Child (Non) Support

In the silly season of a scorching summer, the "news" media can often reach for what seems novel. Man bites dog; daughter mad at dad. In this case, reporters have turned their attention to a daughter-dad spat showcasing the family and campaign of John [great name] Mantooth, lawyer, judge and father of three in Nothingtown, Oklahoma.

His second daughter, Jan, took out an ad and started the website donotvoteformydad.com that is fairly self-explanatory in its mission, inasmuch as father Mantooth is running for Okla. District 21 judge. She says he's not what he seems. His supporters say she is still upset from the long-ago divorce from her mother and is also influenced by her husband being a law partner of Mantooth's opponent. All explanations might be true, but none completely explains why Jan's siblings aren't standing up for pops or what she is really upset about.

An interesting take on the situation was offered by Washington Post blogger Alexandra Petri on other dads who probably didn't have the support of their young ones.

Good Times

Is it payback time for Charlie "not me" Rangel?

The Manhattan congressman captured his seat in 1970 by besting Adam Clayton Powell Jr. , who was elected to the seat in 1944, but fell slowly from power through one ethical mudslide after another. Now, Adam Clayton Powell IV — one of two ACP IVs as his half brother ACP III has a IV, as well — the former Congressman's son has decided Rangel is the mudslider and will challenge for his seat.

In a good omen for the entertainment value of the run, Powell IV begins the campaign against the recently scandal-soaked Rangel a little over a month after being convicted of drunk driving.

Boooorrrrrrring. Good Enough?

We are constantly faced with the surprising amount of knowledge kids have about grown up activities. But how much do you trust their wisdom? That is the dilemma facing British Conservative Party leader David Cameron.

His son Elwen, 4, said, "stop making so many boring speeches, dad. However, Cameron's party is currently up 10 points in the polling prior to the May 6 election. Are the boring speeches the cause of success? Could they possibly be holding the Conservatives back from clinching their return to power after 13 years? Most importantly, will the son be able to say, "I told you so" or will the dad be able to hold his head high, still knowing a bit more than his progeny?

Don't Stand Pat(erson)

Some day, this week's objet d'eBay,  a button promoting the now disbanded campaign of New York's "accidental" Governor David Paterson, will be worth millions.

No idea when. No idea on millions of what. Millions nonetheless. Sometime.

However, as a political relic, it might have been worth more if Davey had gained a bit more of wisdom from daddy. Basil Alexander Paterson is one of the "gang of four." Paterson, pere, Percey Sutton, David Dinkins and Charles Rangel are (were in the case of Sutton) well connected men who oiled the machinery behind the scenes of Harlem politics.Sutton recently passed; former Mayor Dinkins has been little more than a figurehead for years; Rangel is in the process of scandalizing himself into a loss of power base and possibly his seat in Congress; but Paterson continues as a force.

Did the father not talk to the son or did the son not listen? Perhaps one little conversation that would have kept the son from screwing up his chance at governor could have made all the difference — at least regarding the value of a campaign tchotchke.

The Followers

There's the old saw to "lead, follow or get out of the way," but that's not quite how it works with the son-father dynamic. In most cases, sons can only choose to follow — as in the case of Bill Fisher, son of Gap Founder Don Fisher and newly appointed to his late father's seat on the company board — or let go — as Ted Kennedy Jr. has chosen to do with regard to the election for his late father's Senate seat.

News v. News

This weekend brought not only real news — Ted Kennedy was eulogized by his sons; Shinjiro Koizumi took over his ex-Premier father's seat even as his party was clobbered at the polls — but also some intriguing russip (rumor/gossip).

In the most extraordinary theory to be created from the continuing sage of Michael Jackson's children [Earlier: Ashes to Ashes; Crazy to Crazy], Macauley Culkin is projected to be the sperm benefactor for Jackson's youngest son, Blanket. Culkin, best known for Home Alone films and his own family troubles, is alleged (by unnamed Sun sources) to have been chosen by Jackson to father a child because he is the child the pop star always wanted for his own.

In the dad's world, too, there is news and then there is the news we all really care about.

War Daddy

It won't necessarily be fair, but John McCain will look bad. If he is elected president he will have to accept responsibility whether or not his sons fight in Iraq.

If they don't serve the Iraq rotation with their units — a la Prince Harry — his influence and integrity will be questioned. If they stay and fight, their presence (in theory, at least) causes the potential for greater harm to those around them. And as a dad he has to suffer the possibilities if they fight in a war that fighting alone is unlikely to end.

He served as his father did and brought great prestige home, although he survived horrific tortures to earn it. The fate awaiting a possible president's sons will be ...?

** Children often lose their fathers to war whether or not injury is involved. **

Daddys' Man

Do you want the finger that can set off the Big One to belong to a sleep-deprived sexagenarian father of two pre-schoolers? If so, Fred Thompson — who with his first wife also has two older kids (a third died of a drug overdose in 2002) and five grandchildren — could be your man.

Or, to put it another way, do you want to support the a firm and focused stay-at-home-dad? A SAHD looking for work, but so committed to being with his young kids while trying to make work work that he has decided to run for the only government position you can perform while in your pajamas in your own taxpayer-provided house, whith a whole staff is assigned to the kids to help out while you're on the phone?

Daddytrackers may have their candidate.

** If it matters, he may also have policies. **