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Vice President and Mrs. Cheney show off their sixth grandchild,
born yesterday morning [5/23/07] in D.C. (Courtesy White House)



Baby Cheney, Weighed on Political Scale, Too

By Amy Argetsinger and Roxanne Roberts
The Washington Post
Thursday, May 24, 2007; C01

Mary Cheney gave birth yesterday to perhaps the most anticipated baby in contemporary U.S. politics -- her first child, Samuel David Cheney, whom she will raise with her longtime partner, Heather Poe.

The 8-pound 6-ounce boy is the sixth grandchild for Dick Cheney. The vice president and his wife, Lynne, both beaming, posed for a photo with him just hours after his 9:46 a.m. birth at Washington's Sibley Hospital.

And that, it seems, will be that for now in terms of public comment from the family about the baby, who launched a lively debate when Cheney, 38, first discussed her pregnancy in December.

Some gay activists have chastised the AOL executive for not being a stronger advocate for same-sex marriage, while some social conservatives have decried the trend of gay couples raising children. But the Cheneys have avoided stepping into a debate about the debate. The veep became testy when CNN's Wolf Blitzer asked him about it in a January interview.

At an N.Y.C. forum sponsored by Glamour magazine last winter, Mary Cheney responded to questions, saying: "This is a baby. This is a blessing from God. It is not a political statement. It is not a prop to be used in a debate by people on either side of an issue. It is my child." But she also went on to declare that "every piece of remotely responsible research" had demonstrated "no difference between children who are raised by same-sex parents and children raised by opposite-sex parents."

Cheney and Poe, a former park ranger, have been together for 15 years and live in Great Falls. And no, there's no more word on how the pregnancy came about.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...052400071.html