Cheney, Obama cousins
Published 10:58 pm Tuesday, October 16, 2007
WASHINGTON — Though they may spar across the political aisle, Vice President Dick Cheney is close enough to presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., to call him “cousin.”
Eighth cousin, that is.
Lynne Cheney, the vice president’s wife, revealed this bit of political trivia Tuesday.
She said she uncovered the long-ago ties between the two while researching her ancestry for her latest book, “Blue Skies, No Fences,” a memoir about growing up in Wyoming.
According to her spokeswoman, Obama is a descendent of Mareen Duvall. This French Huguenot’s son married the granddaughter of a Richard Cheney, who arrived in Maryland in the late 1650s from England, said Ginny Justice, a spokeswoman for Lynne Cheney.
A spokesman for Obama, who wants to be the first black U.S. president, offered a tongue-in-cheek response. “Every family has a black sheep,” said spokesman Bill Burton.
