Frank Fahey of Claremont has a penchant for tough questions.

Last weekend, Fahey's question of Republican presidential candidate John McCain made the top of a New York Times article. Fahey, according to the Times, said that he voted for McCain in 2000 and considered the Arizona senator "an American hero." But he was curious about the "perception" that McCain had become increasingly aligned with President Bush since 2000, the Times reporter wrote. And how would McCain respond to political observers who "pretty much sang the death knell of the McCain campaign" last week, he asked.

McCain began his response with a joke: "I should have called on your wife."

Two decades ago, Fahey was involved in another presidential exchange, but that one didn't result in laughter. When Joe Biden was running for president in 1987, he held an event in Claremont. Fahey asked Biden about his academic credentials, Fahey's wife, Jean, confirmed yesterday. Biden proceeded to challenge Fahey to compare IQs: "I think I probably have a much higher IQ than you do," said Biden, who proceeded to tout his academic accomplishments (graduating in the top half of his Syracuse University College of Law class).

Beyond the irritated nature of Biden's response, his answer was incorrect: Newspaper reports at the time showed that in his final year of law school, Biden was ranked 76th in his class of 85. Biden eventually dropped out of the 1988 presidential race amid charges of plagiarism. His Claremont comments were broadcast on C-SPAN.

The bright side

The recent bad news coming out of John McCain's campaign has a bright side for New Hampshire staffers. News of Mike Dennehy's promotion to senior national adviser last week has been followed by speculation that New Hampshire communications director Jill Hazelbaker will become the campaign's top spokeswoman later this week, following the departure of the current national press team.

Hazelbaker came to McCain's campaign after running communications for Tom Keane Jr.'s unsuccessful bid for a New Jersey Senate seat last year. Before that, she worked on a handful of Republican campaigns and for Mercury Public Affairs, a communications firm that frequently advises Republican politicians.

If Hazelbaker gets the top job, she'll likely leave New Hampshire for D.C., said a Republican close to the campaign. But she may continue to manage New Hampshire press relations from afar.

Ladies love cool . . .

It seems no presidential candidate is safe from the lyrical affections of scantily clad starlets on YouTube. After the smash debut of "I've got a Crush on Obama," a three-minute video clip that garnered 2.3 million hits in a month, "Obama Girl" is back, and this time she's defending her crush from "Giuliani Girl" and her crew.

While the first Obama Girl video was sort of sweet and silly - a breathy ode to Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama - the Obama/Giuliani girl standoff is like a horror flick that uses a lame plotline as a cover for a film about watching girls jump around in their underwear.

After a cleavage-baring debate in which Giuliani Girl swears she's "gonna be wife No. 4" and Obama Girl explains she "likes my man like I like my coffee," the action comes to a head with a pillow fight between the two camps. The video, posted Monday, had more than 110,000 hits by yesterday morning.

Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani takes a bit of a beating in the video, with references to his first marriage to his cousin and his appearance in drag at a New York City roast. The video also mocks Democratic candidate Dennis Kucinich. When a slight woman in a Kucinich tank top appears on screen, Giuliani Girl points at her and bursts out laughing. The much taller Giuliani Girl then covers up "Kucinich Girl" with a "Rudy" sign.

Hillary Clinton, the sole female presidential candidate, hasn't escaped from a singing fan in a two-piece. Hot 4 Hill, a short clip featuring former American Idol contestant Taryn Southern in a star-spangled bikini, has had 446,000 hits on youtube since its debut this summer.

"H-I-L-L-A-R-Y / I know you're not gay, but I'm hoping for bi" Southern sings, before another voice quickly utters "lingual."

'An ocean'

Mitt Romney's newest campaign commercial features long shots of crashing ocean waves and children walking on the beach while the candidate's voice quotes Ronald Reagan speechwriter Peggy Noonan about pop culture. He quotes a column Noonan wrote after the Columbine shootings.

"She said that the boys who did the shooting had 'inhaled too deeply in the oceans in which they swam,' " Romney said. "I'd like to see us clean up the water in which our kids are swimming. I'd like to keep pornography from coming up on their computers. I'd like to keep drugs off the streets. I'd like to see less violence and sex on TV and in video games and in movies. And if we get serious about this, we can actually do a great deal to clean up the water in which our kids and our grandkids are swimming."

The commercial, which is airing in New Hampshire, South Carolina and Iowa, appears aimed toward shoring up Romney's conservative bona fides before probable rival Fred Thompson makes his run official.

I've got to be me

To hear Bill Clinton tell it, the nation's most famous political couple might never have been. At a campaign stop in Nashua Friday, Clinton said that in the early 1970s "I told Hillary, I said, 'You know, you should leave me.' And she said, 'Don't you like me any more?' "

"I said 'No, I love you. But I've got to go back to Arkansas. . . . I'll despair if I don't do this. This is who I am,' " Clinton said, referring to his desire to become involved in politics in his home state after leaving Yale Law School, where the Clintons met. When Clinton suggested that Hillary run for office, "she laughed and said 'I'll never run for anything. You know, I'm too hard headed, I'll just serve,' " Clinton recalled.

A good spring for Hodes

The fundraising numbers are in for congressional candidates. In the Second Congressional District, Democratic Congressman Paul Hodes continues to rake in money, raising $286,155 from the beginning of April through the end of June, according to financial disclosure forms filed last weekend.

Hodes has nearly $392,000 on hand. Between January and the end of March, Hodes raised more than $247,000.

In the First Congressional District, Democratic Congresswoman Carol Shea-Porter raised $154,678 from April through the end of June, bringing her total on hand to $255,511. Her tally was an increase over the first three months of the year, when she raised nearly $107,000, according to a Federal Election Commission report.

Republican Jeb Bradley, who started working to win back his seat soon after losing to Shea-Porter last year, brought in $130,965, giving him $200,736 on hand. Bradley has been gearing up his fundraising effort: In the first quarter of the year, he raised only about $7,000.

On the trail

Barack Obama will be back in New Hampshire tomorrow afternoon, to visit Sunapee, where he will hold an ice cream social. Obama will head to Hampton and Manchester on Friday. During the next two weeks, Obama's New Hampshire campaign plans to host child advocacy forums - with teachers, parents and child advocates - throughout the state.

• Clinton picked up the endorsement of former ambassador Joseph Wilson this week. Wilson has made headlines in recent years, after the 2003 leak of his wife's employment with the Central Intelligence Agency. Before Valerie (Plame) Wilson's name was leaked, Wilson had criticized the Bush administration's use of intelligence in the run-up to the war in Iraq. Wilson, who spent decades in foreign postings, served as an ambassador when Bill Clinton was president.

• Want a peek inside Democratic presidential candidate Chris Dodd's campaign? Go to chrisdodd.com/dtv, and you can watch live coverage of his campaign team in action and ask questions of the staff.

(Monitor reporters Margot Sanger-Katz and Joelle Farrell contributed to this column.)