Ins & Outs

IN: Sexagenarian senior citizen committee chairmen (apparently, 60-something is the new 30 — House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., is 69).
OUT: Octo- and nonagenarian senior citizen committee chairmen (Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., is 91; Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., is 82).

IN: Wives divorcing cheating lawmakers (former Florida Democratic Rep. Tim Mahoney’s wife filed for divorce earlier this year).
OUT: Wives standing supportively beside cheating lawmaker husbands (Silda Spitzer, the wife of New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer, stood by his side after he resigned amid reports linking him to prostitutes. Likewise, Wendy Vitter, wife of Sen. David Vitter, R-La., stood by her husband’s side in a tight-fitting leopard-print top as he admitted to visiting a prostitute.)

IN: Capitol Visitor Center
OUT: Elaborate construction hole behind the Capitol.

IN: House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio).
OUT: House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio).

IN: Rep. Joe Wilson’s (R-S.C.) wild red-and-green Scottish blazer.
OUT: Sen. Ted Stevens’s (R-Alaska) Incredible Hulk tie.

IN: Team of rivals.
OUT: Mavericks.

IN: Mustaches (such as the one worn by David Axelrod, top political adviser to President-elect Obama).
OUT: Full beards (such as the one worn by nominated Commerce Secretary Bill Richardson, which he shaved just after the announcement).

IN: Incoming House GOP Whip Eric Cantor (Va.).
OUT: House GOP Whip Roy Blunt (Mo.).

IN: Basketball.
OUT: Clearing brush, mountain biking and golf.

IN: A long-promised hypoallergenic puppy.
OUT: Barney and Miss Beasley.

IN: Pregnant unweds such as Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-Calif.) and Bristol Palin, daughter of vice presidential hopeful Sarah Palin.
OUT: Lawmakers hiding out-of-wedlock children (e.g., outgoing Rep. Vito Fossella, R-N.Y.).

IN: Senator cousins (Sens.-elect Mark Udall, D-Colo., and Tom Udall, D-N.M.).
OUT: Oft-described “smartest man in the Senate,” Sen. John Sununu (R-N.H.).

IN: Rep.-elect Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) — the son.
OUT: Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) — the father.

IN: Luke Russert.
OUT: Fox News’s Alan Colmes of “Hannity and Colmes.”

IN: Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) living in Larry King’s studio.
OUT: Michele Bachmann appearing on “Hardball.” She said she will not go on Chris Matthews’s show ever again.

IN: Lawmakers running for governor or mayor (Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas; Rep. Anthony Weiner, D-N.Y.).
OUT: Lawmakers running for president (former Sens. Barack Obama, D-Ill., and Joe Biden, D-Del.; Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., and Chris Dodd, D-Conn.; Reps. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., Ron Paul, R-Texas, and Duncan Hunter, R-Calif.).

IN: Clinton administration.
OUT: Reagan administration.

IN: House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel’s (D-N.Y.) tax problems.
OUT: Culture of Corruption.

IN: Pretending you haven’t been a lobbyist in a while.
OUT: Lobbyists’ wheeling and dealing.

IN: Smelly tourist jokes. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said last week, “In the summer because of the heat and high humidity, you could literally smell the tourists coming into the Capitol.”
OUT: Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) bathroom jokes.

IN: The Joe Biden gaffe.
OUT: Dick Cheney in hiding.

IN: Andy Samberg’s never-used impersonation of incoming White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel for “Saturday Night Live.”
OUT: Tina Fey’s impersonation of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R).

IN: Chicago pizza.
OUT: Crawford barbecue.

IN: Hanging up on President-elect Obama, as Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) did last week, thinking it was a prank phone call.
OUT: Taking phony calls, such as when Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin accepted a call from a French Canadian radio personality who claimed to be French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

IN: Sasha and Malia at Sidwell Friends.
OUT: The Bush twins at Smith Point.

IN: Sen.-elect Mark Warner (D-Va.).
OUT: Sen. John Warner (R-Va.).

IN: Ex-lawmakers doing tell-all, tearful television interviews (e.g., former GOP Florida Rep. Mark Foley, who left Congress in 2006 under a cloud of scandal after writing dirty text messages to House pages.)
OUT: Members of Congress writing books (Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Reps. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., Linda Sanchez, D-Calif., Loretta Sanchez, D-Calif., Diana DeGette, D-Colo., and others.)