King of Campaign Ads

It seems Angus King, the former Maine governor currently vying for the Senate seat being vacated by retiring Republican Olympia Snowe, has come under fire for having too much fun with his campaign spots:

Now, we’re no media critics.

But HOH appreciates anyone savvy enough to satirize our favorite radioactive-breath-spewing, alien horde-bashing, environment-defending mutant lizard. Full story

When Eleanor Holmes Norton Beat the Press

Newsweek is once again coming under attack from within, with female reporters following in the footsteps of pioneering predecessors who made it possible for women to rise through the ranks of the newsroom. In 1970, then-ACLU Assistant Legal Director Eleanor Holmes Norton, who remembers the case as being about much more than byline jealousy, led those original rabble-rousers into battle.

“This ranks among the great high points because women were just emerging,” she said of the landmark sex-discrimination suit at the heart of ex-Newsweek editor Lynn Povich’s new book, “The Good Girls Revolt: How the Women of Newsweek Sued Their Bosses and Changed the Workplace.”

“For me, it was much more than a court case. It was how do women throw off any sense of intimidation. … It was suing journalism,” the D.C. Delegate tells HOH about her participation in the 1970 standoff.

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Thank You for the Cupcakes We Can’t Eat

Updated 6:51 p.m. | This is not the first time HOH has received a special package, but today it was in cupcake form.

The group Bankrupting America, which is a project of Public Notice, held a 500-cupcake giveaway today on Capitol Hill in honor of the moment the United States surpassed the $16 trillion debt mark.

“Bankrupting America’s goal is to highlight our staggering $16 trillion national debt and urge members of Congress to work together and make debt reduction a priority,” Public Notice Policy Director Lenwood Brooks said in a statement.

The group zoomed about the Capitol in its “Cupcake Joy” truck and made two stops: first to Union Station and next to Federal Center to “hand out free debt-reduction cupcakes.” On the way, the group popped by our offices to drop off our own special mini debt cakes.

America's Not-So-Sweet-16 Cupcakes from Bankrupting America (Amanda Becker/CQ Roll Call)

Sadly, being serious journalists, HOH did not allow even a crumb of this sweet attention-grabber to pass our lips, but we did skip over to Union Station to check out what was doing. Full story

Bipartisan Condolence Book Available Until Friday

The House Republican Conference, Speaker John Boehner and New Jersey Rep. Rush Holt (D) are putting aside partisanship briefly to recognize slain U.S. Ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens.

Holt started a condolence book for Stevens’ family that will make its way to the Democratic and Republican cloakrooms this week.

The Speaker’s office has helped facilitate the book making the rounds to Members of Congress.

“Members are encouraged to sign a book of condolences for the family of Ambassador Chris Stevens,” the Republican Conference wrote in an email to Members today. “The book will be located in the Republican cloakroom, and Members will be able to sign the book through tomorrow’s final voting series.

The Comity Before the Storm

Before they launched into yet-another bitterly partisan markup, the House Ways and Means Committee enjoyed a moment of levity this morning, bantering on marriages and chapeaus.

Ways and Means Chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.) kicked things off by congratulating ranking member Sander Levin (D-Mich.) on his marriage earlier this summer to Pamela Cole.

Levin, gratified, said he was happy to see the chairman, who has been battling an early and treatable case of non-Hodgkins lymphoma, in such fine form. Camp was sporting a sleek black Nike cap.

“My only hesitation is it’s not a Detroit Tigers hat,” Levin said. Full story

Switching It Up

Lawmakers of all stripes constantly tout their support for an “all of the above” domestic energy strategy, but no one has yet to propose a policy that promotes domestic fossil fuel development while simultaneously building out the various renewable sectors that can win sufficient backing.

“Switch,” a documentary set for release Friday in Washington, D.C., doesn’t offer specifics on a strategy that Congress might employ. But it does utilize original data and interviews with top officials in government and industry to make the case that every energy resource, no matter where it comes from in nature, has its pros and cons. That’s the sort of gray area lawmakers usually try to avoid, at least publicly, but what the hey.

