Candidates practicing phone calls at 3AM

The Wolf Report has learned that Presidential candidates Barack Obama, Hillary Rodham Clinton, and John McCain have all been practicing one of the skills most highly valued in a President: the ability to answer a phone call at 3AM.

Clinton began her training nearly three months before her TV ad campaign. “We started gradually,” said a campaign staffer, “with phone calls at around 1AM. The initial results were disappointing. When the phone rang Hillary would shriek ‘Bill, get the god damned phone, it’s probably one of your…” well, she used a phrase meaning ‘sexually available loose-valued young women.’ But after a few nights she was able to answer ‘President Hillary Rodham Clinton speaking, what’s is the situation.’

“From that point on,” the source continued, “we created phone scenarios of increasing difficulty while moving the calls back fifteen minutes at a time to 3AM, which we believe is the time that an attack would most likely to be mounted. By the time we ran the ads, she was ready.”

According to Obama staffers, he began his training just after the first Clinton ad was aired. “His ability was amazing,” said a staffer. “Our plan was to start with a 3AM call and then back off to an hour that was comfortable. But he was able to respond to the first crisis call and to every one since then with a perfectly nuanced, well articulated answer that showed both insight and compassion, toughness and empathy, strength and softness. Several times the people who were role-playing the crisis scenario were moved to tears and spontaneous applause.”

McCain staffers are confident that their candidate can answer the 3AM call if it comes. “For years, Senator McCain has been waking up at 3AM to deal with the personnel of the vivid dreams he’s had since his capture and torture by the North Vietnamese. We are sure he’ll handle a real 3AM crisis as ably as he deals with the imaginary ones, although hopefully with less yelling and shooting.”