by Mike Memoli

The top pharmaceutical group has named John Castellani, most recently president of the Business Roundtable, as it's new president and CEO, effective September 1. He replaces Billy Tauzin, the former Louisiana Congressman who held one of the most high-profile lobbying posts in Washington for five years.

In Castellani, PhRMA chooses someone who did not attack the health care legislation debated and passed by Congress in the past year. In fact, Castellani had participated in a White House kickoff summit on health care. He also warned that the partisanship surrounding the debate could threaten the any benefits from the law after it was signed.

"My greatest fear is on the verge of being realized and that is the highly-charged political environment surrounding health care reform will interfere with the monumental task of implementation," he wrote at the Business Roundtable's blog.

"His experience in coalition building and strong reputation of working across the political divide set him apart," David Brennan, AstraZeneca's CEO and the head of PhRMA's search committee, said in a release announcing the choice.

by Mike Dorning

Former Illinois Atty. Gen. Roland Burris and Senate Democratic leaders determined to block his seating in the U.S. Senate plan to sit down Wednesday in the U.S. Capitol for a face-to-face meeting.

Aides to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Assistant Majority Leader Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said Saturday that the meeting was arranged at the request of Burris, who spoke Friday with Durbin by telephone. A Durbin spokesman said only that the conversation was amicable.

Aides to Burris confirmed he requested the meeting and said he plans to try Tuesday to claim the Senate seat to which he was appointed.

After Gov. Rod Blagojevich was arrested last month on charges of trying to sell the appointment to the Senate seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama, Democratic Senate leaders vowed not to seat Blagojevich's choice.

But Burris says he will press his case.

That has set up the possibility of a showdown when the new Congress convenes Tuesday. Senate leaders have contingency plans to block Burris' entrance to the floor with armed guards, if necessary.

See the rest of the report on Burris and Reid and the Senate appointment standoff in the Tribune and here in the Swamp:

by Mark Silva

One wonders if the terms of engagement have been worked out for the arrival of Roland Burris, disputed appointee to the Senate from Illinois, at the door of the Senate on Tuesday.

Then again, it appears that two old friends could be standing at that crossroad, with one of them assuring everyone that everything will work out just fine, pardner.

The only way Burris will be allowed on the floor is if he possesses a certification of appointment signed by both his sponsor, Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, and Secretary of State Jesse White, Senate leaders say. But White refuses to certify the appointment made by a governor accused of attempting to sell the Senate seat of President-elect Barack Obama, and Burris is unlikely to have his appeal of that decision heard before opening day of the Senate.

Senate leaders vow that Burris will not be admitted without the proper paperwork, which he lacks.

But the man who controls the door to the chamber, Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Terrance Gainer, suggests that something will be worked out before Tuesday.

Gainer and Burris go back a long way, to the days when Burris was attorney general in Illinois and Gainer was director of the state police.

"I have known Roland Burris for a number of years," Gainer has told the Associated Press. "He is a good man. He plays by the rules. I don't think there's going to be a confrontation."

(Gainer, pictured here as an assistant Washington, D.C. police chief in 2001 discussing the disappearance of Chandra Levy, an aide to then-Rep. Gary Condit,.on FOX News Sunday (AP Photo/FOX, Chris Kleponis)

Mark Felt appears on CBS' "Face the Nation" in Washington on Aug. 30, 1976. Felt was the source identified for years only as "Deep Throat" in the Washington Post's reporting on the Watergate scandal. (AP / August 30, 1976)

by Frank James

We're all learning this morning of the death, at age 95, of W. Mark Felt, who as a senior Federal Bureau of Investigation official, served as the shadowy source known as "Deep Throat" to reporter Bob Woodward in his investigation of the Watergate scandal that led to President Nixon's resignation.

As Johanna Neuman writes in a Los Angeles Times piece:

A controversial figure who was later convicted of authorizing illegal activities in pursuit of members of the radical Weather Underground, Felt died of heart failure Thursday at his home in Santa Rosa, Calif., his grandson Rob Jones said.

The reporters continued to keep Felt's name a secret, but in 2005, at the age of 91, Felt told Vanity Fair magazine, "I'm the guy they used to call Deep Throat."

by Mark Silva

It seems Harry Reid, the Senate majority leader, has created quite a stink.

The Nevada Democrat warned people ahead of time that he's always reminded to be careful about what he says, before he went on to say what he said.

The occasion was the opening of the costly new visitor center at the Capitol, an air-conditioned palace for Americans and others to assemble as they arrive for tours.

In the old days, in the swamp that is Washington, in the heat of the dog days of summer, those visiting hordes making their civic pilgrimages to the pinnacles of power could get a little sweaty on the steps waiting to get inside the Capitol, the Senate leader explained at the dedication of the gleaming new indoor visitor center this week.

"You could literally smell the tourists coming into the Capitol,'' Reid said.

The majority leader has stirred something of a blogging furor among indignant Americans suggesting online that something smells here, but it is not the tourists.

Or was this seasoned old politician and veteran of Washington summers simply smelling it like it is?

by Mark Silva

The two young daughters of President-elect Barack Obama will be moving schools this winter as the family moves from Chicago to Washington, and the Obama family has settled on a tried-and-true setting for Washington's elite:

The private Sidwell Friends School in Washington, D.C.

The Obamas looked at public schools as well, but a spokeswoman for Michelle Obama, Katie McCormick Lelyveld, says the Obamas focused on what's the best fit for 10-year-old Malia and 7-year-old Sasha.

Sidwell Friends is a private Quaker school in Northwest Washington. Chelsea Clinton, daughter of former President Bill Clinton, also attended.

The Obama family also scouted Georgetown Day, which was founded in 1945 and was an early pioneer in racial integration. And the president-elect's family had discussed public school options, according to Washington Mayor Adrian Fenty and Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee.

Sidwell, a day school situated on 15 acres in Northwest Washington, traces its founding to 1883. The K-12 program has 1,097 students (553 boys and 544 girls) enrolled -- that's about to grow by two girls. The school reports that 39 percent of the student body are "students of color.''

Twenty-two percent of the student body receives almost $5 million of need-based financial assistance, the school notes. Which is understandable, in that tuition this year runs $28,442 for Pre-K to Fourth Grade and $29,442 for Grades 5-12.

The stored-value card Washington, D.C.'s mass-transit system will begin selling Friday, Nov. 21, 2008 to commemorate President-elect Barack Obama's inauguration.

by Frank James

Many people who live and work in the Washington, D.C. area have been closely following stories in the local media about what we're likely to face on Inauguration Day, Jan. 20, 2009.

There are estimates that as many as four million people will descend on downtown Washington to try and witness history, to see either the inauguration of the first African-American president or the parade to the White House.

For those who have to work that day and don't live right downtown or are used to driving in and don't have a hotel room or space at a friend's house lined up, the question has been "How do I get downtown that day?"

Fortunately, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority which runs the city's mass transit system said today that it will run the city's subway and bus system on a rush- hour basis from 4 am to 7 pm.

by Frank James

President Bush (remember him?) is making the rounds of the federal bureaucracy doing something of a farewell tour.

Today, he was at the Transportation Department talking up all that employees there and his administration have done to improve the nation's transportation system, such as better management of the New York City airspace, improvements that should have the salutary effect of making life better for holiday travelers, the president said.

Of course, because of economic slowdown, the airlines will be flying fewer planes so don't expect the airports to be any less crowded.

Anyway, the president started off with a joke which contained a kind of heckuva job compliment to the department's employees :

I appreciate you giving me a chance to come by and visit with you today. I want to thank you very much for the great job you are doing to make sure that across America our railroads and highways and airways are working to keep our citizens moving. You have done a terrific job, as far as I am concerned. The past eight years I have not seen a traffic jam -- (laughter) -- waited for an airplane -- (laughter) -- or had my bags lost. (Laughter.)

Yes, it's good to be the king. In Washington, he's the guy who creates the traffic jams.

I'm sure he didn't mean to rub anyone's face in it.

No doubt a lot of people next week will be wishing they could travel by private jumbo jet and motorcades with police escort to grandma's house.

by Mark Silva

The lovely little St. John's church that sits across the park from the White House is but a short walk from the most prominent address in America -- though President Bush has been accustomed to riding a long motorcade to the nearby sanctuary on Sunday mornings.

But will President-elect Barack Obama be signing up with the congregation of the Rev. Luis Leon? Or will the Chicagoan who so famously severed ties with his own longtime church back home because of the inflammatory words from the pulpit of the retired Rev. Jeremiah Wright be looking elsewhere in Washington?

See this report on churches recruiting a new president.

by Clarence Page

Yes, that's Barack Obama's neighbor, the former Weather Underground bomb thrower Bill Ayers, captured above by my cell phone camera as he spoke to an almost- full sanctuary in a Washington DC church - with very little publicity.

"We set this up six months ago," he told the friendly audience, convened by Teaching for Change, a Washington-based school reform organization, and Busboys and Poets, a local independent bookstore-restaurant, "and I expected something like ten people sitting in a circle."

He did better than that: About 200 people and a gaggle of news media.

Unlike Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, he's not on an image redemption tour. He's not even planning a run for public office. At this particular event, he was talking and promoting his books about school reform.

After months of vilification as an "unrepentant terrorist" by Palin, Sen. John McCain, Fox News' Sean Hannity and the rest of the anti-Obama chorus, the Distinguished Professor of Education at the University of Illinois at Chicago is getting his life back to abnormal.

by Andrew Zajac

Pennsylvania tourism types used to boast that "You've Got A Friend in Pennsylvania". More recently, the Keystone state's marketing mavens have asserted that "America Begins Here."

Those catchphrases could stand a little freshening up for the Obama inauguration, maybe something like "You've Got an Innkeeper in Pennsylvania" and "The Schlep to D.C. Begins Here."

At least those might work as hooks for the campaign Democratic Sen. Bob Casey is launching to persuade would-be inaugural attendees to consider his state if they're friendless in the capital, shut out of hotels D.C., Baltimore, or Richmond, or can't afford a four-figure Craigslisted home rental.

Casey issued the press release below to woo Obama fans to stay in his state, though he doth take liberties when he quotes a 90-minute commute from some Pa counties to the District. Not gonna happen on Inaguration Day.

by Laura Olson

If you waited to see the election results before booking a hotel room in Washington for the inauguration, you may be too late.

Calls have been flooding area hotels over the past few months to reserve rooms, and hotel officials say those on the fence about making the trip will need to decide quickly.

Early estimates predict the number of inaugural visitors will exceed 1.5 million. That figure is still rough, though William Hanbury, president of Destination DC, the city's tourism department, said the event should easily top the 500- to 600,000 who attended the 2004 inauguration.

The massive interest in the election and the process has caused the metro area's 95,000 hotel rooms to fill up fast.

"If people really want to come for the inauguration, they can't wait until December or January," Hanbury said. "They need to be making plans now."

On Monday afternoon, there were still rooms available at the Phoenix Park Hotel, located blocks from the U.S. Capitol steps where President Elect Barack Obama will be sworn in. The Hyatt Regency on Capitol Hill had some as well - though just a handful, said Tammy Hagin, director of public relations and advertising.

by Frank James

Good luck getting a ticket to President-elect Obama's inaugural. The demand for them is extraordinary, with some would-be profiteers asking as much as $40,000 for tickets that won't be available until January.

Reports that some people are trying to gain a big payday by selling tickets congressional offices will be giving away, has drawn the attention of Sen. Dianne Feinstein. The California Democrat plans to submit legislation that would make such opportunism illegal.

An excerot from The Hill newspaper:

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) is drafting legislation that would make it illegal to sell tickets to President-elect Barack Obama's inauguration ceremony.

by Andrew Zajac

Companies affiliated with the family of Gene and Nora Lum, who were convicted of making illegal campaign contributions in a Democratic fundraising scandal a decade ago have donated at least $4,800 to the campaigns of Michael Brown, a candidate for Washington D.C. city council, who pleaded guilty in the same scandal.

Brown, the son of the late Ron Brown, a Clinton administration Commerce Secretary and one-time head of the Democratic National Committee, is seeking an at-large seat on the 13-member DC council.

by Mark Silva

Barack Obama may not be "measuring the drapes'' for the White House, as Republican rival John McCain has suggested he is in recent days on the campaign trail.

But workers are measuring the footprint for the inaugural reviewing stands that will be erected in front of the White House for the inaugural parade on Jan. 20.

Chain-link fences have gone up on Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the place that President Bush, playing host to the president of Paraguay, today called the "Casa Blanca.''

And fences have gone up outside the Capitol, at the front facing the National Mall, where the next president will be sworn into office in a little less than three months.

Not that anybody's in a rush around here, mind you.

by Mark Silva

Here is one incredible exchange between the host of a network news commentary program and a member of Congress. Be sure to strap on your helmet and elbow pads before watching this one.

