By Julia Piscitelli, Thomas Jefferson Street blog

If Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab (the 23-year-old Nigerian who allegedly attempted to detonate a bomb on board Northwest Airlines Flight 253 on Christmas Day) was trying to gain a huge audience, al Qaeda needs a new communications strategy. Although most Americans eventually heard about the attempted bombing (probably somewhere between Christmas dinner and the third argument of the evening between cousins who only see each other once a year), it didn't get nearly the initial attention that it would normally have received. In fact, this incident has some eerie similarities to Richard Reid's attempt to detonate a shoe bomb on Dec. 22, 2001. The attacks were carried out over the holiday season when most in the mainstream press were traveling or on vacation. Another similarity was that both presidents were away from the White House. In 2001, President Bush was at Camp David when the attacks occurred. It wasn't until Bush was at his ranch in Crawford, Texas, six days later, that he finally addressed the nation regarding the incident. President Obama was with his family in Hawaii when the 2009 incident occurred. But at least he addressed the nation within three days. But that's where the similarities stop, because 2010 is an election year, folks.

By Julia Piscitelli, Thomas Jefferson Street blog

Monday is a "snow day" for the federal government in the Washington, D.C., area. The closing is a result of Saturday's blizzard that dumped a record 24 inches of snow in many parts of the area. I live here, and the U.S. Office of Personnel Management made the right decision. But it is a decision that should not be necessary. It is Monday, the snowfall was Friday night and Saturday—a weekend—and 36 hours after the snow stopped falling, 300,000 federal employees still can't get to work.

The District of Columbia and the neighboring municipalities in Virginia and Maryland are simply not prepared to handle snow, from a predicted dusting to an actual storm. Frankly, they do not handle rain well here either, but that's a different story. In my 13 years living here, I have seen the region crippled by only a few inches of snow. Why? Because the municipalities do not have nearly enough equipment to clear and salt the streets.

By Julia Piscitelli, Thomas Jefferson Street blog

Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley is now the Democratic nominee to fill the seat left vacant by the passing of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy. Many might wonder how this happened. Even registered voters in Massachusetts seemed unaware there was a campaign going on, never mind an actual Election Day. About 600,000 of the commonwealth's 4.1 million eligible voters went to the polls. In Boston, only about 17 percent voted.

Turnout during non-presidential election years is always lower than it is with presidential candidates at the top of the ticket. Now drop that number further for the sandwich year in between when Congress is not up for re-election. And drop it further when you have a special election (read: Election Day is not the first Tuesday of November). And slice it again for the primary election in December for that special election in a non-presidential, non-congressional year.

By Julia Piscitelli, Thomas Jefferson Street blog

There was a smart message in Obama's Afghanistan speech this week: Regardless of how we got here, or who got us here, this is how it is right now so let's get down to the business of facing facts, and facing reality.

By Julia Piscitelli, Thomas Jefferson Street Blog

Five reasons to give political thanks, Democrat edition.

1. RNC Chairman Michael Steele. He has been behaving like a petulant child about "getting credit" for Republican wins in the New Jersey and Virginia governor's races—throwing himself on the floor and staff out the door over it. We saw smoke coming out of his ears in his post election interview with Gov. Kaine, and in his most recent ouster of an excellent communications staffer at the RNC. Mr. Steele, when you get bad press, you think it is the press secretary's fault, and when you get good press, you think it is because you and your work are inherently interesting. Neither is true.

By Julia Piscitelli, Thomas Jefferson Street blog

Since when did responsible journalism become targeting someone? It apparently is in Sarah's world. The Associated Press put fact checkers on her book to answer numerous complaints from former McCain presidential campaign aides that the book is a work of "fiction." And it was nice of her to suggest that they should put reporters on more important stories, well, they do have more than 11 people on staff, and those other thousands and thousands are certainly handling the rest of the reporting.

Waa, waa, waa. Poor Sarah Palin.

I am sick and tired of hearing Republicans crying about how unfairly Sarah Palin is treated by the press. I'm sick and tired of hearing how she was disrespected by the picture of her in shorts on the cover of Newsweek. Frankly, I'm just sick of Sarah Palin. And that's saying a lot coming from me, someone who has been fighting for the advancement of women in politics for years. Although I disagree with her political beliefs, I respected and admired her accomplishments as an elected official, and as the vice presidential nominee for a major party.

But I lost a great deal of that respect for her on July 26, 2009. That's the day she quit her job as governor of Alaska to make millions selling books.

By Julia Piscitelli, Thomas Jefferson Street blog

If you've been watching Fox News Channel at all over the past few days you have seen a barrage of ads for tonight's airing of President Barack Obama's sit down (read: long) interview with the networks' Major Garrett.

I guess the president never heard the rumor that the White House was trying to squelch Democrats from appearing on Fox. And that's good. That alleged squeeze seemed to only cover "Democratic strategists," the catch-all term networks use for those of us with Democratic Hill, campaign, and/or non-profit backgrounds.