Politics and Food

July 6, 2012

We have two food stories involving politicians today. Both of them sad, although in different ways.

The first involves New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie who you'd think would know better than to pick up the proverbial brick when a heckler heckles. Christie, with ice cream cone in hand on the boardwalk in Seaside Heights last night, just couldn't resist losing it when someone made a comment to him about his education policy.

A hot-tempered Christie acting a little bit like the Governator, turning towards the man as if he were choosing him off for a flight after school at the flagpole.

"You're a real big shot, shootin' your mouth off!" Christie yells at the man.

Dignified.

I'm just sayin'.

Fortunately, the Governor's staff kept their cool (although how in the world did they allow the situation to escalate?) and they rushed the ice cream-toting Governor out of there.

The other politician and food incident is also sad but for another reason.

The restaurant owner who gladly served breakfast this morning to President Obama, basked in her sudden celebrity, and then, an hour later, died.

70-year-old Ann Harris served the President eggs, bacon and whole wheat toast as he ate with three tire company workers. He left, and an hour later she suddenly didn't feel well. She called 9-1-1, an ambulance came, she went into cardiac arrest, and died.

"She loved Obama," said her sister, and "I'm sure this was her highlight."

The campaign trail today filled with other stories as well, topped by the third straight month of rather lackluster jobs growth. Just 80,000 jobs created in June, less than half of what's needed to have the economy truly recover, and keeping the unemployment rate at 8.2 percent.

We'll have the latest from the campaign trail, tonight at 11.

We're also following tragic stories involving young kids in our area.

Two children were found dead in the Bronx today. They drank some kind of poison, then were exposed to natural gas that filled their home. Their mom, a New York City school teacher is now in the hospital after trying to slit her wrists. No charges filed against her – yet. The kids' bodies, and the mother, were discovered by the father/husband – a New York cop.

We're also in White Plains, where a family and school mates are mourning a 15-year-old boy who was swept out to sea in Hawaii during a kayak-hiking trip.

And we're following the latest developments in the boat accident tragedy in the Long Island Sound that killed three children. Were there too many people (27) on that 34-foot boat? That's what authorities are now looking at in their investigation into the capsizing the night of the 4th of July.

And our Nina Pineda has some ways to save big money for those planning a summer vacation – some insider secrets and online tools that can take the hassle and expensive out of your trip.

We'll also have any breaking news of the night, plus Meteorologist Jeff Smith (in for Lee Goldberg) and Rob Powers with the night's sports. I hope you can join Sade Baderinwa and me, tonight at 11.

BILL RITTER

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