Bill O'Reilly, of FOX's O'Reilly Factor, has called for Rep. Barney Frank of Massachusetts to step down from his position as chairman of the House Financial Services Committee because of a now-clear failure of oversight of the nation's banking industry.

This doesn't make for the smoothest stage for an interview, like the one O'Reilly conducted of Frank on his show last night.

"Shouldn't everybody in the country be angry with you right now?'' O'Reilly asked Frank, setting the tone for that rough stage.

No, said Frank. "I became chairman of the committee on Jan. 1, 2007,'' he said, taking credit for a "tough'' regulatory bill for the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgage enterprise that passed the House in May. From 1995 to 2006, with a Republican-controlled Congress, he said, "we couldn't get that done.''

"That's great,'' O'Reilly said, but then he came out and said "everything was great'' and everyone went out and bought stock and then lost millions of dollars. O'Reilly played a tape of Frank saying not long ago that Fannie and Freddie were basically sound.

No way, said Frank, denying that he had suggested anyone invest money in these sinking enterprises.

"Come on, you coward, say the truth,'' O'Reilly said, accusing Frank of "B.S." and more.

"You start ranting, and the only way to respond is to almost talk as boorish as you,'' Frank said, denying that he had suggested anyone buy stock. ''I'm not going to be bullied by your ranting... You're not going to shut me up.''

The argument devolved into name-calling and insults.

"That's a joke,'' O'Reilly said of Frank's answers.

"A joke is to think I could have a rational discussion with you,'' Frank said. "You don't listen at all.''

"You're the brilliant guy who presided over the biggest financial collapse,'' O'Reilly said. "You're the brilliant guy. I'm the dumb guy.''

Towels, please.

by Mark Silva

Former Sen. John Edwards' extramarital affair started well before the former candidate for president and nominee for vice president has admitted, according to Pigeon O'Brien, a friend of Edwards' campaign videographer and mistress, Rielle Hunter.

It started early in 2006, months before Edwards has acknowledged, O'Brien said in an interview broadcast this morning by CBS News' The Early Show.

Maggie Rodriguez, co-host of the show, has raised the question about "just how forthcoming'' Edwards been about his affair with Hunter, a videographer hired by Edwards' now-defunct campaign. O'Brien has answered it.

O'Brien also contends that Edwards is the father of Hunter's child, which Edwards has denied -- with O'Brien maintaining that Hunter was in love and would not have the child of someone she didn't love. She went into all of this in great detail on the air today.

The Washington Post's The Trail also credits Edwards for a certain measure of chutzpah in taking Hunter on the campaign trail - noting wire service photos posted online by technology blogger Robert Scoble showing that Edwards took his mistress with him on the plane during his late 2006 presidential campaign announcement tour.

From The Early Show, courtesy of CBS News:

RODRIGUEZ: Is John Edwards still lying about his affair with your friend?

Ms. O'BRIEN: As of--as of his statement on Friday evening, he is lying about the timeline of the affair and other details about it, yes.

RODRIGUEZ: She told you it started in February or March of 2006.

Ms. O'BRIEN: Yes.

RODRIGUEZ: He says it started five months later when his campaign hired her.

Ms. O'BRIEN: Yeah, that's not true. That's not true. It started in the winter of '06. They became involved at that point, not later in the summer when she was hired to work for the political action committee.

RODRIGUEZ: It started in the winter of '06?

Ms. O'BRIEN: Correct.

by Johanna Neuman

Maybe this is why Texan Lamar Smith, the ranking Republican on the House Judiciary Committee, disdainfully refers to the committee's investigation into President Bush's policies as "the book-of-the-month club."

Since George W. Bush took office in 2001, books have proliferated about his alleged misdeeds, as noted in the L.A. Times' Countdown to Crawford, and Congress has made eager witnesses of their authors. No one likes books more, it seems, than committee chairman Democrat John Conyers of Michigan. "You should see Mr. Conyers' library," confided one staffer.

There was Allen Raymond, whose How to Rig an Election prompted hearings into whether Republican operatives routinely steal elections -- and why the Justice Department is not prosecuting them.

Then there was Scott McClellan, the former White House spokesman who wrote a book called What Happened. In the aptly named kiss-and-tell memoir, McClellan accused Karl Rove (the president's man), I. Lewis Scooter Libby (the vice president's man) and even President Bush (presumably his own man) of misleading him during the Valerie Plame incident.

Now comes journalist Ron Suskind, whose The Way of the World alleges that senior Bush administration officials ordered the forgery and dissemination of false intelligence documents to convince Congress -- and the public -- of the need to go to war in Iraq.

Conyers has ordered a thorough review of the underlying allegations and the interrogation of Suskind's research assistant by federal agents in Manhattan who confiscated his notes. In a statement, Conyers said: "I am particularly troubled that the decision to disseminate this fabricated intelligence is alleged to have come from the highest reaches of the administration.''

Some witnesses have simply ignored the committee's subpoena to testify. Rove, the political maestro of the Bush White House, refused to attend a session -- quickly dubbed "The Empty Chair Hearing" -- claiming executive privilege. The committee had wanted to talk to him about his role in the firing of U.S. attorneys and in the prosecution of Don Siegelman, the popular Democratic former governor of Alabama.

Maybe after his book comes out.

by Mark Silva

As campaign books go, they don't get much more inside than Alexandra Kerry's Notes From the Trail.

The "inside the bubble'' account of Sen. John Kerry's bid for the presidency "traces her campaign experience from its infancy to her father's ultimate defeat,'' the publisher says.

And talk about being inside the bubble: Doris Kearns Goodwin, presidential historian, offers up "advance praise'' in the Rodale release of the 192-page book, with 110 pictures: "Writing with warmth, insight and honest, Alexandra Kerry brings the familiar events of her father's 2004 campaign into fresh focus.''

Mike McCurry, former White House press secretary: "A powerful and intimate look at a presidential campaign.''

Alexandra Kerry, a Brown University graduate with an MFA from the American Film Institute, is executive director at Tar Films in New York, a director of short films and at work on her first feature film.

by Mark Silva

News of former Sen. John Edwards' admitted affair with videographer Rielle Hunter, a reported 2006 liaison to which the Democratic Party's candidate for vice president in 2004 only recently confessed, evokes a long line of infidelities and accusations which have ensnared some of the nation's political leaders.

But while so much attention is focused on the affairs, betrayed promises of public trust and the like, it's the pained visages of the spouses that stand out in some of the snapshots of modern political history.

Our friends at the Top of the Ticket have assembled a rogue's photo gallery of the unfaithful and scandal-tagged, standing side by side with their spouses.

The names transcend party, as the Ticket's Andrew Malcolm's collection undercores -- ranging from former President Bill Clinton, whose wife, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, stood by her man, to retiring Republican Idaho Sen. Larry Craig, whose arrest in an airport men's room was concealed for months. He maintained that he had been the victim of a sting operation, and insisted that he is not gay.

The name of Louisiana's Sen. David Vitter, a Republican, showed up in the book of an infamous Washington madam. (Vitter and wife Wendy are pictured below, in a photo by Alex Brandon of the Associated Press.)

In most cases, while everyone calculates the impact on the political fortunes of the unfaithful, the looks on the faces of the spouses tell the real story.

by Katie Fretland

Supermodel Tyra Banks appears as the First Lady of fashion in the September issue of Harper's Bazaar magazine, posing as Michelle Obama.

The photo shoot captures Banks beside a Barack Obama look-alike model in an Oval Office scene. In another, Banks gives him a fist bump while confetti flies.

"So what gives me tears is if Barack Obama wins, kids are going to say that a black man can be president, too," Banks tells the magazine. "I think it will give so many people -- black, Latin, Asian, even white people that feel forgotten -- hope. I did not think I would see it in my lifetime, and I'm only 34."

"With Barack Obama, his becoming president is them becoming president because Michelle was there from the beginning," Banks continued. "Without Michelle, he wouldn't be there."

That photo shoot is one example of new Michelle Obama magazine coverage. Michelle Obama will also appear solo on the cover of Ebony and Ladies' Home Journal with her husband.

(Read the full interview with Michelle and Barack Obama at www.lhj.com and more on Michelle Obama's covers at Top of the Ticket.)

The covers follow criticism by Barack Obama's opponent, Republican Sen. John McCain, that the Illinois senator is a celebrity comparable to Paris Hilton and Britney Spears. A new study also says that 48 percent of Americans are experiencing "Obama fatigue" and are tired of hearing so much about the candidate. Obama has experienced more media exposure than McCain every week since the beginning of June, according to media studies.

Not that Cindy McCain never got the cover treatment from a major magazine. She posed for the cover of Newsweek this summer and was also featured in Vogue.

A New York City Emergency Service police officer inspects a mailbox on Fifth Avenue in New York/ (October 17, 2001) (AP photo)

by Frank James

A federal government biodefense expert has apparently committed suicide just as prosecutors were about to charge him in connection with the 2001 anthrax attacks that killed five people.

The Los Angeles Times' David Willman gets credit for breaking the story. Here's a snippet of his report:

A top government scientist who helped the FBI analyze samples from the 2001 anthrax attacks has died in Maryland from an apparent suicide, just as the Justice Department was about to file criminal charges against him for the attacks, the Los Angeles Times has learned.

The payout to Hatfill, a highly unusual development that all but exonerated him in the mailings, was an essential step to clear the way for prosecuting Ivins, according to lawyers familiar with the matter.

by Frank James

There are a lot of good-looking people in the world. Some of them wind up on Capitol Hill, a good thing since it often gives people trapped in overly lengthy congressional hearings a blessed distraction.

In recent years, the very luckiest of that pulchritudinous group have been selected by The Hill newspaper as the 50 biggest head-turners on the Hill.
It's a fun little feature, a welcome respite from presidential politics, gas prices and Afghanistan.

Number one on this year's list is Tulani Elisa, 24, a legislative assistant to Rep. Ed Markey and a black woman with an eerie resemblance to Jackie Kennedy.

On the other end of the spectrum, there's Sen. John Warner, the 81-year old Virginia Republican who is retiring from the Senate. He doesn't eerily resemble anyone so far as I can tell.

by Katie Fretland

What's in a campaign button?

In Idaho, it can mean the merger of the expected Democratic presidential nominee with an unlikely mate -- Republican Sen. Larry Craig, who does not plan to seek re-election after his arrest in a Minnesota bathroom sex sting.

The button was just a mistake apparantly on the part of the button-maker. The Lewiston Tribune reports that the button manufacterer apparantly meant to feature Sen. Barack Obama on a button with a different Larry: Democrat Larry LaRocco, who is running for U.S. Senate.

"That sounds like it's going to be a collector's item," said Dean Ferguson, LaRocco's communications director. "I'm sure Sen. Obama appreciates Sen. Craig's support."

So, what to do with those buttons? The editor emeritus of the Tribune's editorial page, Bill Hall, decided to buy 10 buttons, before they became unavailable for purchase.

"I realized it was a mistake, like finding a coin that's been damaged in the making, so I quickly ordered 10 of them," Hall said.

Read more about the Larry Craig/Obama button at Top of the Ticket, the Los Angeles Times' political blog.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

by Mark Silva

Barack Obama is such a card.

And John McCain, what a card.

And how about that George W. Bush? A real card.

The people at Hallmark think so, offering up a series of "party lines'' that have some greeting fun with Obama, McCain and Bush.

"You're a year older? No one could ever tell,'' reads the front of the birthday card picturing Obama, the junior senator from Illinois. Inside, the card gets a little flip with the greeting card equivalent of a flip-flop: "I stand corrected. Happy Birthday.'' Ouch. A chip inside plays a crowd chanting, "Yes we can, yes we can.''

"Another birthday's no big deal,'' reads the front of the card picturing McCain, the senior senator from Arizona, who will turn 72 next month. "At our age, we can still run for senator... run for president.'' Inside: "Run for the bathroom. You look like you gotta go out and celebrate.'' The bladder-minded chip plays the song: "Under Pressure.... Pressing down on me.'' Double ouch.

The presidential card is another story: "It's just a birthday. It's just a birthday. It's just a birthday,'' it reads on the front. "You still look good. You still look good. You still look good,'' it adds on the inside.

Are the card-makers suggesting the president sounds like a broken record? Well, the chip lets Bush do the explaining in his own words, with an actual clip of the president at the podium: "The third time I said that.... I'll probably say it three more times. See, in my line of work, you've got to keep repeating things over and over and over again, for the truth to sink in. To kind of catapult the propaganda.'' Triple ouch.

(Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

by Frank James

You have to give it to Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. He may be one of the nation's most powerful men but no fancy shmancy Mont Blanc pen for him, at least not at today's Senate hearing on the economy.

