Is It a Friend Thing?

Both James Robbins at The Corner on NRO and James Taranto at Best of the Web Today have observed that Martha Raddatz of ABC News somehow managed to find American soldiers fighting in Iraq, all of whom just happened to support Democrats -- with fully 80% for Obama. This is noteworthy, of course, because (as Brent Baker at Newsbusters recalls) President Bush and Republicans enjoyed solid support from the military in 2004 . . . not that the media reported it.

So how was Ms. Raddatz able to locate such an outspoken group of Obama supporters? Could be that the army is riddled with them, of course . . . or is there another explanation?

I do not know Ms. Raddatz. I do know that as of 1991, Julius Genachowski -- a good friend of Barack's from The Harvard Law Review and, it seems, currently a technology expert and advisor to Barack -- was engaged to her. And from this item, it appears that the marriage went through and produced a child, although the relationship is apparently no longer intact.

Given Barack and Julius' friendship, it seems reasonable that Martha Raddatz would have known Barack quite well, at least back in the early '90's and for some period thereafter. Were they friends, and are they still?

Obviously, there's nothing inherently unethical about Ms. Raddatz covering Barack even if so. But it might help to explain her remarkable ability to find this group outspoken Obama supporters in Iraq.