Grocery Shopping

I was down at Von's in Encinitas earlier today doing some last minute pre-barbeque shopping and who's face did I see on a milk carton? You guessed it....Duke Cunningham. Missing from any public events on the 4th of July.

Now the question is, will Duke show up at the two closed events scheduled for the next couple of days?

Tuesday: Cunningham is scheduled to give a congressional update during an Escondido Rotary Club luncheon at the California Center for the Arts, Escondido. The luncheon starts at noon and is closed to reporters and the general public.

Wednesday: The congressman is slated to host a reception for the kickoff of a technology advisory board. That event at National University in La Jolla takes place from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. and is closed to reporters and the public.

How badly does Duke want to get in front of even the kindest and most respectful crowds? Of course, the real issue might be that Duke's handlers don't want to put him in a situation where he has to take any heat from the audience. They remember when he flipped off and then cursed out a cancer patient who had the audacity to question the size of the military budget at a meeting for cancer survivors. That behavior was reprehensible then, but it was mostly out of sight from the majority of his constituents. Today, when Duke doesn't show up at an event, it is a lead story on local TV and ends up being posted to newspapers around the world.