The president-elect was joking to reporters that he had consulted with the living ex-presidents but not the dead ones

FOXNews.com - Friday, November 07, 2008

WASHINGTON — President-elect Obama called Nancy Reagan on Friday to apologize for joking that she held seances in the White House.

At a news conference in Chicago, Obama said he had spoken with all the living presidents as he prepares to take office in January. Then he smiled and said, “I didn’t want to get into a Nancy Reagan thing about doing any seances.”

The 87-year-old former first lady had consulted with astrologers during her husband’s presidency. But she did not hold conversations with the dead.

Obama spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter said the president-elect later called Mrs. Reagan “to apologize for the careless and offhanded remark.” She said Obama “expressed his admiration and affection for Mrs. Reagan that so many Americans share, and they had a warm conversation.”

It actually wasn’t Nancy Reagan who was linked to conversations with the dead; it was Obama’s top Democratic challenger for the presidency, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y.
In either case, use of the word “seance” might be overstated.

Nancy Reagan consulted an astrologer to help set her husband’s schedule, wrote former White House chief of staff Donald T. Regan. The revelation created a furor and President Reagan even broke with his policy of not commenting on books by former White House staffers.

“No policy or decision in my mind has ever been influenced by astrology,” Reagan said.

In his book “The Choice,” Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward described how Clinton consulted with a spiritual adviser who led her through imaginary conversations with her personal hero, Eleanor Roosevelt. Newsweek magazine, which was promoting the book, characterized the visits as “seances,” a term that White House officials quickly tried to squelch.

“These were people who were helping her laugh, helping her think,” said Neel Lattimore, Clinton’s spokeswoman. “These were not seances.”

Source: www.FoxNews.com

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul, an anti-war libertarian who has clashed with his rivals over Iraq, raised a record $4.5 million in a one-day Internet fund-raising event on Sunday, his campaign said in a statement.

Paul’s campaign said the Texas congressman had received more than 41,000 donations by early evening, shattering a $4.2 million record in a 24-hour period last month.

So far, the campaign has taken in over $16 million in the fourth quarter with two weeks remaining, the statement said.

Paul, an obstetrician-gynecologist from the Houston area, has been a formidable presence in Republican presidential debates, challenging top rivals like former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Arizona Sen. John McCain and strongly condemning the Iraq war.

Paul still registers low in national polls of the November 2008 elections race, but routinely scores much higher in Internet surveys and snap polls taken after debates.

(Editing by Todd Eastham)