President Bush's re-election campaign insisted on knowing the race of an
Arizona Daily Star journalist assigned to photograph Vice President Dick
Cheney. The Star refused to provide the information... A rally organizer for the Bush-Cheney re-election campaign asked Teri Hayt, the Star's managing editor, to disclose the journalist's race on Friday. After Hayt refused, the organizer called back and said the journalist probably would be allowed to photograph the vice
president. "It was such an outrageous request, I was personally
insulted," Hayt said later.

Danny Diaz, a spokesman for the president's re-election campaign, said the
information was needed for security purposes. "All the information
requested of staff, volunteers and participants for the event has been done so
to ensure the safety of all those involved, including the vice president of the
United States," he said. Diaz repeated that answer when asked if it
is the practice of the White House to ask for racial information or if the
photographer, Mamta Popat, was singled out because of her name. He referred
those questions to the U.S. Secret Service, which did not respond to a call from
the Star Friday afternoon.

Hayt declined to speculate on whether Popat was racially
profiled, but said she is deeply concerned. "One has to wonder
what they were going to do with that information," Hayt said. "Because she has
Indian ancestry, were they going to deny her access? I don't know."

Journalists covering the president or vice president must undergo a
background check and are required to provide their name, date of birth and
Social Security number. The Star provided that information Thursday for Popat
and this reporter. "That's all anybody has been asked to
provide," said Hayt, adding that this is the first time in her 26-year career
that a journalist's race was made an issue.

Organizer Christine Walton asked for Popat's race in telephone
conversations with two other Star editors before she spoke to Hayt. They also
refused to provide the information. Walton told Hayt that Popat's race was
necessary to allow the Secret Service to distinguish her from someone else who
might have the same name. "It was a very lame excuse," Hayt
said.

Jan Schakowsky told me about a recent visit she had made to the White House with a congressional delegation. On her way out, she said, President Bush noticed her “obama” button. “He jumped back, almost literally,” she said. “And I knew what he was thinking. So I reassured him it was Obama, with a ‘b.’ And I explained who he was. The President said, ‘Well, I don’t know him.’ So I just said, ‘You will.’”