Stuck on Souvenirs

For those spending most of their waking hours in and around the temporary technological edifice surrounding the convention hall, a prime way to pass the time is collecting souvenir pins to adorn their plastic-sheathed passes. Even Chicago police have joined reporters, technicians and others in scurrying about for the shiny buttons. The most coveted ones? Possibly the New York Daily News’ “Cry Baby” Newt Gingrich pin, which features its now-famous front-page sketch of a diapered House speaker complaining about his seat on Air Force One. But an even hotter item is the badge depicting a red-wigged first lady and playing off the similarity between her middle name and the last name of a rather well-known Chicago basketball player. “Hillary ‘Rodman’ Clinton; As Bad As She Wants to Be,” it says.

Hillary Makes the Rounds

Fresh from the prime-time Tuesday night convention speech in which she set out an ambitious social agenda for a second Clinton administration, First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton turned up as guest Wednesday on a local radio station’s popular lunch-hour talk show, chatting with hosts Kathy O’Malley and Judy Markey about a wealth of decidedly nonpolitical topics. Dozens of gawkers flocked to the Michigan Avenue studio and peered in through a street-level window as Mrs. Clinton talked about pantyhose and the dangers of over-packing on presidential trips. She even gamely described how her daughter, Chelsea, imitates her stern admonitions to clean up her White House bedroom.