WEEKLY CONGRESSIONAL GOSSIP. . . Friday . . . 3/9/2007 . . . 4 pm

• A Romney adviser said: "When you start looking to Rudy's buts ... there's lots of buts" ( Politico.com).
• Apparently, Chuck Hagel promised to only serve two terms in '96 ( The O.C.).
• After Pres. Bush visits a sacred archaeological in Guatemala, Mayan priests plan to "purify" it ( AP). Also, the WH mistakenly referred to " PRESIDENT LULU" ("Washington Wire").
• Ex-Treas Sec John Snow is among those heading up Jim Gilmore's finance cmte (release).
• The DC Appeals Court says we can now (legally) own guns in the District (Express blog).

 

BY THE NUMBERS . . .

• 13-year-old Kunal Sah will represent UT for the 2nd time at the National Spelling Bee. But his parents won't be in DC to see him, because they've been deported ( Salt Lake Tribune).
• WE HEAR . . .
• "That kind of encounter is the kind of frustration this stupid war is causing across the board" -- Rep. David Obey (D-WI), explaining ( TheHill.com).
• "I may be their only conservative on air, but someone has to do it" -- upcoming CNN contributor Tom DeLay ( OpinionJournal.com).
• "It's a statistical certainty that there are a fair amount of high-profile people who use the service" -- the atty for DC Madam ( FoxNews.com).
• "I don't know how to put it, but she's pretty hot" -- GoogleCurrent's Connor Knighton, on Elizabeth Kucinich (Cleveland Plain Dealer blog).
• "Let's launch this Fokker!" -- Brian Williams blog headline (" Daily Nightly").

 

SWIZZLE STICKS

• If moving up daylight savings is causing so much confusion, just wait until 2/5.
• Perhaps most unusual, Hagel isn't on a single Sunday show.
• Apparently we've captured a terrorist near Baghdad named "al-Baghdadi." Which begs the question: who's Baghdadi?
• Have no young women gone missing because there's been Iraq news, or has there been Iraq news because no young women have gone missing?
• More importantly, Newt, are there any outstanding parking tickets?
• We asked you to title the Wilson/Plame movie. Some good ones: I Know What You Did Last Summer; Soylent Cheney; Sex, Lies, & Yellow-cake; Me, Myself and Scooter; Miserable Little Troll: the Bob Novak Story; Veep Throat; How I Framed Scooter Libby; Val & Joe's Excellent Adventure; Only One of the President's Men (Apparently); Armitage of Darkness; "Little Miss Sunshine" starring Bob Novak; So I Married a CIA Operative; Mmmm, Yellow Cake; How to Get Your Picture in Vanity Fair; Completely Pointless; Star Whores; Fatman and Hotgirl; and, The Technically Not Undercover But I Promise You She's Secret Spy that Loved Me.

 

SHOT . . .

"There are times that I have fallen short of my own standards" -- Newt Gingrich (AP, 3/8/07).

 

. . . CHASER

"There are times when one would like to hang the whole human race, and finish the farce" -- Mark Twain ("A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court," 1889).