Halloween vote for Craig

Halloween and its festivities are just a week and a half away. Right on schedule, the related Capitol Hill chatter is deafening, but Halloween 2007 is already shaping up quite a bit differently than in previous years.

This year, the question is not “What should I be?” Nay, even far beyond the Beltway, the question is quite firmly: “How do I put together my Larry Craig costume?”

Sadly, there have been few answers so far, and Internet message boards really only came up with one decent idea — “wearing a suit and a HUGE right shoe.”

But fear not, denizens of the Hill, the answers are out there. Our discussions with aides from both sides of the aisle made clear that, with a little creativity and a can-do attitude, all can wear their costumes of choice.

Here are several options that can be added to your basic suit, glasses and senator’s pin. This system will allow dozens of Larry Craigs to coexist at one party without losing their individuality.

•Sport a large sign that reads “NOT GAY”

•Carry a roll of toilet paper and keep a square taped to your shoe

•Construct a bathroom stall around you, held up by suspenders (much like a kissing booth)

•Carry a boarding pass, Minneapolis to Washington

•Attach a knife handle to your back, identified by the letters “GOP”

•Wear tap shoes

•Cling to a giant Senate seal (you can occasionally mention that you’re about to let go, but then don’t)

•Show up with a friend wearing a police badge around his neck.

House office unlikely to shake friend of MoveOn.org — ever

The Senate’s passage last month of a resolution condemning an inflammatory print advertisement purchased by liberal activist organization MoveOn.org may not have amounted to anything concrete, but it seems to have helped the office of Rep. Joe Knollenberg (R-Mich.) make a decision: They are fighting back.

MoveOn foot soldier Bruce Fealk posted a video on YouTube.com Saturday, soon after filming his latest confrontation with the congressman in a pharmacy near his Michigan home. On the video, after Knollenberg tried to joke with the protester, chief of staff and spokesman Trent Wisecup stepped in front of the camera and told Fealk to hit the road.

“You’re anti-American … you are blinded by your hatred of this country,” Wisecup said.

The frustrated staffer explained on Monday that Fealk has pursued the congressman and his staff for two years, and after trying the tactics of ignoring him and meeting with him, Wisecup is ready to try something new.

“I’m just fed up with it — I spoke back to him, and I’m glad to have done it,” he said.

Fealk, who owns a small marketing company, readily admitted that he focused his brand of protest on Knollenberg, his district office and his home for the last two years, saying that he has done so because the congressmen has not provided suitably open forums to debate the war and other issues.

If Wisecup thinks he might see the end of Fealk soon, we have some ominous news for him. Fealk told us in an e-mail that his aspirations don’t stop at amateur videos in his free time.

He is also “seeking employment in the political arena.”

Glass ceiling is a bit higher for staffers than for lawmakers

The number of female members of Congress continues to inch up as a percentage of the legislative branch of government, but perhaps in acknowledgement of who we all know really does all the work around here, one organization found good news in another statistic.

Thirty-one percent of chiefs of staff in the House of Representatives are female —23 percent are in the more tradition-obsessed Senate. Compared to the number of female lawmakers (17 percent in the House and 16 percent in the Senate) those stats are, well, less bad.

The data, compiled by the Women’s Campaign Forum, also pointed to a difference between the parties in hiring women at high levels. Thirty-seven percent of Democratic House offices have female chiefs of staff, compared to 25 percent of GOP House offices. In the Senate, Democrats lead Republicans in hiring women for the top slot, 26 percent to 20.

Stark’s office: You walked right into that one

It’s not always easy to figure out what the American public will think about a particular issue or scandal, but we know how they feel about pets.

So they must have been thrilled — thrilled — when Rep. Pete Stark (D-Calif.) issued a press release criticizing Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.), a veterinarian, for his stance on an issue related to Medicare.

“Sen. Ensign should go back to practicing medicine on animals as he was trained, not on senior citizens,” Stark said in a press release.
For Ensign’s office, it was like Christmas.

Spokesman Tory Mazzola quickly retorted in an e-mail to the Hill that just because Ensign has gotten support for his proposal “doesn’t mean you have to attack doctors that care for our puppies and kittens. I may be wrong, but I’d say veterinarians have a higher approval rating than Nancy Pelosi’s Congress,” Mazzola said.