Bryce Harper: Washington’s Most Powerful Nevadan

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid will need to reconcile the fact that he’s no longer the most powerful Nevadan in Washington.

That honor falls to Bryce Harper, the Washington Nationals’ star outfielder and slugger. And since Harper is all of 20 years old, coming off a National League Rookie of the Year season and is a prospect for Most Valuable Player this year on a contending team, Reid will likely have to get used to it, unless the Nationals lose their minds and trade Harper.

To get an idea of how this all happened, Las Vegas sportswriter Rob Miech is popping into town to talk about his book “Phenom: The Making of Bryce Harper” at the University Club on Thursday. It should be interesting for anyone wanting to learn a little more about the dude who’s knocked Reid off his perch as the Silver State’s most popular native son in D.C.

Washington Nationals outfielder Harper, left, has quickly become the most popular Nevadan in Washington, D.C. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)

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‘Will on the Hill’ Jabs at CNN

If you’re looking to elicit laughs from an audience, make jokes about CNN’s blunder-filled coverage of the Boston Marathon bombings.

Or, at least that’s what participants in the annual “Will on the Hill” performance learned.

A bipartisan crowd of senators and representatives, as well as a few members of the Fourth Estate, performed the Shakespeare-inspired “Toil and Trouble” on Monday, which poked fun at a “National Necessary News Network” trying to fill airtime before a White House announcement, with no news to announce. Full story

Panetta’s FleishmanHillard Gig ‘Not a Massive Commitment’

Former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has rejoined the advisory board of global communications giant FleishmanHillard, but the new gig isn’t expected to be terribly taxing.

D.C. Radio Psychic Helps Launch Congressional Campaign

Who knew that 94.7 Fresh FM’s “The Tommy Show” could be the launchpad for a congressional career?

On Thursdays, the show brings on psychic Sherry Sherry to advise listeners and give them counsel. And it was on May 2 that Sherry might have provided the impetus for the next great American congressional candidate when Afghan War veteran Cole called in with a question that only Sherry could answer.

“My question is, should I run for political office?” he said.

“I see two words: Hell, yea,” she responded. Full story

Fictional Franchise: Children’s Novel Edition

In the latest edition of HOH’s Fictional Franchise, in which we examine fictional characters and the real-life people who represent them in Congress, we took a look at our favorite heroes and heroines from childhood.

And in what is probably one of the greatest thrills to be had in life, a special celebrity guest contributed to this column (via her assistant): Judy Blume.

The rules go like this: We decide where a fictional character lives and then look up who represents them in the House. (See more here.) We welcome any dispute with our assessments in the comments section below.

We must … we must … we must … start with:

Margaret Simon
“Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret,” by Judy Blume
Farbrook, N.J., Republican Rep. Leonard Lance

There is no more iconic young adult character than the pre-teen sensation that is Margaret Simon.

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Hipsters to Celebrate Derby Day on Capitol Hill

Derby days are upon us, and all of you Capitol Hill denizens won’t have to look far to take part in a derby-themed festivity.

In honor of Saturday’s Kentucky Derby, Brightest Young Things, our favorite hipster party planner, is hosting “Prancin’ – A Derby Day Party” at the Hill Center near the Eastern Market Metro. Full story

Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler Is Expecting

Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler knows what’s coming for her new kid: a lifetime of correcting people that “No, no, it’s pronounced ‘Butler.’”

That was how the Washington Republican announced on her Facebook page today that she and her husband, Dan, are “expecting a baby.” This will be the couple’s first child.

Herrera Beutler’s Evergreen State colleague, Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, was the last congresswoman to give birth while in office, in 2010. McMorris Rodgers is also the first woman to give birth twice while a member of Congress. Her first child was born in 2007.

Other congresswomen who gave birth in office? Rep. Linda T. Sánchez, D-Calif., in 2009. Then-Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin, D-S.D., in 2008, and then-Rep., now-Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., in 2008.

Bird Terrorizes Tourists, Capitol Police Officers

An officer stationed at the post confirmed that a crow has been terrorizing tourists and others from its tree across the street from the Veterans of Foreign Wars building.  

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Mini-Golf Returning to National Building Museum, With Barbecue

The National Building Museum is bringing back one of its most popular exhibits, air-conditioned mini-golf courses, from Memorial Day, May 27, to Labor Day, Sept. 2. And it’s bringing along some smoked meat and beer.

This year, the exhibit has been expanded to two nine-hole courses and will again be designed by leading architects. This year’s theme will be “Building the Future” and draws inspiration from things such as green urban planning, the reality of our office space, pinball and others. Full story

Congressional Women’s Softball Game Rosters Made Public

After months of taunts, bragging and cryptic tweets, the member and press softball teams have finally released their rosters, with lots of new blood on both sides this year.

Female Washington reporters and members meet each June in a softball game that raises money for the Young Survival Coalition, a charity that supports young women diagnosed with breast cancer.