Director Harry Lynch and Scott W. Tinker of the University of Texas take viewers on a journey around the world — from hydropower plants inside the mountains of Norway to a Gulf of Mexico deepwater drilling platform — examining the traditional methods of extracting coal and oil and juxtaposing those “foundational” energy sources with wind farms dotting rural landscapes and streams of water and sand cracking open previously untouchable underground gas reserves. Full story

Striking a Pose For Marriage Equality

Team NOH8 is back popping flash bulbs today, offering lawmakers opposed to California’s ban on same-sex marriage (Proposition 8) the opportunity to not flash their pearly whites, in solidarity with those affected by the ban.

The advocates for equality swung through town earlier this year and were joined by a handful of House Democrats who slapped the signature duct tape across their mugs. Rep. Dennis Kucinich (Ohio) was the first to face the cameras; Reps. Adam Schiff (Calif.), Earl Blumenauer (Ore.), Judy Chu (Calif.), Bill Keating (Mass.), Barbara Lee (Calif.), Jared Polis (Colo.), Jackie Speier (Calif.), Niki Tsongas (Mass.) and Lynn Woolsey (Calif.) and Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D.C.) filed through thereafter.
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Cheri Bustos Busts a Tough Shot

Democratic House candidate Cheri Bustos is a crack shot.

Bustos, the East Moline Alderwoman challenging Republican Rep. Bobby Schilling (Ill.), released a new ad this week promising all the same ol’, same ol’ that most challengers do, namely the timeless pledge that she will make Washington more “fair.”
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The Pug Loses Drink Fight

H Street Northeast bar the Pug will no longer serve a drink called “Marion Berry’s Dirty Asian Summer Punch,” after a D.C. commission called the drink’s name “racially offensive” and requested it be removed from the menu.

The drink, however misspelled, was named after Washington, D.C., Councilmember Marion Barry criticized Ward 8 Asian business owners for running “dirty shops” and later said hospitals employ too many Filipino nurses.

Tony Tomelden, owner of the Pug, said he came up with the drink to draw attention to Barry’s comments this year.
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Arithmetic! Republicans Register More Events, Democrats Charge More Money

Eventbrite, the online event coordinator and ticket broker, has crunched its numbers this week and has announced that even though Republicans are throwing more parties, Democrats are raking in more money.

According to Eventbrite, in 2012, more than 7,800 political events have been registered with its platform. Of these, just more than 3,000 were Democratic events, while the overwhelming rest were Republican.

Interestingly, even though the Republicans are leading in the actual numbers of events, at an average of $31.50, their Eventbrite ticket prices are much lower than those of their Democratic counterparts, who charge an average of $115.53 per ticket in swing states.

In swing states, the Republicans are leading the Democrats in the number of free, community-building events they are holding throughout Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, New Hampshire, Ohio, Virginia and Wisconsin.  Full story

Kevin McCarthy Boils Down 9/11

Like so many others, House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) turned to Twitter on Tuesday to reflect on the 11th anniversary of the devastating 9/11 attacks.

But rather than penning a blow-by-blow recap of where he was on that fateful morning or obsessing about the eerily similar weather, McCarthy (@GOPWhip) challenged the digerati to sum up the earth-shattering event in just three words.
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Parting Gift

Retiring Rep. Gary Ackerman received a gift so valuable last year that he couldn’t even determine its precise worth.

The New York Democrat described the only gift of $350 or more he received in 2011 on his annual financial disclosure statement as “the blessed opportunity for 30 years to pay back, in some small measure, the good things that happened to me.”
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The Big Payback

On Tuesday, the IRS awarded a $104 million whistle-blower reward to Bradley Birkenfeld, a former banker with the Swiss bank UBS.

Birkenfeld — who was released from prison in August after a two-year incarceration — provided the IRS with an unprecedented amount of information regarding the Swiss bank’s illegal offshore banking procedures.
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London Calling

London Fashion Week starts this Friday, and boy, will President Barack Obama’s campaign benefit!

The Sunlight Foundation’s “Party Time” blog reports that Vogue editor Anna Wintour, GOOP’s Gwyneth Paltrow and fashion designer/filmmaker Tom Ford will be hosting an Obama Victory Fund Dinner at the super swanky Mark’s Club in London on Sept. 19. Tickets for the event go from $15,000 to $40,000 a plate.
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2012 Campaign Has Them Dropping Like Flies

(Courtesy Someecards)

We’ve got only eight more weeks to go, folks.

So hang in there (or prepare to start over on Google+).