Obama: I Did Have Esophageal Relations With That Cigarette

I CAN'T QUIT YOU BABY Cigarettes Over the past few months, presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama has gone to great lengths to show the American public that he's in tip-top physical shape, trying to make an obvious comparison to his opponent John McCain, who is liable to just keel over and die at any moment. (Because he's old.) There was the pickup basketball game with the UNC Tarheels and then the Chicago bike ride, for starters. But perhaps Obama isn't the paradigm of fitness you'd think: ABC News is reporting that the Illinois senator has acknowledged that he's sucked down the occasional cancer stick in the past few months.

Obama, once a heavy smoker, now furiously chews Nicorette. He didn't say exactly when he'd last smoked a Marlboro Red (his cigarette of choice), or how frequently he's smoking. Back in February of 2007, he noted that he had an "ironclad demand from my wife that in the stresses of the campaign I don't succumb."