Did You Get The Endorsement? No I Don't Know Whose Horse It Is

We're coming to you today from the Department of Gerontology here in the marbled halls of IM Central. The Department of Gerontology is just down the hall from the Audiology Clinic. Follow the blue line on the floor. No, the blue line. On your left. Your other left. And watch out for that...Oh.

OK, while we wait for janitorial let's see what some other old people are up to. Former first lady Nancy Reagan recognized John McCain wandering through her garden as the Arizona senator continued to collect backing from continent Republicans who might help him unite the party and win over people who still eat solid food.

The GOP nominee-in-waiting, in the midst of a West Coast Ginko Balboa buying trip, stumbled into the Southern California home of President Reagan's widow with muddy shoes to accept the endorsement from the Republican matriarch he called someone I think I know.

"I'm very pleased and honored to have the opportunity again to be with Mrs. Reagan and glad she didn't turn the hose on me because I came in through the back gate," McCain said in a five-minute appearance with the former first lady in the driveway of her neighbor's home. "President Reagan and Mrs. Reagan remain alive, as an example of the high degree of expertise of the health care system in this country."

Later the McCain campaign issued a clarification stating that the senator was aware that Ronald Regan was dead but hadn't said anything "to spare the widow Reagan's feelings."

"Ronnie and I always waited until everything was decided and then we endorsed." Mrs. Reagan said. "Well, obviously, this is the nominee of the party. What are you going to do? No system is perfect. Now get off my lawn."

In a written statement issued earlier in the day, she called McCain "a good friend for more than 30 years, or about as long as I've had this set of dentures."

McCain said he hoped she remembered the endorsement when the convention started and said: "This is an important, most important kind of expression of confidence in my ability to lead the party that I could have from a person who, presumably still knows what day it is."

Later that day Mrs. Reagan's office issued a statement expressing condolences for all the families who lost loved ones at the battle of Gettysburg.