“Each year, when practices begin, I bounce out of bed, bright and early, ready to go, and this week was no exception,” the game’s founder, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., said in a release. She went on to note that this year will be both the fifth anniversary of the game and of her own breast cancer survival.

“I cannot imagine a better way to celebrate either accomplishment than by breaking our game’s fundraising record for the Young Survival Coalition and taking the trophy back from the Bad News Babes,” she added.

To which any self-respecting Texan would say, Come and Take It.

The game this year will be June 26. Full story

Elie Wiesel’s Scolding of Clinton Was Weather-Related

One of the most famous public scoldings of a U.S. president was weather-related.

At Monday’s 20-year anniversary of the dedication of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, the museum’s founding chairman, Elie Wiesel, recounted that, like 20 years before, it was raining and he was sharing the stage with President Bill Clinton.

“Our shoes were in water,” Wiesel said, a scenario Monday’s planners avoided by having the event in a multipurpose tent that housed thousands of people in between the museum and the Tidal Basin. He also recounted that his dedication speech, which he said he had spent the entire night before refining, was illegible, because it was waterlogged from the rain. “If ever I was close to a heart attack, it was then,” Wiesel said.

President Bill Clinton, left, and Elie Wiesel at Monday’s 20-year anniversary tribute at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. (Chris Maddaloni/CQ Roll Call)

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Frelinghuysen Reunites With Old Army Buddy on the Hill

You know that friend. The one who comes into your life, maybe just briefly, but the one who gets you and accepts you almost instinctively? That friend who, even after years apart, makes it feel like no time has passed when you’re reunited?

Well, last week, after 42 years, Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen, R-N.J., was reunited with that friend, according to the American Bar Association.

Frelinghuysen and his former Army commander, Richard Leefe, met outside of the congressman’s office for the first time since serving together in Vietnam.

“We had immediate recognition,” Frelinghuysen told the ABA. “That was an emotional moment.”

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NBA’s Jason Collins Comes Out, Gives Rep. Kennedy Some of the Credit

In the May 6, 2013, issue of Sports Illustrated, NBA center Jason Collins comes out as a proud black, gay man and partially credits Rep. Joseph P. Kennedy III, D-Mass., for this decision.

“I realized I needed to go public when Joe Kennedy, my old roommate at Stanford and now a Massachusetts congressman, told me he had just marched in Boston’s 2012 Gay Pride Parade,” Collins, a former Boston Celtic now with the Washington Wizards, writes in the magazine. “I’m seldom jealous of others, but hearing what Joe had done filled me with envy.

“I was proud of him for participating but angry that as a closeted gay man I couldn’t even cheer my straight friend on as a spectator. If I’d been questioned, I would have concocted half truths. What a shame to have to lie at a celebration of pride. I want to do the right thing and not hide anymore. I want to march for tolerance, acceptance and understanding. I want to take a stand and say, ‘Me, too.’” Full story

Dick Heller Checks Out Rayburn Shooting Range, Army Guns

The man behind the Supreme Court case clearing the way for civilian gun ownership in Washington, D.C., dropped by an Army weapons display outside the Rayburn House Office Building shooting range Thursday afternoon.

In 2008, Dick Heller’s case won in District of Columbia v. Heller. On Thursday, he shot the breeze with a handful of G.I. Joes in the basement of Rayburn.

Maj. Kralyn R. Thomas discusses the M107 long-range sniper rifle with Heller. (Julie Ershadi/CQ Roll Call)

Representing a U.S. Army prototyping organization known as Program Executive Office Soldier, the soldiers had set up a weaponry display for the purpose of educating and informing congressional staffers and their bosses, they said.

PEO Soldier is dedicated to prototyping, making and fielding equipment for the U.S. Army. “PEO Soldier manages more than 450 products and programs that are a manifestation of that dedication,” according to the agency’s website.

Thomas gives Heller a better view of the sniper rifle. (Julie Ershadi/CQ Roll Call)

Nearby, the Rayburn firearms range operated by the Capitol Police was open for the day to members and staff. Visitors were allowed to shoot 10 rounds, five while wearing night-vision goggles. Afterward, they rode the elevator carrying target sheets bearing shot groups that were, shall we say, less than tight.

“What a surprise,” Heller said after leaving the basement. “There were 12 women and seven guys. That shows you the interest level of women in exploring this man’s world and/or exploring self-defense.”

Taft at the Wolff’s Door

Even presidents have to wait sometimes.

Here, Washington Nationals Racing President Taft waits outside the Library of Congress Members Room to make his appearance. Inside, broadcasting legend Bob Wolff was being feted in celebration of the library’s acquisition of his extensive audio-visual archives, including rare interviews with the likes of Jackie Robinson and Ty Cobb.

Washington Nationals Racing President Taft waits to make his appearance at a Library of Congress event feting broadcasting legend Bob Wolff. (Chris Maddaloni/CQ Roll Call)