"Was John Hickenlooper's chief of staff Roxane White caught on camera making obscene gesture?" asked the headline on a subsequent 7News report -- but there's no need for the question mark. She absolutely was caught, and the results were hilarious. See two clips below.
See also: Update: John Hickenlooper Declared Winner in Ultra-Tight Guv Race With Bob Beauprez
In the raw footage offered by 7News, White's double-bird is partially obscured by still visible. Look for it just past the twenty-second mark.
Fox31 wound up with a better angle, but pixilated the shot on rebroadcast. Fortunately, a viewer shared the original, live view on YouTube. Her two-fister is just past the twenty-second point in this clip as well.
The context for White's gesture is important. White had previously announced that she was leaving her post working for Hickenlooper in order to head up Nurse-Family Partnership, described by Fox31 as a "nonprofit program that provides nursing help to at-risk first time mothers and families." So when fellow staffers interrupted Hickenlooper's laudatory comments about her with cheeky chants of "Four more years!," she flipped them off in a friendly, joking manner, just as pretty much every person in America has done to a pal at one time or another.
Such spontaneity is rare in politics and probably wouldn't have happened at all if White wasn't on the way out. But far from being offensive, the gesture was both amusing and honest, offering a rare unvarnished look at the camaraderie that exists behind the scenes in a campaign.
That's one way to improve a political address.
Send your story tips to the author, Michael Roberts.