Michelle Obama: The Wizard of Odds

Mike Allen's Politico Playbook lead story: BEHIND THE CURTAIN -- Washington Post Style lead: “First lady at Target: Critics take aim -- Photographer, White House mum on how images of shopping trip came about by Paul Farhi: "Photos taken by an Associated Press photographer of first lady Michelle Obama strolling away from the checkout counter at a Target store in Alexandria circled the globe Friday. The images were unusual and striking, depicting the elegant first lady, in an unglamorous disguise ... Neither the White House nor the Associated Press will say how AP photographer Charles Dharapak came to be the only news photographer present at the Alexandria Target to capture Obama's shopping excursion. 'All I can say is that it was the result of good source work on his part,' AP spokesman Paul Colford said. ... [I]t is uncommon, and perhaps unprecedented, for a single news organization to record such a trip. ... As a practical matter, it's difficult to know in advance where a first lady is headed without White House cooperation."