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US presidential hopefuls share genes with Winston, Angelina
By DPA
Mar 27, 2008, 3:19 GMT

Washington - Who would have known?

Democratic hopefuls for the White House have stars in their family trees.

And, for what it's worth, Senator Barack Obama's distant cousins are political leaders, compared to Senator Hillary Clinton's ties to Hollywood.

That's the conclusion of a study done by the New England Historic Genealogical Society, which released its report on Wednesday.

Obama, who leads against Hillary by a nose in the scramble for their party's nomination, can claim blood ties to six presidents - the current president, George W Bush, and his father, former president Bush, as well as Harry Truman, Gerald Ford, Lyndon Johnson and James Madison.

He also has distant ties to Britain's World War II prime minister Winston Churchill and Vice President Dick Cheney - oh, and Hollywood star Brad Pitt.

Clinton has blood ties to Pitt's wife, Angelina Jolie, Canadian pop singer Celine Dion, Madonna, beatnik author Jack Kerouac and Camilla Parker-Bowles, the wife of Britain's Prince Charles.