The head of the nation's central bank reached into his pocket and pulled out one of those complimetary stick pens that hotels make available to their guests. His was stamped "Westin."

Maybe it was a signal to the senators that he's a frugal man who's not about to waste his money or anyone else's, a good thing perhaps since some senators were clearly concerned today that the Fed and Treasury Department might be way too ready to put taxpayers' money at risk as part of their plan to serve as a backstop to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Or maybe it was just the first pen he laid his hands on this morning as he readied himself for his Capitol Hill appearance.

Wonder if he's the kind of guy who takes the little bars of soap too.

by Matthew Hay Brown

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy has made a dramatic return to the Senate, his first visit since suffering a seizure in May that led to a brain cancer diagnosis and surgery, to cast the 60th vote Democrats needed on a Medicare bill that failed last month without him.

The Senate chamber erupted in bipartisan applause moments ago as Kennedy entered, escorted by presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama, fellow Massachusetts Democrat John Kerry, best Senate friend Chris Dodd and his son, Rep. Patrick Kennedy of Rhode Island. Wife Vicki Kennedy and niece Caroline Kennedy watched from the front row of the gallery.

A grin spread across Kennedy's face as he appoached the dais and cast his vote with a loud "Aye."

The Medicare Improvement for Patients and Providers Act of 2008, already passed by the House, would delay a 10.6% reduction in Medicare physician fees. It failed to achieve cloture by one vote last month.

As it turned out, it passed today by a 69-30 vote.

by Andrew Zajac

The shadow of 9-11 in Washington lightens with each year that passes without an attack. But on holidays like the 4th of July, the fingers still tighten ever so slightly on the armrests.

The Department of Homeland Security typically issues statements about low threat levels intended to reassure, but their effect is disquieting. Consider DHS's holiday assessment in yesterday's Congressional Quarterly:

"The Homeland Security Department reported that as of Thursday afternoon, it has received no credible threats to suggest a terrorist attack for the July Fourth holiday. However, the department is continuing to monitor for problems.

"Due to the symbolic importance of the holiday, the large number of mass gatherings and special events and increased travel associated with the celebrations, DHS and the

Kudwa said local authorities and security personnel may increase their security precautions. She encouraged the public to report anything suspicious, including unattended bags, unattended vehicles in restricted areas or the use of cameras and recording devices at large public gatherings... "

-----------------------

by John Kennedy

Florida's best-known bachelor, Gov. Charlie Crist, is getting married.

Crist on Thursday popped the question to his girlfriend of nine months, New York socialite Carole Rome, presenting her with a blue sapphire and diamond ring in his gulf-side condo in St. Petersburg.

"I'm very happy," Crist said Thursday evening. "I had a nice ring. It was very romantic. And she said `yes.'

No date has been set for the wedding. But Crist said the fall was the likely time -- in St. Petersburg, where he is a member of a Methodist church. A reception will probably also be held in Tallahassee, he said.

Crist, 51, said he managed to get down on one knee to propose, but it wasn't easy after his recent knee surgery. He's off crutches only a few days.

Rome, 38, is president of her family's century-old costume business. She has two children, ages 11 and 9, with former husband, New Yorker Todd Rome who is chief executive officer of Bluestar Jets. She lives in Miami, but will likely soon begin dividing her time between St. Petersburg and Tallahassee, Crist said.

Read the full story at Central Florida Political Pulse, the Orlando Sentinel's political blog. For more on Crist as a possible McCain veep, read Kennedy's article here.

(Florida Gov. Charlie Crist and Carole Rome photo by Jose Luis Magana/AP Photo)

by John Crewdson

The Swamp watches the Sunday talk shows, so you don't have to:

The issues this first week of summer: Democratic unity (meaning can Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton stand to be in the same room together? And will Hillary or Bill speak at the Democratic convention?). Can Obama win over the critical Western states and the Hispanic vote he needs to defeat John McCain? Are U.S. commandos operating secretly in Iran? And, why is Ralph Nader running for president--again?

Nader famously cost Al Gore the presidential election in 2000, an election in which Gore garnered a half-milllion more popular votes than George Bush but lost by five electoral votes when the Supreme Court accorded Bush the state of Florida. Nader won only 2,883,105 votes, or 2.7% of all votes cast nationwide. But post-election research showed that 60% of Florida voters who voted for Nader would have voted for Gore, had Nader not been on the ballot.

Nader never accepted responsibility for making Bush's victory possible, blaming what he sees as the corporate conservatism of the Democratic Party, and asserting his responsibility to offer voters a third choice.

Many of Nader's former adherents didn't agree. Public Citizen, the group he founded in 1971, but with which he currently has no connection, reportedly lost 20 percent of its membership after the 2000 election.

Now Nader is back, confidently predicting on ABC's "This Week" with George Stephanopoulos that his name, which is currently on the ballot in only five states, will be on 45 state ballots--one more than in 2000--by election day.

by Matthew Hay Brown

Washington Mayor Adrian Fenty expressed disappointment with the Supreme Court decision today to overturn the three-decade-old District of Columbia handgun ban, but said officials would move quickly to comply with the ruling.

"I have already directed the Metropolitan Police Department to implement an orderly process for allowing citizens to register handguns for lawful possession in their homes," Fenty told reporters this afternoon.

He went on to stress that the ruling would be limited in its impact on district statutes.

"This case is about a very narrow issue, and that is about the legal possession of handguns in the homes," he said. "It leaves intact various other laws that apply to private citizens who would purchase handguns or other firearms for home possession."

All firearms still must be registered with the police, Fenty said. Automatic and semi-automatic handguns generally remain illegal and no handguns can be carried outside of the home.

The mayor appeared with district Police Chief Cathy Lanier and Attorney General Peter Nickles.

"Now, let me be very clear," Nickles said. "You cannot go out today, if you have a handgun, and carry it around. This is not open season with handguns."

by Katie Fretland

Who do you like better Hillary Clinton or Bill Clinton?

A new national poll by the Los Angeles Times and Bloomberg says that 52 percent of registered voters feel positively about Bill Clinton compared to 49 percent for Hillary Clinton.

As for negative opinions, 36 percent don't like Bill Clinton while 39 percent feel negatively for Hillary Clinton.

Our colleague Don Frederick at Top of the Ticket the rest of the story including how the public likes the candidates for the White House here.

by Katie Fretland

This just in from ABC News. At a Capitol Hill Club breakfast today, former Bush senior aide Karl Rove called Sen. Barack Obama "cooly arrogant."

"Even if you never met him, you know this guy," Rove said, Christianne Klein reports.

"He's the guy at the country club with the beautiful date, holding a martini and a cigarette that stands against the wall and makes snide comments about everyone who passes by."

Rove also said he was heading to the White House for a chat with the president, Klein reports.

To read more, visit Political Punch, ABC News' political blog.

by Katie Fretland

The governor of Florida, who pundits have mentioned as a potential running mate for John McCain on the presidential ticket, talks about the veepstakes, tanning (or lack therof) and love in a new interview with The New York Times magazine.

Thanks to Scott Maxwell at the Orlando Sentinel for drawing our attention to the article in his blog Taking Names.

(Scott points out the snazzy photograph of Republican Gov. Charlie Crist looking like a male magazine model.)

Here is a look at the Q&A with Deborah Solomon:

by Mark Silva

Sen. Barack Obama drove Ethel Kennedy's golf cart last night from the hilltop to the main house at Hickory Hill in McClean, Va., where supporters contributed $28,500 per person to a party fundraiser. And Obama fielded a few questions.

A golden retriever frolicked in the front yard of the Kennedy homestead, guests arrived by Lincoln Town Car, by Lexus and by Subaru (with one Hillary '08 bumper sticker spotted on a Subaru. A duo of pre-teen Kennedy cousins carted a large cardboard cutout image of Obama from the poolhouse and carried it to the main house for the cocktail "meet and greet.'' A discussion of Miley Cyrus ensued.

Max Kennedy, offering a lively toast, said the event would produce "more money ever raised for any candidate in the history of this household."

He said that his mother -- widow of the senator and former attorney general who lost his life running for president -- Robert F. Kennedy, had told her son at the 2004 Democratic National Convention: "The man who just spoke is going to be president of the United States, and he is going to change this country.'' That would be Obama.

Noting that most of the people in the room under 40 had never had a chance to vote for "anyone but a Bush or Clinton for president of the United States,'' he said, wrily: "There is nothing that ticks me off more in politics than someone trying to get by on the basis of their family name."

Telling tales of growing up at Hickory Hill, he spoke of meeting John Lennon, Coretta Scott King, Amy Carter and every serious candidate for president as a child there; and said that Obama was the candidate he had always sought. "This is the kind of candidate that I've been waiting for my entire life," Max Kennedy said.

"Max's been making me blush,'' Obama said, taking the mic at close to 8:30 pm EDT. "As you wander through the house, you see American history on display,'' he said of the RFK family homestead. "It's so casually woven.'' One can see "all the inner workings of an American family and an American life....you sometimes forget how extraordinary it is, and what an extraordinary family it is.

by Mark Silva

The commander-in-chief stopped in at his wake.

But "The Boss'' sang at his memorial service.

Or at least the image and music of Bruce Springsteen were piped into the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts for the remembrance of Tim Russert, longtime host of Meet the Press and Washington bureau chief for NBC News, who passed away last week at the age of 58.

The long weekend of tributes to a revered newsman is finished. But, thanks to MSNBC, the anthem played by the working-man's working man remains with us.

A young Russert had helped arrange a concert for a young Springsteen at the Cleveland college where the newsman was educated. He remained a lifelong fan of Springsteen and Roy Orbison.Tom Brokaw, the retired NBC news anchor, joined Luke Russert, son of the newsman, for a suprise guest appearance by satellite at Russert's memorial service at the Kennedy Center on Wednesday.

How many times do we get to play Springsteen in The Swamp? We only wish it hadn't taken an occasion such as this.

by Mark Silva

Sooner or later, Washington catches wind of what the rest of the country has been facing -- though in this case it's not flooding, but rather torrential rains that gripped the Capitol and the suburbs of Washington, D.C., for a time this afternoon.

Tornadoes have claimed fatalities in the area in recent weeks.

And tomorrow morning, following his return from an eight-day tour of Europe, President Bush will get a briefing on Midwest flooding in the Roosevelt Room of the White House.

The forecast calls for clearing skies here.

Workers at the Eisenhower Executive Building, on the White House campus, sit outside, Friday, June 13, 2008, after losing power because of a major power outage in downtown Washington. (AP Photo/Ron Edmonds)

by Frank James

(Updated at 10:05 am: The electrical power is returning to buildings and traffic lights in downtown Washington. Looks like this problem may happily come to an early end.)

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The nation's capital, which many people believe to be the heart of darkness as it is, has been plunged into darkness because of a downtown power outage.

Actually, it's a partly sunny day here so even though many lights are off in downtown Washington, D.C., it's not exactly dark.

And it's only part of the downtown area. The Capitol building appears to be unaffected -- so far though the White House is said to be operating on emergency power. Here's a story from the city's all-news radio station, WTOP.

Still, across downtown, tourists, office workers and the like are in hotels and office buildings without power, meaning no elevators or air conditioning. Traffic lights and normal power at Metro subway stations are out so the escalators and fare-care machines are out.

The only good news is that PEPCO, the power company that serves Washington D.C. and its Maryland suburbs, has its headquarters right in the area hit by the blackout so this problem definitely has the attention of officials there.

by Matthew Hay Brown

So it turns out that Cuban cigars are only second on the list of contraband seized most often by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers.

Topping the chart? Candy.

Toy-filled chocolate eggs made by the Italian confectioners Kinder and Caffarel lead the rankings released today by the Baltimore field office of the Department of Homeland Security agency, which oversees airports and seaports from Northern Virginia to Southern New Jersey.

Also making the list: Counterfeit handbags, watches and clothing; the hallucination-provoking and tourist-inebriating liquor absinthe; and Hell notes, which are burned in Chinese ancestor veneration but may closely resemble U.S. currency.

Also: Drugs.

As the summer travel season approaches, Customs and Border Protection is promoting its Know Before You Go web site.

"We know that travelers plan extensively for international vacations, and we're just asking that they take that one last step and know what they can and can't bring into the United States," said Michael Lovejoy, director of the Baltimore office. "I'd hate to see anyone unnecessarily lose their hard-earned money by purchasing items inadmissible to the U.S., especially in today's economic environment."

CPB's list of the 10 most-seized inadmissible items follows.

by Andrew Zajac

People from Washington go to the beach to get away from the city's hot air, both meteorological and political.

One of the preferred destinations is Ocean City, Maryland, where the mayor, Richard Meehan recently had some fun with the public's increased awareness of global warming.

