Washington Whispers
An Old Warhorse on the Auction Block
Wolf Blitzer will be on location January 20, but this time he won't be gathering news. His target: moolah, and lots of it. We hear that he'll be on hand in Scottsdale, Ariz., to help auction off the CNN wartime Hummer dubbed "Warrior One" at the famed Barrett-Jackson auction. The 1993 H1 is a beaut: After its Baghdad duty, it was totally redone by TV's Overhaulin' crew. The winnings will be given to Fisher House, which provides lodging to families of injured military personnel. How much will it go for? "Hopefully, lots," says a CNN spokeswoman.
Marking a Sweet Transfer of Power
Maybe it's the cold New England winters that keep political foes so cozy, but whatever you want to call it, the relationship between the top independent-Democrat and Republican on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee is sweet, indeed. So much so that when the Democrats took control, former chair Susan Collins of Maine gave new chair Joe Lieberman of Connecticut a milk chocolate gavel to mark the friendly power swap. Hers was an unusual, though not original, idea. An aide says the senator recently received a candied gavel from the Augusta, Maine, town manager and thought "it was such a great gift and great idea, that she gave it to Senator Lieberman when he took over the chair" from Collins.
MSNBC Host: Now Playing in Congress
If he didn't make so much as host of MSNBC's Countdown, Keith Olbermann might be asking some very prominent lawmakers for speechwriting fees. That's because he's becoming the go-to guy for antiwar rhetoric. And, we're told, Olbermann's show-ending "special comments" have been entered into the Congressional Record at least twice. The last time occurred this month when West Virginia Democrat Nick Rahall, wowed by Olbermann's hit on President Bush's troop surge, called to get permission to include Olbermann's comments in Rahall's own House floor speech.
'08 Reading Tip: Every Other Page
It's not just the rubber chicken platters at fundraisers and the negative ads that make running for president so tough. Declared Democrat Tom Vilsack, the ex-Iowa guv, says it's also hard to keep up with the needed reading, especially of the books supporters shove into his arms at political events. So to handle that he's testing out speed-reading techniques. Vilsack tells us that he's "collecting strategies for how you read these books." Like? "Well, there is the strategy that is articulated by one person that you read the first chapter and the last chapter. The strategy that some have articulated is you read the first sentence of each paragraph, every other page." Whichever one he settles on: "I will try to read as much as I possibly can of scholarly works that give me a sense of what people are thinking."
With Angie C. Marek
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