THE GOP HAS TWO MOMMIES

Doesn't it seem very, very likely that Mary Cheney and her partner of 15 years, Heather Poe, put off having children until now at least partly for political reasons, so that the joyous news would be announced only after -- in fact, just after -- the last campaign in which, presumably, Mary's dad would be a significant issue?

Obviously these things can't be timed exactly, but surely there was an effort to get this done when it would do the least damage to the GOP. That effort appears to have been successful. Needless to say, many people try to time pregnancies so they'll happen after one member of the couple makes partner, say, or finishes a novel. What's unusual in this case is that it may be the first time a pregnancy has been planned in consultation with Karl Rove.

Of course, timing pregnancy is sort of a Cheney family tradition.