Tony Snow may not be the perfect presidential press secretary, but it's hard to imagine one much better. In scanning the list of his predecessors - from Scott McClellan to stalwarts such as Mike McCurry (Bill Clinton), Marlin Fitzwater (George H.W. Bush and Ronald Reagan), Larry Speakes (Rea-gan), Jody Powell (Jimmy Carter), Ron Nessen (Gerald Ford) and Ron Ziegler (Richard Nixon) - it's also hard to remember one who plied his trade with such good humor, knowledge, verbal dexterity and aplomb.

Maybe Pierre Salinger during the Kennedy years was in Snow's class, but the job has changed so much since then that it's hard to say.

For what it's worth, Snow is as genially impressive in private as he is in front of a camera. Or at least that's my memory of him from a dinner years ago when he was still with The Detroit News. Even then, there never was any doubt that this fellow was a rising star.

Now cancer has spread to his liver, and we are not likely to see as much of Tony Snow again. Fate has delivered a sucker punch to a man who deserves to add a few more chapters to a fine life.

Tone-deaf Rudy

If Rudy Giuliani intends to hang onto his lead in polls of Republican voters, he'll have to try harder to explain his somewhat casual attitude toward matrimony.

The former New York mayor has been married three times (as has his present wife), and some voters, perhaps particularly in Republican primaries, may consider that record a troubling signal regarding character.

The callous way Giuliani left his second wife, Donna Hanover, and their two kids doesn't help his case, either. She learned of his intention to seek a separation from a city hall news conference! This occurred not long after he'd marched in the St. Patrick's Day Parade with a "very good" female friend.

Yet here's how Giuliani recently described his marital history to the New York Post: "It's happened to some people, it hasn't happened to others. But I think most people can relate to this kind of thing happening in your life."

A divorce? Yes, many people can indeed relate "to this kind of thing happening." But what many of those people - not to mention the rest of the population - can't imagine is flaunting a lover in public and then informing a spouse and children of your intention to leave them via a news conference.

Giuliani did manage to edge toward the truth when he also told the Post: "Nobody else who is running for president is a perfect person, either." Still, he ought to refine his answer further. How about, "In retrospect, some of my past behavior was outrageous and regrettable."

Voters might respect such direct humility - and he might even manage to stay atop the polls.

Vincent Carroll can be reached at carrollv@RockyMountainNews.com.