Hotline After Dark -- All About Tonight

Barack Obama appeared on the "Tonight Show" last night:

On Lynne Cheney saying he and Dick Cheney are eighth cousins: "How 'bout that? Not kissing cousins. ... I actually did know. People have been doing these genealogical studies of me, and I've got all sorts of rogues in my background. You're always hoping for kings and great leaders. ... Turns out it's the cattle wrestler."

Asked if his approval rating has dropped as a result of this discovery: "The truth is, I'm okay with it. Now, I don't want to be invited to the family hunting party. ... True story: My three-year-old, who is now six ... was at the mock swearing in, where you become a senator. Cheney shakes hands with me and Michelle and our older daughter, and my youngest daughter decides to give him a five. So, she was trying to get him accustomed to his peeps."

On Pres. Bush using the term 'World War III' when talking about Iran: "I am really frustrated by an administration that continually rattles the sabre. ... Iran is a serious threat if it gets nuclear weapons. We should mobilize the international community to get them to stand down. But when you use language like that, what it does is it alienates the rest of the world. ... I hope that the president will be a little more sober and responsible in the language he uses because this is not helpful."

Jay Leno: "Your strategy is changing a little bit. You're calling yourself the underdog now."

Obama: "When your name is Barack Obama, you're always the underdog."

Asked about his recent criticism of Hillary Clinton and if this a new toughness: "This is when people start paying attention so all we're trying to do is make sure that people understand the differences and the choices we're making. You know we're choosing the next leader of the free world. It's not city council."

Asked if he is discouraged by polls/pundits declaring HRC the winner: "It's not discouraging. Hillary is not the first politician in Washington to declare mission accomplished a little too soon. We have a long way to go before the first vote is cast. We do this every election. Four years ago [sic] President Howard Dean was coronated and that didn't work out so, really, until folks start going into polling places these races are very fluid."

Asked about the Bill Clinton factor: "There's no doubt that helps Hillary's campaign particularly among Democrats. ... Bill Clinton is a great strategist. ... That is part of challenge that we have to face is making sure people know me as well as they know her and they know Bill. Although Michelle, my wife, is no slouch. If there's a debate between Michelle and Bill, I'm putting my money on my girl."

Leno: "You'd leave your life alone with Bill Clinton? You want to rethink that?"

Obama: "Michelle can handle herself. She doesn't play."

On the flag pin: "This is the nature of presidential politics. There's always something. I wore a pin right after 9/11. When I took it off I lost it. I didn't replace it even though I have terrific respect for those who wear it because I think a lot of politicians will put their flag pin on and then act in a real unpatriotic manner. You had Alberto Gonzales wearing the flag pin the whole time he was shredding the constitution. What I want is people to do is to judge me by how I act and making sure I'm looking after veterans who are coming home and giving them the resources they need and I'm speaking out and defending the constitution -- hopefully that's how I'll be judged both as a candidate and as a president" (NBC, 10/17).

SPEAKING OF FAMILY

Lynne Cheney was on "Money & Politics" and asked about the Cheney/Obama connection:

Cheney: "It just seems so amazing. I was doing a family tree of Dick's relatives who came to Maryland. They came in the late 1650s. They were probably escaping from Oliver Cromwell in England. ... There was another large family called the Devalls and there were many inner-marriages between these families. ... Dick and Barack Obama are both descended from a man named Mareen Devall who was the first of the Devall to come over. He was a Huguenot probably seeking religious freedom. ... It just seems to me such an amazing part of the American story that this Frenchman seeking religious freedom would come to this and these many generations later his descendants would include Dick Cheney and Barack Obama" (Bloomberg, 10/17). [KATHERINE LEHR and EMILY GOODIN]