President Felix Unger

Hey kids! Here's 17 fun facts about Howard Dean:

1. He calls his wife "sweetie"; she calls him "Howie."

2. He wore his prom tuxedo to one of President Clinton's White House state dinners to save money, but coughed and split his pants and had to be escorted home by state troopers covering his posterior.

3. His staff forced him to buy a new suit at Paul Stuart in New York for the campaign (it cost $800). "It nearly killed me."

4. He always turns off the lights when he walks out of a room. He used to get into fights with his wife about turning up the heat in the winter, so now she pays the bill so he doesn't have to see it.

5. When he's bored, he likes to count things. He occasionally relaxes by taking long walks and counting the cracks in the sidewalk, the number of street lights, and other things he sees on the way.

6. He is compulsive about recycling. Once he picked up every newspaper off an airplane at the end of a flight and hauled them to a recycling center. He also does recycling inspections of his staffer's bins.

7. He insists that paper in his office be printed on both sides.

8. When he closes a door, he makes sure it's locked by trying to turn the knob. Then he does that 10 more times "just to make sure."

9. He fixes the toilet at home; plumbing is his "therapy."

10. He never takes taxis or limos. In New York City he takes the subway.

11. Asked his favorite food indulgence, he responds: fish. (He later amends this to chocolate chip cookies.)

12. He drinks generic ginger ale and snacks to save money.

13. He saves his urine in glass jars.

14. Despite his reservations about cost, he was finally persuaded to take his shirts to the dry cleaner last year. He used to just throw them in the wash.

15. As the governor of Vermont, he drove himself and pumped his own gas.

16. He has been known to tape his shoes together.

17. He wears '70s-style gold-rimmed glasses that he won't update; his wife carries a purse covered in pen marks. They are both devoted discount shoppers ...

Now comes the hard part. Can you guess which fun facts were made even more fun by we at The Lonewacko Blog? Answer in the first comment.

UPDATE: Now available in quizilla form!

Politics · Sun, 01/18/2004 - 11:33 · · Importance: 1