Jesse Jackson III Segways to Daycare

His mother was recently sworn in as the 7th Ward Alderman. She knocked off the daughter of a machine politician who wanted to keep that aldermanship in the family back in February. Anyway Jesse the third was in the newspapers in time for his mother's inauguration...

That's how much 3-year-old Jesse Jackson III -- known to his parents as "Tre" (pronouned Tray) -- appeared to enjoy the ceremony that saw his mom, Sandi Jackson, sworn in as 7th Ward alderman.

When Sandi Jackson entered the City Council chambers as her name was called, she gave a thumbs up to Tre and his sister, Jessica, 7.

Tre and Jessica then sat on either side of their father, Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.), as Sandi Jackson took the oath of office. When it was over Sandi Jackson turned around and gave the kids and her husband giant hugs. Tre was smiling from ear to ear.

Tre and Jessica are finishing out the school year in Washington, D.C., before transferring to still unidentified schools in Chicago, where their mom plans to be a full-time alderman.

But Monday was not a school day. It was a day to celebrate. "They're very excited. ... They're very proud of their mother," said an aide to Sandi Jackson.

He's even in the Washington Post...

It's a good thing the National Transportation Safety Board doesn't know about this.

Two Sleuth spies tell us they were having breakfast at the venerable Capitol Hill dive Tune Inn one morning last week and did double takes when they saw Rep. Jesse Jackson (D-Ill.) whiz past them riding a Segway down the sidewalk with his toddler-sized son.

Our spies, who remain unnamed as they are regular informants in the Sleuth protection program, walked out onto the sidewalk to get a better view of the spectacle. They said Jackson's son rode in front, and started whining at one point when his dad playfully drove the two-wheeled electric upright scooter to the front door of the Hawk & Dove restaurant next door.

Turns out, little Jackson - Jesse Jackson III, who goes by the name "Tre" - was intent on getting to daycare and apparently had little interest in pressing the flesh with the breakfast crowd along Pennsylvania Ave. on Capitol Hill. (He'll have plenty of time for that later in life, though the adorable 4-year-old already seems plenty comfortable on the House floor, where he's been spotted with his dad on a number of occasions.)

"The Congressman had to take Tre to daycare," Jackson's spokesman, Kenneth Edmonds, told us. "That's his primary mode of transportation."

Good thing Tre made it to the school yard without injury. Neither he nor his daddy were wearing helmets.

And we can't say we're too confident Rep. Jackson wears his helmet all the other times he rides his Segway around Capitol Hill, from his official congressional office to his fundraising office, and even - on rare occasions - to and from work, a several-miles-long ride along busy streets between the Hill and the congressman's home in Dupont Circle.

These are all sweet stories about political parents and their children. That's how I would like to look at it after all.