You are using an outdated browser.
Please upgrade your browser
and improve your visit to our site.
Skip Navigation

Nunn Better

Oddly, despite his endless cheerleading for Sam Nunn as a potential Obama V.P. over at the Stump, Mike has failed to make what is easily the strongest case at hand: The argument from headline-writing.

As someone who worked as an editor here for several years (and elsewhere for many more), I can say that often one of the most tiresome chores the job entails is coming up with headlines, and there is no better friend to the beleagured headline-writer than someone whose name is easily punned.

Nunn is a treasure trove in this regard. Though the magazine has already titled one piece (by Mike of course) "Nunn Sense," we've barely scratched the surface. In addition to "Nunn Better" and its infinite variations ("None Wiser," etc.), there are the equally adaptable "Nunn Too" options ("Nunn Too Soon," "Nunn Too Pleased").

There's "Flying Nunn" if things go well, and "Nunn the Less" if they don't; "Second to Nunn" if he bristles at taking orders from a one-term Senator and "Singing Nunn" if he gets called to testify before Congress. For Agatha Christie fans there's "And Then There Was Nunn," and for Monty Python fans, "Nunn Shall Pass." And if, as Mike hopes, a combination of Nunn on the ticket and Bob Barr's candidacy help put Georgia in play, the "Barr-Nunn" headlines pretty much write themselves.

So, yes: conservative Southern Dem, elder statesman, national security, yadda yadda yadda. But the nation's magazine editors have other, more immediate concerns.

--Christopher Orr