
	Q     He is really trained?
	PRESIDENT CLINTON:  You may get a chance to see here in a minute!
(Laughter.)  Yes, he's done quite well, so far.
	Hi, Jimmy.
	Q     And what can he do?
	PRESIDENT CLINTON:  (Commands the puppy)  Sit!
	THE PRESS:  Oh!  All right!
	PRESIDENT CLINTON:  (To the puppy)  That's good.  Very good.
	Q     What's he eating, Mr. President?
	PRESIDENT CLINTON:  A little dog biscuit.  He's pretty well
trained.  And, you know, I get up in the morning and take him for a walk
early, at 7:00.  And then I give him breakfast, then we go for another
walk.  And then he has lunch and goes for another walk.
	Q     Who takes him at lunch time?
	PRESIDENT CLINTON:  Well, so far, I have.
	Q     He likes the press, Mr. President.
	PRESIDENT CLINTON:  Yeah, he does.  So do I.
	Q     He doesn't bother your allergies?
	PRESIDENT CLINTON:  No.  I've never been - yeah twice, three times.
I'm trying to work this out.
	Q     It's going to take awhile.
	PRESIDENT CLINTON:  It's going to take awhile.  It's kind of like
peace in Ireland or the Middle East, you know - (chuckles) - it's -
	Q     What happened when they met?
	PRESIDENT CLINTON:  Socks was a little scared of him, I think. And
yesterday - you could have had a great picture yesterday.  She jumped way
up - he jumped way up on my shoulder.  Socks climbed right up and got up on
my shoulders so that they would have an appropriate distance.  But we're
giving them items that the two of them have, you know, to try to get used
to the scent.  And I'll get it worked out.
	Q     What's his name?
	Q     He likes grass.
	PRESIDENT CLINTON:  He can hang out in the - he can hang out nearly
anywhere.  We've got a little flexible cage back in the dining room now in
the White House.  He comes over to the Oval Office with me in the morning.
He does fine.
	Q     Without telling us the name, can you tell us if it came from
a senator?
	PRESIDENT CLINTON:  No.  In the end, it didn't.  It didn't.  I'll
tell you about - I'll answer questions about it at the press conference.
	Q     What were your finalist names?  Can you give us any of that?
	PRESIDENT CLINTON:  I'll do that too, at the press conference.
Yeah, we went through - we went through about - you know, we got thousands
of names.  It was great!  And I had so much fun reviewing them.  And then
we went - (to the puppy) - don't eat that, you just had lunch! -
(returning) - and we got down to about seven or eight, and then we got down
to three and finally made a decision.
	(To the puppy)  Come on, kiddo.  Come on.   Let's go.
	Q     He's beautiful.
	PRESIDENT CLINTON:  Thank you.  I think he's beautiful, too.
	END