Meehan filmed a promotional spot inviting tourists to book their vacations "before the ocean evaporates" -- something he says it's expected to do in a billion years.

Check out Meehan's 1950s civil defense-style pitch here and above.

Andrew Zajac

The booze highlight of this campaign season was supposed to have been Hillary Clinton's Crown Royal and a beer in Crown Point, Indiana in April.

But the clear spirits people -- the young, upscale demographic in this bottle battle -- aren't conceding the election to the boat gas crowd.

Svedka, a mid-brow Swedish vodka seeking to "put the party back in party politics" has offered Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John McCain a free supply of the product between now and November 4.

Svedka made the offer in a full-page ad (above) in Monday's NYT wrapped around a thank-you from "Svedka_Grl" to Clinton for "making this election so exciting."

It's all part of Svedka's "Put a Fembot in the White House" promotion, which is more fully explained...Uh, never mind.

With that mechanical dominatrix look -- Astro Boy meets Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS -- Svedka_Grl makes for a risque marketing campaign.

Probably shouldn't hold our breaths waiting for the campaigns' responses to her generous offer. Though "Swedish vodka" would make for an interesting entry under in-kind contributions on the candidates' expense reports.

by Frank James

President Bush was the Jayhawk-in-chief, at least for a few minutes in the White House Rose Garden today, as he welcomed the NCAA Division 1 champion University of Kansas basketball team.

The president even said "Rock chalk, Jayhawk," like he knew what it meant. And speaking Texan, he said: "They come to wave the wheat."

Among the Kansas luminaries Bush acknowledged who were on hand to help celebrate was former Sen. Bob Dole. Before he enlisted to serve in World War II, Dole played basketball for the legendary Kansas coach Phog Allen, whose name graces the fieldhouse the Jayhawks call home.

Danny Manning, a KU assistant coach and former Kansas and NBA star, got a special mention from the president:

Most of the players on this team have little or no memory of the last time Kansas won a national title, which would be 1988. As a matter of fact, I'm sure some of the players weren't even born yet. It's really hard to envision when you're an old guy like me and Roberts. (Laughter.) The 1988 team became known as "Danny and the Miracles." And Danny Manning, welcome back to the White House. (Applause.)

by John Crewdson

Introducing an occasional Swamp feature in which we attempt the vital but thankless task of keeping track of government's efforts to avoid admitting it has made a mistake by classifying the screw-up as a "lesson learned"--as though the government was an enormous school which pays civil servants to learn to do the jobs they are already supposed to know how to do.

One of the most remarkable things about the federal government is its ability to call something by other than its true name. The CIA's "termination with extreme prejudice" is a personal favorite, followed closely by "lessons learned."

A classic example of hiding behind "lessons learned" occurred early last year, when the late-night broadcaster, Charlie Rose, and President Reagan's chief of staff, Ken Duberstein, were discussing President Bush's announcement that he planned to "surge" up to 30,000 more troops into Iraq.

"I think it was important that we didn't see any bravado tonight," Duberstein said. "I think he tried very hard to take responsibility, to say, 'I've learned some lessons,' or 'We have learned some lessons,' but I didn't quite hear the whole nine yards of it."

"What might he have said?" Rose asked.

"Look, I made some mistakes," Duberstein replied.

by John Crewdson

Dick Agnew, a retired Army major, was hunting for a parking place at Dallas Ft. Worth International Airport when something stopped him cold.

Agnew had just passed a car bearing a rare Legion of Valor license plate, an honor Texas reserves for its most exalted military heroes.

"I know everybody's car," said Agnew, the Legion's commander for north Texas who received the Distinguished Service Cross in Korea after killing an enemy sentry in hand-to-hand combat despite a broken ankle. "Nobody in our organization has a maroon 2001 Chevy."

Agnew also recalled spotting a paper cutout of the Navy Cross, the Navy's second-highest decoration for bravery after the Medal of Honor, taped to the inside of the rear window. With a little detective work, he determined that the car belonged to a screener for the Transportation Security Administration assigned to DFW airport.

Further checking showed the man wasn't a Legion member, did not hold the Navy Cross and had no right to be sporting the Legion's license plates.

In the view of many veterans and others, unauthorized use of the Legion's plates amounts to a slur against actual medal recipients, including some among the nearly 4,000 U.S. soldiers killed and the more than 30,000 wounded in Iraq.

As the bogus Legion members may soon find out, such deceptions entail not only an insult, but a crime. A little-known federal statute imposes criminal penalties on those convicted of falsely claiming to have been awarded a medal of valor.

See the rest of the story in today's Tribune:

by Mark Silva

Jenna Bush, the first First Twin to be married, is settling into Baltimore with husband Henry Hager Jr.

So our intrepid partners at the Baltimore Sun have been busy interviewing men and women on the street, attempting to assess the impact that the president's newly-wed daughter will have on the city of Baltimore - or perhaps the effect the city will have on her.

"Jenna Bush will be loved in Baltimore, and she will love Baltimore,'' one woman says.

"People who haven't seen it as a viable place will see it as more viable because she is here,'' says another.

"Great restaurants, great night life,'' says a man dining out on Federal Hill.

"I wouldn't know her if I seen her,'' says a candy shop owner. "She'll have to introduce herself.''

by Whitney Blair Wyckoff

To investigate rumors that Washington, D.C., is a "fashion wasteland," Politico ran a story about what men are wearing in the District. The story comes in response to a blog post by a former GQ staffer-turned Washington journalist who accuses nation's capital of being a place where American flag lapel pins rein supreme and style is left at the bottom of the agenda.

Several men interviewed by Politico agreed with the GQ article, saying that while the Hill is no runway, not being on the cutting edge of the trends helps working Washingtonians fit in.

Here's the story:

So the rumors are true. According to GQ magazine, "official" Washington style is no style: Pleated pants should have their own bullet point in the congressional code of conduct and Brooks Brothers, a spot in the Smithsonian.

In the May issue of the men's style guide, former GQ editor Greg Veis reports that "what barely passed for fashionable in the Condé Nast cafeteria is cause for suspicion at the National Press Club." Veis, now an editor at The New Republic, writes that his skinny ties and tailored blazers are an anomaly in the prosaic fashion wasteland that is Washington.

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy leaves Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, Wednesday morning, May 21, 2008 with his wife, Vicki, right, and niece Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg, center right. (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia)

by Jill Zuckman

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy left Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston a few minutes after 10 a.m. today accompanied by his wife, children and niece, Caroline Kennedy. He was greeted by his two Portuguese water dogs, who were waiting outside.

A bandage on the back of his head was visible from the biopsy that was performed to reveal he has a malignant brain tumor. He got into his S.U.V., put his seat belt on and left for his home in Hyannis Port.

"Senator Kennedy has recovered remarkably quickly from his Monday procedure and therefore will be released from the hospital today ahead of schedule," said a statement from his doctors. "He will return to his home on Cape Cod while we await further test results and determine treatment plans. He's feeling well and eager to get started."

In an email to friends and family obtained by the Associated Press, Vicki Kennedy said the diagnosis had thrown them "a real curveball."

"Teddy is leading us all, as usual, with his calm approach to getting the best information possible," she wrote.

"He's also making me crazy (and making me laugh) by pushing to race in the Figawi this weekend," she wrote. The Figawi is an annual sailing race from Cape Cod to Nantucket.

by Jill Zuckman

Sen. Edward Kennedy's seizure and emergency helicopter flight from Cape Cod to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston on Saturday morning sparked an outpouring of emotion and concern for the liberal icon of the Democratic Party.

Although Kennedy remained hospitalized Saturday night, his primary care physician, Larry Ronan, said Kennedy "is not in any immediate danger."

The scene surrounding coverage of his trip to the hospital and the nervous waiting to hear about his condition recalled the many times that the Kennedy family has been in peril. Cable networks produced wall-to-wall coverage of Kennedy's condition, as well as his legendary 46-year Senate career. Each of the presidential candidates expressed admiration and offered up prayers for their colleague. And of course, Kennedy's family and friends gathered at the hospital to await word of his condition.

The senator, whose endorsement of Sen. Barack Obama's presidential candidacy in January helped to shape the Democratic primary campaign, had been maintaining a vigorous schedule. He had been scheduled to attend a charity luncheon Saturday.

Initially thought to be a stroke, Kennedy's medical scare underscored the fragile nature of the Democrats' hold on the upper chamber of Congress with just a 51-vote majority. Two other Democratic senators have faced health challenges during this session: Sen. Robert Byrd of West Virginia was recently hospitalized after an allergic reaction to an antibiotic, and Sen. Tim Johnson of South Dakota was absent for a year after suffering a brain hemorrhage.

A spokeswoman said Kennedy was "conscious, talking and joking with his family" at the hospital, where he was also watching the Red Sox game. She said he is undergoing a battery of tests at Massachusetts General to determine the cause of the seizure, which he suffered at his Hyannis Port, Mass., home, and no answers were expected for the next 48 hours.

Andrew Zajac

The Swamp occasionally hears from viewers who want to note the passing of someone of unusual distinction.

One such message came from Milwaukee attorney Peter Coffey, who called our attention to the Washington Post obituary of James Unger, a revered and remarkably successful debate coach at Georgetown and American universities.

Unger also was a consultant on presidential debates to several media outlets.

Judging from comments made to a debate listserv, Unger was a larger than life figure who commanded respect and love decades after his students graduated. You can read some of the tributes here: Unger posts.doc

Constitutional scholar Laurence Tribe offered this tribute:

"For most of us during the crucial decade and a half starting in the mid-1970s - the decade in which many of us came of age or settled into our lifetime careers - Jimmy Unger WAS debate, debate as high art, debate as ritual, debate as relentless analysis, debate as bloodless battle. He lived it, breathed it, epitomized it, enjoyed it, perfected it, practiced it, and made it a permanent part of our lives. For all of that, and for the inestimable wit and twinkling wisdom that Jimmy exuded for so many years, we will all owe him a huge and permanent debt. May his memory live forever in and through those of us who cared about him and who were lucky enough to be his friends."

A memorial service is slated for later this afternoon at a Georgetown church.

From the Associated Press:

TARPON SPRINGS, Fla. -- A woman police believe to be convicted Washington escort service operator Deborah Jeane Palfrey committed suicide, officials said Thursday.

Police said the body was found in a shed near Palfrey's mother's home Thursday morning. There was a suicide note, but police did not disclose its contents or how she killed herself.

Police did not immediately have additional comment when reached by telephone. Palfrey's attorney, Preston Burton, did not return a telephone call and e-mail message.

Palfrey was convicted April 15 by a federal jury of running a prostitution service that catered to members of Washington's political elite, including Sen. David Vitter, a Louisiana Republican.

She had denied her escort service engaged in prostitution, saying that if any of the women engaged in sex acts for money, they did so without her knowledge.

She was convicted of money laundering, using the mail for illegal purposes and racketeering. Palfrey faced a maximum of 55 years in prison and was free pending her sentencing July 24.

Prosecutors said Palfrey operated the prostitution service for 13 years.

A bronze statue of George Washington looks out along Broad St. and the New York Stock Exchange from the steps of New York's Federal Hall, where the nation's first president was sworn into office on April 30, 1789. (AP Photo/Ed Bailey, file)

by Frank James

It was 219 years ago today, April 30, 1789, that George Washington took the oath of office to become the first president of the United States, kicking off the first in a quadrennial series of ceremonies that will continue next January with the inauguration of the 44th president.

By now, a presidential inauguration is a fairly standard if lavish affair, with the grand spectacle on the west front of the U.S. Capitol, the pageantry of the inaugural parade and all the inaugural parties.

But of course when Washington took the oath of office in New York, the presidency had just been invented, so he was creating the ceremonies surrounding the office pretty much on the fly. At first, other members of the government didn't even know what they should call him. "His excellency" was suggested. They settled on "Mr. President."

He didn't get everything right. He didn't shake hands. Beneath the dignity of the head of state, he thought. He wouldn't accept the invitation of New York Gov. George Clinton to stay at his house since he evidently thought that would diminish the American presideny as well.

Wonder what he would make of of our glad-handling presidents who have no qualms about staying at the homes of their wealthy friends and supporters?

by James Oliphant

Yes, we have to go here.

Maybe you expected more of us at The Swamp. Maybe you thought a major development could occur in the continuing adventures of Eliot Spitzer's former on-call paramour, Ashley Alexandra Dupre, and we would simply let it pass unremarked, allowing this sordid tale to die the death it deserves.

You would be wrong. Besides, this is just too good.

Dupre is suing the producers behind "Girls Gone Wild" for exploiting her. After her intimate encounter with the former New York governor went public, the makers of popular DVD series, which features intoxicated, exhibitionistic young women on display for the amusement of couch-bound, socially awkward men, discovered they had rolls of footage of AAD in the can from Spring Break 2003 in Florida.

In fact, it appears Dupre spent an entire week on the Girls Gone Wild Bus.

(Photo by Kristoffer Tripplaar-Pool/Getty Images.)

by Frank James

There's been much talk in recent years of how the White House Correspondents' Association's annual dinner has perhaps outlived its usefulness.

But there's probably something to be said for an event that may be of the world's greatest flesh-and-blood mash-ups. That, for no other reason, probably argues for its continued existence. (C-Span provides video of the event.)

Where else are you likely to see Karl Rove and Will.I.Am trading pleasantries. At least, that's what it looked like they were exchanging.

(Photo by Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images.)

And what were Colin Powell and Jenny McCarthy talking about at their table?

(Photo by Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images.)

Everywhere you turn, there's someone who used to make headlines, is making them now or will be. It's one of the biggest parades of the fabulously wealthy and famous you're ever likely to see. Where else outside Hollywood can you see Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner, Martha Stewart, Marcia Cross and the Jonas Brothers gliding by your table? (I'll confess I didn't know who the Jonas Brothers were until I saw them identified in a wire-service photo.)

And will we ever forget how Pamela Anderson displayed her, umm, "assets" as she dramatically entered the dining room, a tall, younger man in a Kentucky colonel suit at her side. Weird, but it's that kind of night.

by Matthew Hay Brown

The Capitol press corps really is getting younger.

When Nancy Pelosi was installed last year as the first woman speaker of the House, she called on the children and grandchildren of her congressional colleagues to join her at the podium. Today, she observed Bring Your Child to Work Day by inviting reporters to bring their offspring to her weekly question-and-answer session.

It turned out to be an adorable way to cut the press conference short.

After taking a half-dozen questions from the grownups, Pelosi opened the floor to the kids, who grilled her with: "I need to know if you like being Speaker at all?" ("It's fabulous.") And "Who do you like: The Giants, the Orioles or the Nats?" ("I root for all of them, depending on who they play against.")

There were some substantive questions. The boy who asked about her baseball allegiances also wanted to know whether she supported statehood for Puerto Rico ("the status of Puerto Rico is up to the people of Puerto Rico"). A girl asked why the Anacostia River is still so dirty ("I'm going to go find out").

And there were, frankly, a couple of plants.

"What would you do to improve Medicaid if the moratorium that the House approved yesterday became law?" one girl read from a reporter's notepad, to general laughter.

by Whitney Blair Wyckoff

A station in Spokane, Wash., is reporting that former White House Press Secretary Tony Snow is in "satisfactory condition" after he was taken to a Spokane hospital early yesterday. Snow had to cancel a lecture he was scheduled to give later at a state university in Cheney, Wash.

Snow, a former FOX News host, signed up this week as a political commentator for CNN, where he promptly predicted that Sen. John McCain will be elected president: "I think McCain's going to win....because I think security and the economy both break his way."

For more on his sidelining in Spokane, here's the story:

Former White House Press Secretary Tony Snow is said to be in satisfactory condition at a Spokane hospital.

The nursing supervisor at Sacred Heart Medical Center said he was doing well Wednesday morning nearly 24 hours after he was brought in for medical care. Snow was admitted to Sacred Heart Tuesday morning hours before he was slated to hold a public lecture at EWU Tuesday as part of the Presidential Speaker Series.

As of early Wednesday morning, there's still no word on whether Snow is re-scheduling his appearance at Eastern.

The former Fox News commentator and press secretary for the Bush administration was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2005 and had his colon removed. Last year while serving as President Bush's press secretary, Snow underwent surgery to investigate an abdominal growth. The surgery revealed that the growth was cancerous and had metastasized.

Later, he announced that the cancer was in remission. On Monday, speaking with KXLY 920 radio host Mike Fitzsimmons, Snow said that he still his cancer, takes pills five days a week and undergoes chemotherapy every three weeks, a regimen he described as "not all that rough."

Pop star Shakira parts the crowd on Capitol Hill. Photos by Paul J. Richards/AFP/Getty Images.

by Frank James

It's not everday that you have the opportunity to put pictures of pop star Shakira into a political and policy blog.

But she was in Washington Tuesday to raise awareness for her favorite issue, universal education, the effort to provide millions of children around the globe who are now denied even a basic education the chance at one. She's a spokesperson for the Campaign for Global Education.

A very worthy goal, indeed. But let's face it, that's not why the House hearing room was packed yesterday with gawkers. It was all about Shakira whose hips weren't lying on Capitol Hill.

Former Clinton Administration official Gene Sperling's eyes don't lie. Photo by Paul J. Richards/AFP/Getty Images.

Andrew Zajac

Communion just concluded at the papal Mass at Nationals stadium and no sign of the Roman Curia protocol police though there was plenty for them to do.

Within the last few years, various Vatican edicts imposed slight changes in rules governing the actions of priests and laity around the altar.

One of the changes required that communicants bow before receiving the host.

As the General Instruction of the Roman Missal (2003) p. 48, item 160, puts it, "when receiving Holy Communion, the communicant bows his or her head before the Sacrament as a gesture of reverence..."

This morning, some bowed and some didn't.

Either word of this requirement hasn't gotten out or this is simply another opportunity for stylistic picking and choosing that a billion-member, heavily bureaucratized, global, 2,000 year-old religions affords.

Obama supporter and Catholic Mary Williams,Washington lawyer, did some multi-tasking in the crowd outside the stadium during the mass.

by Jesse Hamilton

Tens of thousands of people in Washington have put aside their politics for a few hours to gather in the makeshift, open-air cathedral of Nationals Park, to get a little closer to the executive branch of the Catholic Church.

Pope Benedict XVI raced along South Capitol Street in his motorcade, papal and U.S. flags flying from the hoods of its limousines, entering the stadium on time at 9:23 a.m. EDT. The people lining the street were disappointed with its high speed, having waited to spot the pope, some of them for hours. They had also hoped to see the famed Pope-Mobile, but the vehicle was already inside the stadium, awaiting the pope's lap around the interior.

Among the Catholics and the curious on the streets, politics -- the city's chief industry -- was still apparent. Mary Williams, a local lawyer, waved two things: a papal pennant and an Obama campaign sign. She thinks that Benedict and Sen. Barack Obama carry similar messages of hope.

"I'm doing double duty," said Williams, who said she attends the Catholic church next to the stadium on South Capitol Street. "I'm hoping for an endorsement from the pope for Obama."

Pope Benedict XVI was greeted by President Bush today at Andrews Air Force Base, a unique honor for a visiting head of state. (AP Photo by Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

by Mark Silva

President Bush and Pope Benedict XVI will have a lot to talk about during their private meeting in the Oval Office tomorrow, following a welcoming ceremony at the White House.

But don't count on them talking too much about the war in Iraq, the White House says.

Reminded that the Pope, last year in his Easter message, had said, "Nothing positive comes from Iraq,'' the White House was asked how Bush might address the subject.

"Well, they have a relationship that is based on trust and they are able to have frank conversations'' White House Press Secretary Dana Perino said today. "I will say that while Iraq has come up in the past when the President has talked to the Pope, as I understand it, they're not prolonged conversations about it. Obviously there was a difference of opinion back in 2003 and beyond, in subsequent years.

"But now I think that there is an understanding that with the strategy that's working in Iraq right now, the most important thing we can do is help to solidify the situation, root it into freedom and democracy so that people of religious... faith who are minorities in their countries can practice freely and be free from persecution.

"That is something that they share,'' she said. "I expect them to touch on that a little bit.''

So it's a matter of agreeing to disagree and moving on? "I don't think it will dominate the conversation in any way,'' Perino said. "I really don't think that the president is planning to spend a lot of time talking about the issues of Iraq with the Pope.''

by James Oliphant

A jury today found Deborah Jeane Palfrey, who had been dubbed the "D.C. madam" by the media, guilty of running a prostitution ring here in the nation's capital.

She had been charged with money laundering and racketeering. Palfrey, 52, had said that her escorts dealt in fantasy, not sex, and if sex-for-money occurred, it was without her knowledge.

“When a man agrees to pay $250 for 90 minutes with a woman, what do most men expect in that time?” federal prosecutor Daniel Butler said during closing arguments Monday. “In that context, it’s pretty clear. Most men want sex.”

The trial was largely an exercise in unmet expectations. Although three clients and a dozen escorts testified, little new was detailed in operation of the ring. And its highest-profile clients were never called to testify or perhaps never made public at all.

First and foremost was Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) who last summer publicly admitted to patronizing the ring. Vitter's lawyers promised a fight if he were called to testify. He wasn't.

Palfrey and her lawyers at one point vowed to sell the information in her client files to pay for her defense. But that never happened either. Maybe for her appeal?

The Associated Press contributed to this report. Photo of Jeane Palfrey after a hearing in federal court in Washington on April 30. Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

by Matthew Hay Brown

From the moment Shepherd One touches down this afternoon at Andrews Air Force Base, Pope Benedict XVI will be afforded all the protection due a man who is both a head of state -- Vatican City -- and leader of the world's largest church.

Airspace will be restricted, waterways blockaded and streets shut down for the pontiff, who is making the first papal visit to the United States since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 -- and his first trip anywhere since al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden accused him of leading a "new Crusade" against Muslims.

Officials are reluctant to discuss security plans, but according to a story in today's Baltimore Sun, they include multiple layers of protection: From the plainclothes Swiss Guards, who accompany the pope at all times; to the Secret Service, responsible for protecting foreign dignitaries in the United States; to the police departments of Washington and New York, long experienced in crowd control during high-level visits.

"Generally speaking, I can say we're working closely with the Vatican and the Archdiocese of Washington and the Archdiocese of New York and all of our state and federal partners," Secret Service spokesman Ed Donovan said.

Sen. David Vitter, R-La., with wife Wendy, at a July 16, 2007 news conference. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

by James Oliphant

The case against the alleged "D.C. Madam" went to the jury Monday without the testimony of perhaps her best-known client, Sen. David Vitter.

Federal prosecutors say Deborah Jeane Palfrey ran a prostitution ring in the nation's capital for 13 years. She claimed that the escorts dealt in fantasy, not sex.

But last summer, Vitter, a Republican from Louisiana, admitted to patronizing the ring in a press conference now more famous for the pained expression worn by his wife, Wendy, who looked as if she wanted to toss Vitter out an airlock. (No Silda Spitzer stoicism for her.) All Vitter would say is that he committed a "serious sin." He hasn't publicly addressed the matter since.

Palfrey's lawyers had threatened to rip open her "black book" and call the biggest names in it to testify in her defense. And prosecutors called the witness stand "the hottest seat" in D.C.

Florida Marlins' Hanley Ramirez is safe stealing second as Washington Nationals second baseman Ronnie Belliard leaps for the ball in the third inning Thursday night. AP photo by Nick Wass.

by Andrew Zajac

Want to take your family of four to the new Washington Nationals ballpark?

Bring about $400.

That's roughly the tab for an evening at the park if you want good seats and a modest sampling of the amenities.

Yeah, you could do it on the cheap. The Nats have set aside the extreme back end of two sections at the far end of the upper deck in left field for $5 seating, but Google Earth would provide more detail than you'd get from eyeballing the activity on the field and your kids would hate you.

The Swamp went to the game last night and here's what we found.

Andrew Zajac

Washington has quietly gone ga-ga over its National Hockey League Capitals', who came from nowhere to make the playoffs, thanks to a coaching change at Thanksgiving and emergence of young superstar Alex Ovechkin as one of the two or three best players in the league.

Understand that mass hysteria visits here only when the NFL Redskins are in the hunt. Everything else -- baseball, the NBA and hockey occupies a niche.

For the moment, the Caps corner is shakin', some unlikely elements of the local music scene climbing on the bandwagon.

Metal rapper Pummeler's offers this (G-rated) take on Ovechkin:
(don't be) fooled cuz he's a Russian
(it's) your body he'll be crushin
(it's your) tears that will be flowing
(and your) blood that will be gushin

For the unrated version, set to music, click here

This morning's Washington Post had this survey of Caps-mania among DC musicians.

What's interesting about this frenzy is that Washington's hockey roots are relatively shallow. The Caps' Verizon Center was half-empty for much of the season and participatory ice sports, to the extent they exist around here, involve either cubes clinking in a glass or figure skating.

The Newseum, a 250,000-square-foot museum of news, in Washington on Wednesday Feb. 6, 2008. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Andrew Zajac

Yet another museum opens in Washington this week, this one the second edition of the Newseum journalism museum which outgrew earlier quarters in northern Virginia and found a lavish new home on Constitution Avenue next to the Canadian Embassy.

Considering the grave ailments afflicting journalism, especially newspapers, the sheer scale, splendor and cost of the Newseum -- it's a $439 million glass and steel behemoth -- might leave some observers wondering if it's offering the modern equivalent of a wonderful concert on the deck of the Titanic.

The driving force behind Newseum is Al Neuharth, the former CEO of Gannett Co., who as much as anyone got Wall Street used to the idea that newspapers can and should regularly produce 20 to 30 percent profit margins.

Yoked to those kind of earnings expectations, publicly traded newspaper chains, including Tribune Co., had little room to maneuver when the Internet achieved commercial viability and began leeching away revenues.

Andrew Zajac

D.C. region baseball fans still bask in the afterglow of the Washington Nationals opening night Sunday in their brand new $611-million, taxpayer-financed home on the Anacostia River.

What wasn't there to like, unless you were an Atlanta fan?

President Bush threw out the first pitch. The place was packed with politico-media glitterati. The home team beat the Braves on a walk-off homer by Ryan Zimmerman, the Nats' marquee player.

Too bad Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.. pictured at the right, was not around. If he were, the swells in the luxury boxes, particularly those connected to the Lerner family, which owns the Nats, likely would have poured Veuve Clicquot down his gullet.

Why Holmes?

by Mark Silva

There may be only one thing indisputable about the season-opening game of the Washington Nationals in their home stadium last night: They beat the Atlanta Braves 3-2.

But on the question of President Bush's (high) ceremonial opening pitch for the inaugural game at National Park, there seems to be much dispute.

Not on the ball itself -- a good long throw from the rubber.

But on the roar of the crowd (no smell of grease-paint) -- more boos or cheers?

A certain partisan Web-site says more boos. The pool reporter (from a Texas newspaper) who covered the president's pitch says more cheers.

Here's the video: What's your call, ump?

Exiled Tibetan Buddhist monks held one minute of silence during a candlelit vigil in Dharmsala, India, today.The Dalai Lama, Tibetans' exiled spiritual leader, lives in India along with tens of thousands of Tibetans. (AP Photo by Ashwini Bhatia)

by Mark Silva

Tibetans and friends of Tibetans are marching today in Washington, with a rally starting in the park across the street from the White House, calling on President Bush to skip the opening ceremony for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing this summer.

Bush, however, has left for a weeklong tour of Europe, including a NATO summit and stops in Ukraine and a Russian resort city for a meeting with Vladimir Putin.

And he plans to attend that Olympic Games ceremony.

Following the rally in Lafayette Park, protesters are marching to the Chinese Embassy to demand a dialogue with the Dalai Lama.

The rally was organized by the Capital Area Tibetan Association and the International Campaign for Tibet, protesting the Chinese government’s crackdown in Tibet .

"The whole world is watching China’s response,'' the group says, "and world leaders have come forward to support the Tibetan people in this time of crisis.''

President Bush delivered the ceremonial first pitch at the season opener of the Washington Nationals. Photo by Saul Loeb / AFP / Getty Images

by Mark Silva

More cheers than boos were heard at National Park tonight when President Bush tossed the first ceremonial pitch for the season opener of the Washington Nationals, playing host to the Braves, at the new home park of the Washington club.

After both the Braves and Nationals were introduced on the field and Denyce Graves sang the National Anthem, the two teams cleared the field. Nationals Manager Manny Acta, third baseman Ryan Zimmerman and owner Ted Lerner came back on. Then Bush emerged from the Nationals' dugout to throw the first pitch.

He wore a red Nationals jacket and dark slacks.

“It seemed there were more cheers than boos, but not by much,’’ the pool reporter reported tonight. The president “walked quickly to the mound and almost immediately, with a high delivery, threw a high fastball that would have been a ball to anyone other than Yao Ming.

“Acta rose to catch it, manager and president quickly shook hands and Bush was waving to the crowd as he walked back into the dugout. The crowd reaction after the pitch was decidedly mixed.

“Bush, back in the dugout, gave the ball to team President Stan Kasten and went back up the tunnel. Bush smiled throughout, despite the boos. Bush was watching the start of the game from the owner’s box and would offer some ESPN commentary during the third inning.

With thanks to Jason Embry of the Austin American-Statesman, on pool duty with the president tonight at National Park.

President Bush threw the first pitch during the St. Louis Cardinals’ season opener against the Milwaukee Brewers at Busch Stadium in St. Louis in April 2004. White House photo by Eric Draper

by Mark Silva

On the mound Sunday night for the season-opener of the Washington Nationals in their inaugural game in their new home stadium: George W. Bush.

The president, onetime managing partner of the Texas Rangers, will toss the first ceremonial pitch at National Park when the Nationals host the Braves for a night game.

After three years of play at the old Robert F. Kennedy Stadium, the Nationals are moving into the newly erected ball palace near the Navy Yard, a modern stadium of high-definition video boards and high expectations for a still-young team.

The Nationals will stage a demonstration game with the Orioles on Saturday, but for the official season-opener Sunday at 8:10 pm EDT, Bush will break the evening air over home plate.

Bush, some might say, has pitched less than a perfect game as president, but there's nothing like a president to toss the first pitch.

And Pope Benedict XVI will have the run of the field in mid-April, holding a mass at National Park, following a welcoming at the White House, during his visit to the United States.

With all these blessings on their new diamond planned, MLB.com asked Nationals President Stan Kasten if the Nationals can "finish over .500 this year?''

"I never predict wins because it's silly in our business,'' Kasten said. "You don't know about injuries. You don't know about other teams. Let's face it -- at least the top three teams in our division got much better in the offseason, too. All I know is, we have gotten better and the progress we are making has been significant, and we are definitely on the right track.''

by Mark Silva

There are a lot of loud-mouths in Washington, but none with the large-mouths of the trophy fish that Alton Jones and Judy Wong have caught.

Jones, an angler from Waco, Texas, who won the 2008 Bassmaster Classic – and $500,000 – and Wong, an angler from Many, La., who won the Women’s Bassmaster tour and $60,000 in prizes (How is that for angler gender-equity?), arrived at the Oval Office this morning for some recognition by the angler-in-chief.

“I've got the fishing champs of this year,’’ President Bush said at the White House reception for the Bassmaters.

“And I thought it was important to welcome these champs here to the White House so that -- you know, to encourage people to fish,’’ the president said. “There's nothing better than fishing.''

(President Bush and Bassmaster champs Alton Jones and Judy Wong in the Oval Office today. Photo by Ron Edmonds / AP)

by Mark Silva

There are the best of times, and the worst of times, for Washington lobbyists.

Their lobbying revenue for the past year is likely to approach $2.9 billion --OK, that's only about one percent of the amount of the federal budget -- and that's just the part that must be disclosed under federal law, note the authors of a National Journal article about Washington's K Street crowd.

Yet, for all the money they've made, lobbyists and their firms are now targeted as never before,Peter H. Stone and Bara Vaida write in the National Journal's cover story.

They are still recovering from the scandals that sent former lobbyist Jack Abramoff and former Reps. Bob Ney, an Ohio Republican, and Randy (Duke) Cunningham, a Republican from California, to prison for their roles in fraud and corruption cases, the authors note.

"And last year, Congress passed tough reforms that cracked down on many of K Street's most hallowed practices,'' they write. "Gone are the days when lobbyists could buy meals and gifts for lawmakers and their staffers and could finance entertainment, corporate jets, and junkets...

"As if that were not enough, the lobbying class -- long derided outside the Beltway as the scourge of Washington -- is a convenient punching bag in the presidential campaign,'' they write. "After winning the Wisconsin primary on February 19, Sen. Barack Obama, (D-Ill.), declared in a victory speech: 'Washington has become a place where good ideas go to die... because lobbyists crush them with their money and influence.'

"Obama has refused campaign donations from registered lobbyists, although the relatives of federally registered lobbyists, state lobbyists, and people who work for lobbying firms (but aren't registered as lobbyists) have donated money to his campaign. Moreover, lobbyists are serving in the Obama campaign as policy advisers and other key players.''

See the report about the plight of K Street in the National Journal.

by Whitney Blair Wyckoff

The $5 bill just got a makeover.

This morning Federal Reserve branches began delivering newly designed $5 bills to commercial banks. The most noticeable alteration? The $5 bills have a light purple tinge surrounding the portrait of Abraham Lincoln.

But the changes weren’t only cosmetic. The design is supposed to be more difficult for counterfeiters to duplicate. It features two watermarks on either side of the portrait and a vertical security thread that glows blue under ultraviolet light.

"The redesigned $5 bill's enhanced security features help ensure we stay ahead of counterfeiters and protect your hard-earned money," said Fed official Michael Lambert.

Lambert spent the first new $5 bill at the President Lincoln’s Cottage gift shop in Washington, D.C., on a book of the former president’s speeches.

by Mark Silva

Mike McConnell, director of national intelligence and veteran of the eavesdropping business, opens with a joke from his days behind the cloak.

"Now this is... true,'' the DNI says. "I was in the signals intelligence business where you listen to the people talk and so on. This is true. It’s an actual recording.

"There’s a party talking to a ship at sea that says, “Ship at sea, please divert your course 15 degrees to the south to avoid a collision.”

"Now the response was, “Recommend you divert your course 15 degrees to the north to avoid a collision.”

"The first party says, “Sorry, sir, but you will have to divert your course 15 degrees to the south to avoid a collision.”

"The answering party says, “This is the captain of a United States naval ship. I say again, divert your course.”

"The first party says, “Pardon me sir, you must divert your course.”

"Now the American ship says, “This is an American aircraft carrier, the second largest ship in the United States fleet. We are accompanied by three destroyers, three cruisers, numerous support vessels. I demand that you change your course 15 degrees north. I say again, that is 1-5 degrees north or counter-measures will be taken. Do you understand?”

"The response was, “Dear Captain, the next move is your call. This is a Canadian lighthouse.”

All of this is prologue to a history of American surveillance and the current debate over eavesdropping on domestic calls and e-mail traffic with suspected terrorists abroad.

"The point of my story is, always know who you’re talking to,'' McConnell said, in an on-the-record talk Wednesday at The Johns Hopkins University's Foreign Affairs Symposium.

(Photo of McConnell by Charles Dharapak / AP)

by Frank James

If you haven't already, check out Mark Silva's excellent post from the wee hours about last night's Gridiron dinner (I really don't know when this guy sleeps.)

Just a few things I wanted to add.

One of the goals of the Gridiron Club's annual dinner and roast is to "singe but never burn."

Former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan was definitely singed last night. After acknowledging his presence among all the grandees and workaday journalists in the ballroom, club member Judy Woodruff, the television journalist, quipped of the still fit and vigorous 80 year old economist: "He's in his subprime." Ouch. Very deft line to fillip the man many people blame for encouraging the irrational exuberance that led to the current real estate crash and credit meltdown.

From where I was seated, I could occasionally see Karl Rove. At one point he appeared to be scrolling through his Blackberry. He had the dyspeptic look of a parent going over his kid's cellphone bill. It didn't hit me at the time, but there's a good chance he was reading about Denny Hastert's formerly reliably Republican congressional seat being handily won by Democrat Bill Foster. That's burning, not singeing, you smell.

As Mark wrote, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison told a withering Sen. Larry Craig joke at the end of her monologue, then promptly sat down. The reaction of the people I was sitting near was a collective: "Wow, that was a harsh note to end on." I guess the idea was to leave the audience laughing -- and gasping.

(Sorry about the shaky and grainy nature of the video. It's particularly difficult to keep a camera steady while one's swaying to and fro to Auld Lang Syne.)

The president and governors then, at their first meeting, in 1908.

by Matthew Hay Brown

In 1908, President Theodore Roosevelt convened a meeting of the nation’s governors to discuss ways to safeguard the nation’s natural resources, thus establishing the National Governors Association. During the festivities, the 39 governors joined with Roosevelt cabinet secretaries and Supereme Court justices for a group picture at the White House.

At the 100th annual meeting of the association, President Bush and the governors have recreated the photograph -- and the differences between the two groups are apparent.

It isn’t just the relative paucity of facial hair among today’s chief executives. The governors gathered in Washington include eight women, a Hispanic raised in Mexico City and a former bodybuilder and action movie hero from Austria.

At that first meeting in 1908, Arizona and New Mexico were years away from attaining statehood, and Alaska and Hawaii decades. Now the association includes the governors of American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Marianas Islands, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Some things, however, haven’t changed: The governors still have conservation on their minds. Among the items on the agenda today was a meeting on the "role of the states in advancing a clean energy future for America."

The governors and president now, outside the White House today. Photos courtesy of the National Governors Association

by Mark Silva

The White House has opened the week with some harsh words for critics accusing the president of "scare tactics'' in his press for new terrorist surveillance legislation, with the Bush administration insisting that congressional inaction has left Americans vulnerable.

