"Well, Tim..."

Just to illustrate how exhausting the presidential campaign trail is on a candidate, I caught the Barack Obama interview this morning on The Today Show.

Obama was being interviewed by Matt Lauer. However, Obama continually kept saying, "Well, Tim..." Now, the first time it happened, I was expecting him to realize his mistake...but he didn't. After the second time, I started to feel kinda bad for the guy. After the third time, I was laughing and wondering where his communications assistant was, and why this person was not holding up a piece of paper that simply read, "MATT," in big, black letters. I was waiting for Obama's eyes to dart away from the camera for just a split second while someone off-camera alerted him to his mistake, but it never happened.

In the end, Matt Lauer simply informed Obama that he was, in fact, Matt Lauer, and not Tim Russert. They both had a chuckle (as I'm sure everyone else in the studio did as well).

So, these candidates are exhausted, and who can really fault any of them for mistaking who they are hearing in their ear when they have been going on no sleep for the past 15 months? I know I can't.

And besides, after the interview Matt Lauer proceeded to call Al Roker, "Ann."