Team Yuschenko

"The best turnout and the best outcome in our election came from the village of Chicago," Ukrainian President Viktor Yuschenko told an overflow crowd at the Willard Hotel in Washington on April 6, recalling his own "rerun" election after the first one was overturned amid massive evidence of fraud. He said that "99.6% of eligible voters turned out, but actually, in Soviet times, the turnout would be 101% or 102%."

The man known worldwide for surviving a poisoning that left him disfigured was a major hit in Washington, as he met with President Bush and addressed a joint session of Congress. Yuschenko also drew more than 500 admirers to the Willard event, co-hosted by the National Democratic Institute and the International Republican Institute. As the magnetic Ukrainian spoke through an interpreter, an eclectic crowd that included such guests as conservative Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R.Calif.) and AFL-CIO President John Sweeney cheered him on. Former secretary of State Madeleine Albright repeatedly hailed Yuschenko as a "democrat"-a reference to his commitment to democracy, but which many in the room thought sounded like a party affiliation. As if to clear up the matter, Sen. John McCain (R.-Ariz.), the IRI chairman, told the crowd, "He's a Republican."

Whether Yuschenko really has political leanings in the U.S. is unknown, but wife Catherine Yuschenko, it turns out, does indeed have political leanings: She's definitely a Reagan Republican. The daughter of Chicagoans of Ukrainian descent, the future First Lady of Ukraine served in the administration of the 40th President. At both the Willard event and a luncheon earlier in the day, Catherine Yuschenko was greeted and embraced by many former colleagues in the Reagan Alumni Association.

Copyright Human Events Publishing, Inc. Apr 18, 2005
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved