On CNN's American Morning today, White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux reported on Barack Obama's campaigning in Virginia.  Afterwards, anchor Kiran Chetry had a question:

CHETRY: All right. And Suzanne, what's on tap for the campaign today? And please tell me it's not lipstick again.

MALVEAUX: Let's hope not. He's going to be in Norfolk, Virginia. That is in southeast Virginia, and it's home to the world's largest Naval base. It's one of the most competitive areas that the Democrats and Republicans are fighting over. It's a critical piece of property, piece of land there with folks in Virginia, and they want those voters.

Regardless of your views of Obama's intent in his lipstick on a pig incident, there's no doubt that the episode has been illuminating.  The fumbling, bumbling manner in which the Democratic presidential candidate has mishandled this mini-crisis, knocking him off message and wasting valuable time even on Letterman's program trying to explain himself, must give even his most ardent supporters pause.  How articulate is he without his teleprompter?          

Kiran Chetry may be frustrated and want the lipstick affair to go away.  Then she and her sidekicks can focus on really important stories.  You know, like the one CNN's Jessica Yellin reported on during the same program this morning:

I'll tell you -- here's something you might not know about Sarah Palin. When she was pregnant with her fourth child, she had her baby shower at a shooting range.

Well, at least it's not about lipstick.