At 18 1/2, Socks The Cat Is Still Purring

Socks lives! Really. The most famous White House kitty in recent memory is now 18 ½, and we hear he's cheering on his former mom, Sen. Hillary Clinton, in the presidential race. Socks still lives in Maryland with former President Clinton's executive secretary, Betty Currie, and spends his days much like he did in the East Wing, lazing around in sunny windows. Presidential historian Barry Landau, who just wrote The President's Table: Two Hundred Years of Dining and Diplomacy, is a pal of Currie's and reveals that Socks has a minor thyroid condition but is OK.

By Paul Bedard