Pummeling Mitt Romney on His 1040s

(Courtesy One Million Strong Against Mitt Romney in 2012)

The ex-pugilist from Nevada backs the presumed GOP presidential pick into a corner.

All based on unsubstantiated gossip. (Are you angling for our job, Sen. Harry Reid?)

Senate Bids Adieu With Bipartisan Barbecue

Democratic Sens. Bob Casey and Amy Klobuchar attend the pre-recess barbecue today. (Courtesy Senate Photo Studio)

Political hacks love to equate recess with the stink of jet fumes.

Today, the Senate office buildings were flooded with the intoxicating scents of hickory-smoked swine and sugary baked beans.

Sens. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.), Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.), Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) banded together to co-host a bipartisan barbecue fest for the entire body. An Isakson aide said Sam’s BBQ 1, an award-winning establishment from Marietta, Ga., provided a spread of pulled pork, beef brisket, baby back ribs, baked beans, mac and cheese, sweet tea and pecan pie for the 70 to 80 Senators who mingled and munched to their hearts’ content.

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Bashing Berg ‘The North Dakota Way’

Rep. Rick Berg (R-N.D.) and his advisers most likely expected the week-old “Again” ad to conjure Rockwellian nostalgia for neighborly intimacy and small-town straight talk.

How quaint.

Instead, the Republican challenging Democrat Heidi Heitkamp for the seat being vacated by soon-to-be-chartless budget wonk Sen. Kent Conrad (D) has been ridiculed and berated by Web surfers who found the campaign spot laughable.

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FamousDC Gets a Makeover

Look who’s all grown up and fancy.

The blog — and HOH’s best happy hour buddy – FamousDC.com has a new look and a brand new editor.

The Capitol Hill staple was launched in late-2007 by former staffers Amos Snead and Josh Shultz. The site’s been a big success ever since.

“We’ve had a couple million folks stop by the site over the past several years,” said Snead, now a principal at Story Partners public relations firm. “[S]o we knew it was time to update the design.”

The new site was designed by the NJI Media team where Shultz is a partner. Full story

Schumer’s Brewhaha

Many eclectic Brooklyn coffee shops serve hot coffee in only one size. Maybe that explains the trouble Sen. Charles Schumer had with his order Wednesday morning.

The New York Democrat was spotted having a mild disagreement with a barista at the Cups and Co. coffee shop in the Russell Senate Office Building about the size of his brew.
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Doctors to FLOTUS: Let’s Redo Lunch

A nonprofit group pushing for healthier lunch offerings wants first lady Michelle Obama to drop the calisthenics routine and focus on cutting the fat from kids’ diets.

The FLOTUS-led “Let’s Move!” campaign was launched in February 2010. The program aims to stem the tide of childhood obesity by promoting physical activity and smarter eating by everyone.

The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine is taking “Let’s Move!” to task in a series of new local ads that went up Wednesday — they’re posted on both sides of the Union Station Metro mezzanine — denouncing all the exercise talk in lieu of actual action on the nutrition front.
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Who Are You Callin’ ‘Chikin?’

The Senate Republican Steering Committee ate it at a policy luncheon. Rep. Alan Nunnelee (R-Miss.) circulated a “Dear Colleague” letter in support of it. Presidential candidate and Quran-burning pastor Terry Jones trekked to the Magnolia Mall in South Carolina to stand in solidarity with it.

Conservative “chikin” lovers came together Wednesday for Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day, a nationwide event started by former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R) after the controversy that’s enveloped the fast-food chain in recent weeks.
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Congressional Softball Hacked

Hackers are such a bunch of stinkers, always sticking their key strokes where they don’t belong.

In the past, nasty hackers has taken on the governments, big banks and the major email providers. Now they are taking their grumpiness out on Congress … or at least the House Softball League.

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What Are You Doing for Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day?

Members and staff: It’s Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day. What are you doing about it, besides maybe tweeting? Will you be heading to the fried chicken giant’s Crystal City, Va., storefront or looking for the D.C. food truck? Or are you starting to get burned out, aware that recess is around the corner and there’s a tax reform vote or whatever?

Need motivation to show your support? Not to worry. Presidential candidate and Quran-burning pastor Terry Jones is on your side.

Jones, who announced his candidacy for the highest elected office in America in November, will show his support for Chick-fil-A President and CEO Dan Cathy’s anti-same-sex-marriage stance today in the best way he knows how: eating at a Chick-fil-A location in the Magnolia Mall in Florence, S.C. Full story

Overheard on the Hill

“I try to be very calm about things in life, generally, especially things here on the floor. But I can’t remain very calm about this. Mr. President, I have 16 grandchildren. … I want my granddaughters to be treated so that if they want to go get some, some contraceptive device in school — New York University, [University of California] Berkeley, I’m bragging about that they got in those schools — they should have the ability to do that.”

Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on the Senate floor Tuesday.

Another Day, Another Typo

If it’s a new week, it’s another typo with the House.

Amid Speaker John Boehner’s statement on the abrupt announcement that home-state colleague and “close friend” Rep. Steven LaTourette (R-Ohio) was not going to seek re-election, was this:
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D’Souza’s DIY Obama Doc

Predicting the future is a dicey proposition. But conservative author-turned-documentarian Dinesh D’Souza is confident he’s dug deep enough into President Barack Obama’s background to speculate what could happen in his second term.

“The first time we did not know what change would look like. Now we do,” he posits in “2016: Obama’s America,” a cautionary tale predicated on scouring 44’s upbringing for clues toward his political endgame.
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Someone Lost Underwear in Press Gallery

The Senate Daily Press Gallery was rocked Tuesday morning when a pair of baby blue panties were found under the defibrillator. By noon, however, they had disappeared without fanfare.

What do these lost drawers say about the state of the gallery? Was it a simple mistake? Or did someone plant the pants? Answers are still forthcoming. There are no suspects in the case.

HOH consulted the leading team of lost-underwear pundits.* And though these undergarment experts were nowhere near the press gallery, they have several theories.
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Happy Birthday, Lavagna

Lavagna Ristorante Italiano, located on Barracks Row, turned 1 year old Monday night. The celebration had all the ingredients of the best first birthday parties: proud parents, old friends and plenty of alcohol.

In addition to serving up free celebratory food and beverages, the bistro premiered its new locally sourced menu. Offerings came from farms in Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania.

Patrons packed in the two-story establishment, which, despite a modestly sized storefront, houses the facilities to cure its own meat, brew its own booze and process its own preserves. A pork chop smoked on the sidewalk lured passersby, converting Eighth Street into an upscale block party. Full story

Meat and Greet

GOP Sens. John Cornyn (Texas) and Chuck Grassley (Iowa) put their money where their mouths are Monday, stuffing themselves and staff with barbecue cow and pig from Hill Country BBQ in celebration of the first-ever “Meat Monday.” Full story