"There is an old rhetorical tactic in Washington: you repeat something often enough, regardless of whether it’s true, and hope people will start to believe it,'' White House Press Secretary Dana Perino said in a written statement issued today. "This has been the preferred tactic of many Democrats involved in the FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act( debate, and the Democratic chairmen of the House and Senate Intelligence and Judiciary committees employ it again in an op-ed published today in the Washington Post.''

Chairmen Jay Rockefeller, Patrick Leahy, Silvestre Reyes and John Conyers write in the piece published by the Post today: "Unfortunately, instead of working with Congress to achieve the best policies to keep our country safe, once again President Bush has resorted to scare tactics and political games.

"In November, the House passed legislation to give U.S. intelligence agencies strong tools to intercept terrorist communications that transit the United States,'' the committee chairmen write. "Almost two weeks ago, the Senate passed similar legislation. The Senate bill also contains a provision to grant retroactive legal immunity to telecommunications companies that assisted the executive branch in conducting surveillance programs after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

"While the four of us may have our differences on what language a final bill should contain, we agree on several points,'' they write.

"First, our country did not "go dark" on Feb. 16 when the Protect America Act (PAA) expired. Despite President Bush's overheated rhetoric on this issue, the government's orders under that act will last until at least August. These orders could cover every known terrorist group and foreign target. No surveillance stopped. If a new member of a known group, a new phone number or a new e-mail address is identified, U.S. intelligence can add it to the existing orders, and surveillance can begin immediately.''

The legendary pitcher, Roger Clemens, right, with his accuser, ex-trainer Brian McNamee. Photo by Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images

Andrew Zajac

How loopy was Wednesday's House Oversight Committee hearing on Roger Clemens' alleged steroid use?

Consider this:

The previous week Attorney General Michael Mukasey wandered over to the Hill for a House Judiciary Committee hearing which, among other things, touched on violent crime, gangs, civil rights, national security, domestic wiretapping, waterboarding, border security, the Freedom of Information Act, whistleblowers and drugs.

Nobody complained about being rushed, but the whole thing was over in about four hours.

Attorney General Michael Mukasey. Photo by Alex Wong / Getty Images

Good morning from the Swamp.

Today, the New England Patriots are no longer undefeated, and President Bush will roll out a proposed new, $3-trillion-plus federal budget for 2009 -- something Democrats aren't likely to take too seriously as they prepare their own plans for spending as Bush prepares to leave office after this year's end.

by Matthew Hay Brown, updated

Shortly before meeting today on a stimulus package to bolster the faltering economy, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Republican Leader John Boehner made brief statements to reporters.

As the press conference was breaking up, Boehner took the opportunity to direct what his spokesman says was a good-natured jest toward Democratic Leader Steny Hoyer (and not Pelosi, as an earlier version of this post indicated).

We'll just run the transcript (courtesy of the Federal Document Clearing House):

PELOSI: Good afternoon. Thank you all for coming. You came in to listen in on our session here.

I'm very pleased to welcome the Republican leadership of the House to the speaker's office so that we can have a discussion of how we proceed in a bipartisan way on many fronts; particularly right now to put together a stimulus package that, again, has common ground, bipartisan support, one that we can work with the White House on that would be timely, targeted and temporary and that would make a difference immediately in the lives of the American people.

Mr. Leader?

BOEHNER: Madam Speaker, thank you for the invitation, and we're certainly glad to be here.

It's clear that middle-class families in America are facing a squeeze. Their incomes aren't rising, except the cost of the health insurance is going up, the cost of food is going up, cost of energy is going up.

And with a crisis underway in the housing market, I think it's appropriate that Congress respond, and I'm hopeful that we can come together in a bipartisan way to address the needs of the American people.

PELOSI: Thank you all very much.

Thank you, Mr. Leader.

BOEHNER: As soon as they put those cameras away, I'm going to flip you the bird.

(LAUGHTER)

(Look closely and you can see the ghostly outline of the Washington Monument through the fog.)

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Have questions about the results of last night's Iowa caucuses, what's next in the race for the White House or anything related to Election 2008? E-mail them to us and we'll answer as many as possible during our live video chat scheduled for 12:30 pm central time today.

by Mark Silva

First Sen. Larry Craig, the seasoned Republican from Idaho, walked into a Minneapolis airport men's room and tapped his foot a few too many times for his own good. The next thing Craig knew, he was resigning his seat in the Senate. The next thing we knew, he wasn't.

It's been that kind of year, here in the Swamp.

Then Ron Paul, the little-known Republican from Texas and Internet wonder of the presidential election campaign, was raising millions of dollars without even trying. The next thing we heard: Paul apparently couldn't get a seat at a Fox News forum for Republican candidates near the eve of the New Hampshire presidential primary elections.

It's been that kind of year, here.

Sen. Barack Obama started the year with an audacious speech before thousands filling a wintry Springfield, Ill., square, and spent much of the year as an also-ran among Democrats in the early polling for the presidential camapign. Now Obama stands a decent chance of winning his party's caucuses in the premier event of the presidential contest, this week's Iowa caucuses.

Been that kind of year.

And just the other day, nearly 250,000 "page views'' were recorded here at the Swamp during one day's traffic alone -- thanks largely to a posting about someone whom few outside of Arksansas had ever heard about before the start of this long year: Former Gov. Mike Huckabee, the Baptist minister who has made one desperate candidate of fellow Republican Mitt Romney lately.

It's been 47 years since a candidate such as Romney, who is a Mormon, felt compelled to explain his faith before an audience in Texas. John Kennedy last did it in 1960.

That kind of year.

by Frank James

by Mark Silva

"Merry Christmas," said Vice President Dick Cheney and wife Lynne, stationed by a white-lighted tree in a parlor of the mansion on the grounds of the U.S. Naval Observatory which serves as the official residence of the second family.

They had filled a huge party tent on the grounds of the hilltop observatory in northwest Washington with an eclectic - OK, about as eclectic as crowds get in Washington - crowd of holiday guests: Power-brokers, former power-brokers and media celebrities.

Some of the other guys who started the war in Iraq were there: Donald Rumsfeld, the former secretary of defense who resigned after the "thumpin'" which the Republicans suffered in the last congressional elections: Paul Wolfowitz, the former deputy defense secretary whose reign as president of the World Bank was cut short by the deal he cut for a girlffriend who worked at the bank (Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is making Wolfowitz chairman of the International Security Advisory Board, an appointment that the White House wasn't ready to comment about this morning); and others.

It wasn't only the Neo-Cons who came out last night. It was the plain Old-Cons (as in Conservatives) as well: Newt Gingrich, the former speaker of the House from Georgia who had given a campaign for president some thought this year, but then thought better of the idea; Retiring Sen. Trett Lott of Mississippi, whose career has not been the same since a certain birthday party; and others.

by Mark Silva

Ethics can be puzzling at times.

That's why the folks at the U.S. Office of Government Ethics have produced some crossword puzzles for government employees to test their knowlege of government ethics.

Quick, here's a tough one: "You can't use your public office for private........''

"You can't use __________ information to further your own private interest or that of another,'' one clue to the crossword puzzle on "misuse of position'' suggests. "Generally, you can't use your government title or position to _______ any product, enterprise, or service.

"Generally, you can’t use your position, title, or ___________ associated with your public office to imply that your agency sanctions your outside activities,'' it continues. "You can't use government property, including the services of __________, for unauthorized purposes.''

The crossword puzzle on gift-giving and acceptance poses these questions: "Accepting gifts too ________, even when permitted under the gift exceptions, is a bad idea'' and "When the rules do not permit you to accept a gift, you cannot tell the donor to give the gift to your _________ instead.''

And here's a real puzzler: "A cup of this is not a gift.''

Give the puzzles a try, you may have a bright career in government. Coffee, anyone?

by William Neikirk

Much of the political discussion about Social Security these days concerns how it might be rescued from insolvency. Rarely do you hear that the government's popular retirement program should be expanded.

But in some circles, particularly among those who call themselves progressives (or liberal, if you will), there is increasing talk about enlarging the Social Security program because of perceived inequities in tax-deferred retirement savings like 401(k) plans and individual retirement accounts (IRAs).

One such program was outlined Tuesday by Teresa Ghilarducci, a Notre Dame economics professor for the past 25 years, at an event sponsored by the Economic Policy Institute, a Washington think tank. Like many others, she is concerned that the political discussion today is focused on cutting Social Security.

by Mark Silva

Quick: Were more members of Congress born in Cleveland or in Baltimore (A)?

How many were born in Chicago? (B)

How many brothers and sisters are serving in Congress together? (C)

How many senators are the children of senators? (D)

Which state delivered the highest percentage vote for President Bush in 2000? (E)

Which delivered the lowest percentage for Bush in 2000? (F)

This and more is packed between the covers of the American Almanac of Politics, which has released it 2008 edition.

The people at National Journal Group who publish this Bible of the political world, with portraits of every congressional district and state and people who represent them, their history and their political proclivities in presidential and other elections are celebrating the release with a little trivia. See the answers to the above questions below.

And read on, here in the Swamp, for more fun facts, courtesy of the Journal:

A: Cleveland 8, Baltimore 7

B: 10

C: 4 pairs of siblings from Florida, Michigan, California and Colorado, read on

D: 5

E: Wyoming

F: Rhode Island

In between the Dalai Lama and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.): actor Richard Gere, a player in the tableaux of ceremonies for the awarding of a Congressional Gold Medal. Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images

by Gabrielle Russon

The Dalai Lama received the Congressional Gold Medal, the nation’s highest civilian honor, at the Capitol today.

Politicians bestowed their praises. “He is a one-man warrior for peace,” said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. “He is a one-man warrior for spirituality.”

“Today, we honor him as a universal symbol of peace and tolerance, a shepherd for the faithful,” President Bush said.

“Thank you, your holiness, for being so inspiring,” said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

But in between those kind words and the Dalai Lama’s public address, there were a few light-hearted moments. The Tibetan spiritual leader walked to the podium as thousands on the Capitol grounds waited for his first words. He stopped and took a long pause, looking into the sun.

“Wait a minute,” the Dalai Lama said. He returned to his seat momentarily and came back wearing a red visor.

After that, he spoke through a translator on how nonviolence and dialogue are the best solutions to solving conflicts. Still, with a sense of humor, he plugged his upcoming article in the Washington Post.

“Read that!” he told the crowds, his final words. “Thank you!”

The Dalai Lama with President Bush, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi Sen. Robert Byrd during a ceremony 17 October 2007 in the Capitol (Tim Sloan/AFP/Getty Images)

by Frank James

After rhetorically slapping the Democratic Congress around this morning during his press conference for allegedly being a bunch of do-nothing navel gazers, President Bush was up on Capitol Hill this afternoon for Congress's award of the Congressional Gold Medal to the Dalai Lama.

The ceremony was a chance for Democrats and Republicans to declare a brief ceasefire in order to honor a man who represents the aspirations of the Tibetan people for autonomy from the Chinese government as well as the highest aspirations of human kind for spiritual peace.

The Dalai Lama, after all, says things like "The more we care for the happiness of others, the greater our own sense of well-being becomes" and "Cultivating a close, warm-hearted feeling for others automatically puts the mind at ease." That definitely appeals to the better angels of people, even in Washington.

Of course, while the ceremony had a calming effect on the normally tempestuous relations between the president and Congress it had just the opposite result on the Chinese government, roiling Chinese officials who see the supression of Tibet as an internal affair the U.S. has no right to interfere in.

by Don Frederick

At a marathon gala in Washington Saturday night, a packed ballroom reveled in the successes of a long list of Italian-Americans.

A three-tiered head table of luminaries that looked out upon the black-tie gathering included Supreme Court Justices Antonin Scalia and Samuel Alito. One of those honored at the banquet was Nancy Pelosi, who as Speaker of the House is second in succession to the presidency. Other honorees included William Novelli, head of the influential AARP, and famed film director Martin Scorese.

Judged by the crowd's reaction, however, the evening's favorite was Rudy Giuliani, who already has made history as the first Italian-American to mount a sustained presidential candidacy and hopes to achieve another milestone by moving into the White House in about 15 months.

Not all that much has been made of the precedent-setting nature of Giuliani's campaign, as we have noted before. But it clearly was on the minds of this audience, which greeted him with loud applause and shouts of approval -- first when he was introduced at the dinner's start and later when he took the podium to recieve an award for public service.

The event was sponsored by the non-partisan National Italian-American Foundation, and a buoyant Giuliani responded with some non-political -- and frequently humorous -- remarks.

He made a point of mentioning that he came from Brooklyn. Responding to the predictable claps sparked by the comment, he cracked: "That's a cheap applause line anywhere in the world."

