Another interesting item from today’s soft-focus Wash Post story on Ted Kennedy: “Like many senators with whom Kennedy has disagreed over the years, McCain was won over by Kennedy’s warmth and his penchant for personal gestures. In 1999, McCain and Sen. Russell Feingold received a John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award for their work on campaign finance reform. The award ceremony, in Boston, included a private dinner the night before that McCain thought he would have to miss because it conflicted with his son Jimmy’s 11th birthday. But Kennedy insisted that McCain come, and he promised that Jimmy would have a good time. ‘It was amazing,’ McCain says. ‘Ted arranged something like three cakes and a special ride on a Coast Guard cutter around Boston Harbor.’” Question: If Tom DeLay had arranged “a special ride on a Coast Guard cutter,” would the Post report it as a cute bit of color in a Style-section story? Or would we learn how much it cost taxpayers?