There are very few single-issue voters on the subject of parenthood, but you have to wonder if being a good dad (or mom) is a good proxy for public office. Last week, most of the dems with presidential aspirations sat down at a Planned Parenthood forum that covered a number of women's-rights issues. But among the usual questions, there were a couple of interesting zingers in there. Wesley Clark and Carol Moseley Braun were asked about the prospect of paid family leave (and yes, they all used the term "family." Not "maternity," thank goodness).

For those keeping score, Clark is in favor ("Paid family leave, absolutely.") Braun is more circumspect because of the potential burden to business. This opens an interesting question: is coming out in favor of paid leave a radical stand? Have politicians had to answer that question before?

The second fun part is when each candidate is asked to grade themself as a parent. Everyone talks about how great their kids are, but there's no actual grading (other than Clark: "I don’t give myself that good a grade, but I had an A+ wife."). Another interesting snippet: Dean does diapers ("I did not nurse my children, but I did everything else, the diapers and all that other stuff.") Though, Dean admits to doing less than 50 percent of the share, his courageous stand in favor of dads doing diapers should be recognized.

Of course, the record on presidential/presidential candidate kids of late is a little spotty. The George W. Bush twins have been busted for alcohol, Dean's son has been arrested on burglary charges, Gore's son was cited for DUI and George H.W. Bush gets credit for Neil (though Neil, it should be noted, was never charged in the S&L debaucle). Reagan's daughter, Patti, posed for Playboy and Amy Carter was somewhat famous for getting arrested at political demonstrations. That's pretty impressive for rich white kids.