Andrew Larochelle presents flag to grandfather Marcel as father Paul looks on. Credit: Skip Peterson/AP Photo.

by Matthew Hay Brown

Lesson learned: The next time a 17-year-old Eagle Scout wants a flag flown over the Capitol to honor his grandather’s dedication to God, country and family, it will be fine by Stephen T. Ayres.

Ayres is acting architect of the Capitol, the official responsible for maintaining the tradition of flying the Stars and Stripes for members of the public. Any American may ask, through his or her representatives in Congress, that the flag be flown in honor of a person or event. After the big day, it is mailed, slightly used, with a certificate of authenticity, to the person who requested it.

It was Ayres’ office that was responsible for the disappointment of Andrew Larochelle. The 17-year-old Eagle Scout from Dayton, Ohio, had asked that Old Glory be flown last Sept. 11 in honor of his grandfather, veteran Marcel Larochelle, and his dedication to and love of the aforementioned trinity.

But when the flag arrived, Larochelle found that his sentiments had been edited: The certificate issued by Ayres’ office read that the flag had flown in honor of his grandfather’s dedication and love of country and family only.

Ayres cited a four-year-old rule that barred political or religious statements from the certificates.

That drew protests from Rep. Michael Turner, Larochelle’s congressman. The Ohio Republican gathered the signatures of more than 160 members of Congress for a letter of complaint to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and introduced legislation to reverse the policy.

"They are attempting to take God from the Pledge of Allegiance and now the architect is attempting to remove God from the certificates that come with flags flown over the Capitol," Turner said. "The word ‘God’ is carved into the walls of both chambers of Congress. The architect is the custodian of the Capitol and currently maintains several religious symbols in the building. If permitted, removing ‘God’ from Capitol flag ceremonies will be the precedent for removing ‘God’ from the Capitol, and this cannot be permitted."

by Mark Silva

The folks over at U.S. News and World Report may have a reputation for seriousness.

But there's still room for some humor over there in Washington Whispers, a staple of the magazine since 1933. Their "bobble-head' portrayals of the presidential campaign debates are part of that fun.

Here is the latest bobble-head: Fred -- the debates "were getting a little boring without me'' -- Thompson. See the bobbling heads here.

by William Neikirk

Staffers at the Senate Press Gallery have been noticing heavy usage on one of their printers in recent weeks and set out to find out why. (The gallery, if you do not know, is the place where Capitol Hill reporters congregate to report and write the news).

It was suspected that cleaning crews or others who come into the gallery after hours had been using the printer (and the computer to which it was attached). And so a quiet investigation was launched, and one staffer discovered a suspicious file in the computer and printed it out.

Eureka.

The printer spewed page after page from the Daily Racing Form, showing entries at Laurel Park in Maryland. No one knows who did this, and whether it was someone from the cleaning crew or a reporter staying late at night.

"Needless to say, the access code has been changed," said the gallery's deputy, Joan McKinney. Also, there will be a sign on the computer declaring it and the printer for gallery use only.

Good morning. Here are some events of interest for Monday, Sept 24, 2007, as reported by the Associated Press Daybook.

PRESIDENT BUSH

Highlights:

10:05 a.m. Makes a Statement on the Budget. EEOB Room 350, The White House.

4 p.m. Meets with the President of the Palestinian Authority and the Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority. The Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, New York, New York.

5:05 p.m. Meets with the Quartet Representative. The Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, New York, New York. Closed press.

7:30 p.m. Participates in a Leaders Dinner on Climate Change. United Nations Headquarters, New York, New York.

CONGRESS

3 p.m. ENERGY AND NATURAL RESOURCES — Full Committee. Hearing on the scientific assessments of global climate change on wildfire activity in the U.S. Ann Bartuska, deputy chief for research and development, Forest Service; Susan Conrad, national program leader, Fire Ecology Research, Forest Service; Thomas Swetnam, director, Laboratory of Tree Ring Research, University of Arizona; John Helms, UCal-Berkeley.

Location: Room 366, Dirksen

Alan Greenspan from June 2006. Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images.

by Mark Silva

Alan Greenspan, retired Federal Reserve chairman, says he never has smoked even a cigarette, but "can spot the smell of marijuana at 50 yards.''

And an economics correspondent who has interviewed Greenspan says he is taken with the ability of the economist who ran the Federal Reserve for 19 years to gauge the health of the nation's economy by the sales of men's underwear.

In an interview with Greenspan on NPR News All Things Considered that aired Wednesday, Greenspan remarked on his sense of smell:

Host Robert Siegel asked him: “I think you're one of the most senior high-ranking people whom I've ever read in their memoir talking about the people who were smoking pot when they were young, your fellow band member back in 1940- -- whatver this was. You're living out there in the jazz age world, you were not drawn to that?”

"I never even smoked cigarettes,'' Greenspan replied, 'but I'll tell you this, to this day I can spot the smell of marijuana at 50 yards.”

by Andrew Malcolm

According to Lisa DePaulo, Donald Rumsfeld does not do regret.

In a lengthy, ruminating and revealing article that doesn't read long in GQ magazine, DePaulo explores all kinds of subjects with the controversial former Defense secretary who's writing a book, reading a ton, planning a new foundation, living a new life, wearing jeans, guarding against coyotes and nursing a nearly blind dog.

The parts of the article that will make the news involve his relationship with President Bush. Do you miss him? "Um, no." Still like him? "I do." Are you still close to Colin Powell? "No! We're not close. Never were." And the vice president? "I still see Cheney."

He believes Bush will be vindicated someday, much as Harry Truman and Ronald Reagan became, over time, appreciated for their strengths and national security accomplishments. He's not got much time for the "eastern media" that deals in political caricatures day in and day out.

He says he doesn't read newspapers very much, but he carries an armload onto the plane.

by Mark Silva

This morning, on a gray, drizzly day in Washington, President Bush left at 7:22 am EDT for a block-long ride to St. John’s Episcopal Church across the square from the White House for a morning service in remembrance of the victims of the terrorism of Sept. 11, 2001.

Army Staff Sgt Matthew J. Carmichael played a mournful tune on an alto saxophone during the service. Vice President Dick Cheney and wife Lynne joined the president, as did Josh Bolten, the president’s chief of staff, Steve Hadley, the national security adviser, and Tony Snow, the press secretary.

The opening “collect’’ was offered by the Rev. Cathy Quinn: "Almighty God, who has taught us that in times of sorrow and violence you are there among us, we thank you for your grace to sustain us during the difficult times of pain and loss so many of us have experienced. We thank you for the comfort you have given us in our loss.’’

The Rev. Dr. Luis Leon, rector of St. John's and an animated sermonizer, spoke of the differences in major religions but noted that it is “above my pay grade" to sort them out. The dilemma with 9/11, he said, is "to remember a day that was so difficult and yet at the same time to move on with our lives."

Gen. David Petraeus waited to testify on Capitol Hill, where the microphones weren't working at the start. AP Photo by Susan Walsh

by Mark Silva

After months of anticipation for the testimony of Army Gen. David Petraeus on Capitol Hill, and more than a half-hour of sonorous speeches in preface from leaders of the two House committees hearing his testimony today, the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq opened with a defeaning silence.

The microphones weren’t working at the tables of either Petraeus or U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker, helplessly facing the House committees with a slow shaking of their heads.

House Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton (D-Mo.) warned at the start of the hearing that the acoustics in this Capitol hearing room were poor. But he had no idea that the House staff had failed to complete one of the basic checklists for any bar-room rock band – a sound check.

The voices of protesters in the hearing room were heard at the start – and Skelton had them evicted from the room – but the voices of Petraeus and Crocker had to hold while a recess was called to retool the sound system --- “Testing…. Testing….’’

by Frank James

Some things transcend politics, ideology and international boundaries. A ringing, radiant voice like Luciano Pavarotti's was one such.

The White House issued a statement today following the news that one of the greatest operatic tenors of all time, with a personality matching his talent, had succumbed to pancreatic cancer.

THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
(Sydney, Australia)
________________________________________________________________

# # #

Ralph Neas. People for the American Way photo

by Frank James

Ralph Neas, president of the liberal People for the American Way, or PFAW, is stepping down from that position, the organization has announced.

For years, Neas was at the tip of the spear of liberal efforts in Washington to keep conservatives off the Supreme Court and lower federal courts.

During the Bush years, those efforts have met with repeated disappointment, as President Bush has succeeded in moving the high court to right by naming Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito to the high court and other staunch conservatives to the federal appellate courts.

It was not always this way for Neas. In 1987, Neas led the successful effort to block President Ronald Reagan's nomination of Robert Bork to the Supreme Court, a victory that was seen as so seminal that thereafter, whenever liberals went after the conservative nominees by questioning their professional writings or judicial opinions, it became known as "borking" a candidate.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE August 17, 2007

NEAS ANNOUNCES DECISION TO STEP DOWN AS ‘PEOPLE FOR’ PRESIDENT

Longtime leader will continue as President Emeritus as search for successor begins

Ralph G. Neas, President and CEO of People For the American Way and People For the American Way Foundation, announced today that he will be stepping down from his office. He is assuming a new position, President Emeritus, and will continue to assist PFAW and PFAWF in their development and policy work. Chief Operating Officer Nick Ucci will oversee day-to-day management during the search for a new president.

by Frank James

The U.S. Mint had an event today at the Jefferson Memorial to celebrate the issuance of its newest presidential dollar coin featuring Thomas Jefferson, third president of the U.S. The event included Thomas Jefferson "interpreters" walking around in britches quizzing tourists on their knowledge of presidential history.

So far as we know, there were no Sally Hemings interpreters quizzing tourists on presidential hypocrisy.

Anyway, the idea of the new coins is that Americans will have their curiosities so fired by the new presidential coins that they will correct their abysmally low knowledge of presidential history.

That most Americans don't know the correct order of service of the first few presidents appears to particularly trouble the folks at the U.S. Mint.

An agency press release reported on the results of a poll it commissioned:

A survey commissioned by the United States Mint has found that most Americans don't know that Thomas Jefferson was the Nation's third President and a shockingly small number could name the first four Presidents in order.

Thomas Jefferson interpreter Rob Warren, attends a news conference at the Thomas Jefferson Memorial in Washington, Wednesday, Aug. 15, 2007 where the U.S. Mint released the presidential $1 coin featuring Jefferson, Wednesday, Aug. 15, 2007. AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari

by Mark Silva

CAMP DAVID, Md. -- In the downtime between high diplomacy and low-profile waiting for the president to come out and talk to the press, the talk on the sidelines sometimes turns to football.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates, former president of Texas A & M University, was asked how the Texas team will fare this year. "They better play well,'' Gates told reporters with a laugh.

How about Stanford, a reporter asked Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, a former provost at Stanford University -- with another wag quickly adding, ''Do they play football?''

"Last year they didn't,'' Rice quipped. "They did when I was provost. They played well.''

That was it for the season's handicapping, however. Presidents Bush and Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan stepped out from the woods along the edge of a wide lawn where the presidential helicopter parks at the Camp David mountain retreat -- backdrop for a press conference.

And the football chatter went silent.

by Mark Silva

A brief tour through some of the top headlines this morning on a rainy day in the nation's capital, with President Bush playing host to Afghan President Hamid Karzai up at Camp David this morning, where the Swamp will fill you in on the outcome of their meeting there.

ARSENAL LOST: The Pentagon has lost track of about 190,000 AK-47 assault rifles and pistols handed to Iraqi security forces in 2004 and 2005, according to a new government report, the Washington Post reports today. The loss has raised concern that some of those weapons have fallen into the hands of insurgents fighting U.S. forces.

The Government Accountability Office says U.S. military officials do not know what happened to 30 percent of the weapons the United States distributed to Iraqi forces from 2004 through early this year as part of an effort to train and equip the troops, the Post reports.

The United States has spent $19.2 billion trying to develop Iraqi security forces since 2003, the GAO said, including at least $2.8 billion to buy and deliver equipment. But the GAO said weapons distribution was haphazard and rushed and failed to follow established procedures, particularly from 2004 to 2005, when security training was led by Gen. David Petraeus, who now commands all U.S. forces in Iraq.

WIRETAP TWO: President Bush has signed into law legislation broadly expanding the government’s authority to eavesdrop on the international telephone calls and e-mail messages of American citizens without warrants.

Congressional aides and others familiar with the law say its impact reaches far beyond the small fixes that administration officials had said were needed to gather information about foreign terrorists, according to a report in the New York Times today.

The new law for the first time provides a legal framework for much of the surveillance without warrants that was being conducted in secret by the National Security Agency and outside the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. "This more or less legalizes the N.S.A. program,” said Kate Martin, director of the Center for National Security Studies in Washington, told the Times.