Interesting footnote in this Times profile of Pete Rouse, President Obama's new chief of staff: He's apparently a Deadhead:

[Rouse] is also a huge music buff; in 2008, he persuaded the surviving members of the Grateful Dead to reunite and campaign for Mr. Obama.

For posterity, two related points:

1) A hand-written thank-you note from Obama on White House stationery thanking the band for their shows in support of his campaign is part of the Grateful Dead Archive.

2) I happened (weirdly) to be standing next to Bob Weir at a DSCC function on election night 2008 discussing the Archive at the very moment the networks called it for Obama.