George Will's wife works for Perry; Chelsea Clinton at NBC

Washington Post columnist George Will might be one of many pundits who' ll have to come clean about their ties to presidential candidates as the season heats up. Politico reported Saturday that Mari Maseng, Will's wife, has signed on to work for Texas Gov. Rick Perry as a consultant, and helped prepare him for the GOP presidential debate in Michigan.

Sounds like Perry's still in the race despite many pundits (was Will one?) writing his obituary last week when he couldn't remember the third of the three agencies you would shut down if elected. Oops. Good luck to Maseng. With Perry's numerous gaffes, he needs all the help he can get.

Elsewhere, Politico also tracked down a source who said Maseng worked for Michelle Bachmann earlier in this election cycle, and had previously sought work with the Mitt Romney campaign itself.

Will plans to disclose his wife's work for the Perry campaign in a regularly scheduled appearance on ABC and in future columns, The Post's editorial page editor told Politico. ...

But Will has written extensively about Romney, including the column on Oct. 30 (which the Observer ran) when he blasted Romney as a "pretzel candidate" without meaningful convictions and conservative principles. Ouch!

here's what the Atlantic wire ran:
http://www.theatlanticwire.com/politics/2011/11/should-george-will-have-disclose-his-wifes-clients/44917/
Here's the Politico story:
http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/1111/For_columnist_Will_a_family_tie_to_Perry.html?showall
and here's the link to Will's piece on Romney that ran on the Observer's Viewpoint page:
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2011/10/30/2733705/mitt-romney-the-pretzel-candidate.html#storylink=misearch

Chelsea Clinton, Reporter?
NBC announced today that it has hired Chelsea Clinton to become a full-time special correspondent for NBC News, said the New York Times.

The appointment is immediate. Clinton will show up at the news division offices today, said Steve Capus, president of NBC News, and will begin work on stories that NBC expects to use as part of its “Making a Difference” series, which runs on “NBC Nightly News.”

Clinton has been a national figure since her father won the presidency in 1992, but she has remained — first by her parents’ request and then by her own choice — largely out of the public eye.

Well, George Bush's daughter Jenna Bush Hager, also works for NBC as a correspondent for NBC’s “Today” show, and Meghan McCain, daughter of 2008 Republican presidential candidate John McCain, is a contributor to MSNBC. So the Democrats are joining the club, it seems.