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Cheney and Obama are distant cousins: Mrs. Cheney

WASHINGTON
Tue Oct 16, 2007 6:00pm EDT
U.S. Senator Barack Obama (L) (D-IL) re-enacts being sworn-in by U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney (R) on Capitol Hill in Washington, January 4, 2005. With him are his wife Michelle and their two daughters Malia (L) and Sasha. Obama, 43, is the only African-American in the Senate, and the fifth in its history. Cheney and Obama are distant cousins. according to the vice president's wife, Lynne Cheney, who said she discovered that her husband of 43 years is eighth cousins with the senator from Illinois. REUTERS/Jason Reed

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - There's no sign of a family reunion planned, but U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney and Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama are distant cousins.

U.S.  |  Barack Obama

So says the vice president's wife, Lynne Cheney, who said she discovered that her husband of 43 years is eighth cousins with the senator from Illinois.

The two men could hardly be more different. Cheney is an advocate for pursuing the war in Iraq to try to stabilize the country, while Obama wants to get U.S. troops out of Iraq.

Mrs. Cheney told MSNBC on Tuesday that it was "an amazing American story that one ancestor ... could be responsible down the family line for lives that have taken such different and varied paths."

The common ancestor was Mareen Devall, who the Chicago Sun-Times said was a 17th century immigrant from France.

Mrs. Cheney said she discovered the link through family research for her new book, "Blue Skies, No Fences," about growing up in Wyoming.

(To read more about the U.S. political campaign, visit Reuters "Tales from the Trail: 2008" online at blogs.reuters.com/trail08/)
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Barack Obama


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