Mr. Mayor Backs Down...Sorta

Mayor Oscar Goodman had an animated (is there any other word for anything involving him?) press conference today that I may post as a podcast because it gives you some insight into why this mayor and city are different than any other. (He starts with a recap of his public activities in recent weeks which includes all his press interviews and discusses that the presser has to be shorter than usual because he has to go hang out with some Sports Illustrated models. It's entertaining listening, as city officials go.)

Anyhow, the mayor spoke early about his continued demand that President Obama clarify his Indiana statements which evidently have been taken by many to suggest that businesses ought not hold conventions here. Regardless of whether that's what the president said -- the transcript does not seem to reflect that -- it does seem to be how it's been taken.

Yet when I asked him whether a clarification and an apology were the same thing, he said no and then acknowledged that his call for an apology was a mistake. He sort of claimed he didn't have all the information when he said that and seemed to suggest he was trapped by KLAS's Edward Lawrence into the remark. That's all interesting because as of last night when the Mayor appeared on Fox News, he was still saying he wanted an apology. And that came after the Las Vegas Sun posted a piece yesterday that said he was backing down on the apology request. So it seems to depend who's asking and what time of day.

Still, he wants a clarification from the president that Las Vegas is a legitimate place to come to hold business meetings and conventions and he even conceded that perhaps using bailout money to hold junkets and have leisure trips isn't the right way to go.

One reporter asked what he'd do if Obama didn't respond to him. His giggly answer, "I'll cry."

Mr. Mayor is on Lou Dobbs's CNN show tonight, from what I hear. And he was referred to as Oscar Goldman by Rush Limbaugh yesterday. Don't know if there's a transcript of that out there somewhere -- not sure what El Rushbo was saying although I suspect he was probably crowing about dissension between Democrats -- but Goodman joked about it when I stumbled and almost called him that myself during the press conference.