Rodent Makes Appearance During Obama Wall Street Presser

So what furry creature scurried across the Rose Garden steps while President Obama gave a statement on his Wall Street reform bill?

Obama seemed not to notice the furry visitor, but his audience certainly did.  After the statement, when Obama was out of earshot, reporters and photographers started arguing about the species of the creature, The Associated Press reported.

Was it a rat?  A mouse?  A mole?

"I would partially rule out rat," said Russell Link, a wildlife biologist at the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife.  "That's due to the lack of a tail that is typically equal to body length."

Link suspects that the rodent was a vole, known in the Pacific Northwest as a "meadow mouse," he said.

Whatever it is, reporters think they have seen this critter before.  Last week, a rodent — believed to be the same one — was seen sprinting across the Rose Garden while camera crews prepped for Obama's statement on the BP oil spill.

SOURCE: The New York Daily News