“Absolutely no one was allowed to see her smoking”

First Lady Laura Bush Smoked Cigarettes before Public Appearances During Reelection Campaign [11/16/04]:

Excerpts from: Burning BushNew York Daily News [11/7/04]

So that’s why the Bushes don’t like New York City: Laura can’t smoke here.

The presidential campaign was stressful enough to send the First Lady, an avowed nonsmoker, back to her chain-smoking ways.

“Absolutely no one was allowed to see her smoking,” says one insider. “At events where she appeared, there had to be a room off to the side where she could close the door and chain-smoke before and after she spoke.”

The official version is that Mrs. B gave up cigarettes at the same time she made her husband kick the bottle. And a spokesperson for the First Lady’s office insisted that Mrs. Bush did not use a smoking room at appearances.