Moment of levity at the White House

by Les Kretman, NBC News producer

From Dana Perino's daily White House briefing today word about a competition. No, not to come up with a formula to build an energy efficient car to get Americans into automobile showrooms again. No, not to come up with a solution to deal with the plummeting economy. No, not to come up with easy answers to withdrawal from Iraq, peace in the Mideast or how to deal with the Taliban. But this from Dana:

"Today we kick off the contest to name the 2008 National Thanksgiving Turkey. We have a couple of ideas, as I look out into the room." (Dana looks at the gathering of the journalists...then there's brief laughter) "The President will pardon the turkey during the annual ceremony, which will take place at the White House on November 26th. And we encourage everyone to log on to our website, whitehouse.gov, to vote for your favorite name for the National Thanksgiving Turkey. This year marks the 61st anniversary of that presentation."

A moment of levity in the nation's capital where some might say there's not much to smile about.