Hillary Clinton: the Ginger Rogers of the trail

The woman who made pantsuits a staple of late-night joke sessions and nearly became the first female presidential nominee of a major American political party has revealed a secret about her new life as presidential loser.

Lost in the many words Hillary Rodham Clinton uttered in praise of Barack Obama and her party during a New York speech to 2,000 women were a few little-noticed lines:

“There are some differences [between Obama and myself],” she said.

“For example, Barack said, ‘You look kind of rested.’ I said, ‘Well, ‘kind of’ is the right descriptor.’ ”

“I’m actually -- don’t tell anybody -- trying to exercise a little bit, which I’m told does wonders for a person.

“Because during the campaign,” Clinton continued in a confessional tone, “I’m sure you’ve read, Barack would get up faithfully every morning and go to the gym. And I would get up and get my hair done.

“It’s one of those Ginger Rogers-Fred Astaire things that are part of our lives.”

Yes, sure, she was dating herself by referencing movies from the ‘30s and ‘40s when the often-paired dance partners Rogers and Astaire would glide across studio floors as if their feet weren’t moving.

And maybe some of the thirtysomethings in the audience were puzzled enough to try Googling “Asthair” and “Rodgers.”

Once they got the right spellings, they would learn that Ginger was originally Virginia McMath and died in 1995 and Fred was originally Frederick Austerlitz and passed away in 1987.

But that’s history. Clinton’s coiffure confession and romantic reminiscence by someone who looked anything but romantic going after politics’ Big Prize these last 18 months was refreshing. We wish her luck on the treadmill and elliptical.

Now, how long before someone restarts pairing Obama-Clinton as dancing their way together to Nov. 4?

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Those #@%&*)

open mikes

Jesse Jackson’s embarrassing comment about what he wanted to do to Barack Obama’s genitals underlines the inexplicable memory loss that strikes public figures wired for sound.

What do they think the microphones are there for? To zap bugs?

Remember a few years ago President Bush’s muttered podium comment to Vice President Dick Cheney describing a passing New York Times reporter as a “major league” anatomical orifice? That got picked up. As did Cheney’s growling response: “Big time!”

And then Obama’s bitter-small-town comments got taped during an allegedly private San Francisco fundraiser this spring.

And John Edwards’ and Hillary Clinton’s whispered post-debate comments about the need to whittle down the number of fellow Democrats participating in such forums?

Public figures are continually reminded (warned) by communications staffers when wearing the small, portable mikes that TV crews favor because they eliminate the huge, obtrusive microphone booms.

Rob Stutzman, former communications director for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, an actor accustomed to microphones everywhere, remembers continually reminding gubernatorial staffers that their boss was wearing mini-mikes, so watch what they said around or to him.

“Just because a camera’s not rolling,” Stutzman says, “doesn’t mean the mike isn’t hot and catching everything.”

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‘Predator’

produces pols

In the spring of 1986, when the cast of “Predator” gathered in the jungles of Mexico to make the sci-fi/action/horror flick, someone must have been offering a correspondence course in civics.

So far, two of the film’s actors have gone on to win governorships -- leading man Arnold Schwarzenegger in California and supporting performer Jesse Ventura in Minnesota.

This year, two of the film’s actors could be running for the U.S. Senate.

One is Ventura, who has been suggesting he may try to resurrect his political career by offering himself as an alternative to Republican incumbent Norm Coleman and Democratic challenger Al Franken (himself an entertainment-industry refugee). That’s in Minnesota.

In Kentucky, the potential candidate is Sonny Landham (who, though less known than Ventura, shared his doomed fate in “Predator”).

Landham recently announced that he would collect petition signatures to qualify as the Libertarian Party candidate against Republican Mitch McConnell (the Senate minority leader).

Landham, who also appeared in “48 Hours” (starring Eddie Murphy and Nick Nolte), should qualify for the ballot.

His chances of actually winning are about as good as were his prospects against that cinematic alien more than 20 years ago.

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When in Berlin ...

well, maybe not

Perhaps Barack Obama and his logistical crew should go to Plan B as they plot a possible speech by him in Berlin.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has taken umbrage at the idea of Obama’s using the Brandenburg Gate as a telegenic backdrop.

Merkel has expressed “great skepticism as to whether it is appropriate to bring an election campaign being fought not in Germany but in the United States to the Brandenburg Gate,” her spokesman Thomas Steg said.

An Associated Press story on Merkel’s concern notes that the edifice “was once a symbol of Germany’s Cold War division and now stands for its reunification.”

Merkel, according to Steg, expressed doubt that a German candidate for political office “would think of using [Washington’s] National Mall or Red Square in Moscow for rallies, because it would be considered inappropriate.”

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Excerpted from The Times’ political blog, Top of the Ticket, at www.latimes.com/ topoftheticket.