House Democrats recently replaced the doors to their Caucus Room in the basement of the Capitol.

The only trouble is, the new ones don't quite close.

According to an ITK tipster, there's a gap between the two wood paneled doors on each of the entries to the caucus room, which is "wide enough that anyone could see or hear in if they leaned up close."

Caucus meetings offer lawmakers the opportunity to speak frankly to each other, and they've been known to get heated. "The old doors had frosted glass on them, but you couldn't see or hear anything that people said," the tipster told ITK. "Now it's just a matter of time before someone overhears something they shouldn't."

Luckily for members of Congress (and less so, for reporters), a spokeswoman for the Architect of the Capitol's office told ITK that weather stripping has already been ordered for the doors, and will arrive next week.

Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.), who made pains to distance himself from his "Saturday Night Live" persona during his 2008 Senate run, will host a fundraiser with several fellow SNL alums in Los Angeles this weekend.

Slated to appear, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune, are Dan Aykroyd, Dana Carvey and Kevin Nealon.

A cocktail and dinner reception for big donors will be held before another, less expensive reception. The events will benefit both Franken's 2014 reelection campaign and his leadership PAC.

Franken held a fundraiser in Minneapolis recently featuring a current SNL cast member, Seth Meyers.

If you've been hankering to meet President Barack Obama, but can't afford the tickets to big fundraisers, this might be your chance.

If you sign up at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) website anytime between now and Monday, you could find yourself at a reception and dinner with President Barack Obama and Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).

Pelosi announced the raffle in a fundraising letter for the DCCC that went out on Wednesday. "Since America's progress would not be possible without Grassroots Democrats like you, I wanted to give you and a guest the opportunity to have dinner with myself and President Obama the evening of May 13th in New York City," she wrote.

The winner will meet Obama during a reception, and be allowed to bring one guest to the large DCCC fundraising dinner, although they won't be seated with the president.

According to contest rules, winners must be U.S. citizens and not registered lobbyists.

Good luck!

Some of Washington's most athletic lawmakers, staffers, and journalists hit the road Wednesday morning in the 29th annual American Council of Life Insurers Capital Challenge three mile race, but three members of Congress were fashion standouts:

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) was sporting a black Guantanamo Bay baseball cap, reminding everyone that he's a strong proponent of keeping the controversial detention facility open.

Rep. Aaron Schock (R-Ill.) also had a message to convey, albeit a less political one: His Adidias t-shirt said "Impossible is Nothing" in big letters on the front, apt words coming from the youngest member of Congress.

But the best duds of the day belonged to Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.), whose tight, sleeveless t-shirt caught the attention of his fellow runners, particulalry, on a chilly morning with temperatures in the high 40s, and where one participant observed, "most people kept their extra layers on for the race."

Also taking to the pavement were Sens. John Thune (R-S.D.), John Ensign (R-Nev.), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas), Richard Lugar (R-Ind.), and Rep. Bart Gordon (D-Tenn.).

Despite a packed field of young staffers, Gordon, Schock, and Ensign were all spotted among the leaders.

The annual road race was held at Hains Point under clear skies. Proceeds from the entry fees will benefit the Special Olympics.

This might be Jay Leno’s fourth time hosting the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, but Washington has changed since the last time he spoke, back in 2004.

President Barack Obama — who has been a guest on Leno’s “Tonight Show” — is the man to impress now.

But dinner organizers aren’t worried. White House Correspondents’ Association President Ed Chen is confident in his pick. “I just thought he’d be a good one,” Chen said. “He’s a longtime friend of the association. He’s done this gig before. The Obamas like him. He likes them, and I didn’t want somebody terribly edgy and profane. I wanted someone genuinely funny and who I thought would be appropriate as an entertainer for the president of the United States — not like some past entertainers.”

Leno might not be as controversial as past speakers Don Imus and Stephen Colbert, but he might find that even the most congenial of comedians become subject to criticism. Last year, host Wanda Sykes received generally positive praise but didn’t escape the night without falling into a couple of booby traps with jokes about the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and Rush Limbaugh’s past addiction to painkillers. (A few boos from the audience followed.)

And Leno has a recent scandal of his own to confront, as his faceoff with Conan O’Brien for the “Tonight Show” perch is still fresh on the public’s mind.

In conversations The Hill had with several comedians about how Leno should approach the job, many made the same joke: that he should hope he doesn’t get on at 10 p.m., which has proven to be a bad hour for him. (The canceling of Leno’s 10 p.m. show led to his public fight with O’Brien over “The Tonight Show.”)

After getting in a few jokes of their own, the comedy panel also advised the veteran performer on what it takes to make a Washington audience laugh, which current issues he should bring up and if he should confront his scandal headon.

Mike Larsen

Larsen spent nearly 20 years in Hollywood as a stand-up comedian and sitcom writer before becoming Rep. Jackie Speier’s (D-Calif.) communications director. He has performed on Leno’s show twice and has written for Ellen DeGeneres, Whoopi Goldberg and Drew Carey, among others. Larsen recently left Speier’s office to return to his entertainment career.

On the WHCA Dinner audience: “From my experience witnessing these correspondents’ dinners, you have to accept the fact there will be controversy, whether you try to get it or not. Everyone in Washington has a sense of humor — as long as you’re joking about the other side, and the minute it gets the least bit uncomfortable, they’ll throw you under the bus … It’s a little bit of a snake pit for comedians, but it’s also this incredible opportunity. I’ve performed at a lot of political events, and I know that no matter what I say, there will be a couple times where I get an ‘ooo.’ And the truth is you have to take that as a laugh.”

On Leno’s approach: “He’s been doing comedy longer than I think [Michigan Democratic Rep.] John Dingell’s been in Congress… His monologue every night is very topical, so I wouldn’t imagine this is that much different from his regular monologues. The possible difference is you can be a little more in the weeds. You can make a joke more specifically about [House Minority Leader] John Boehner [R-Ohio], or someone who is a little less well-known than that.”

Jamie Mcintyre

The Military.com blogger and former CNN correspondent co-won this year’s Commedia dell Media competition to find D.C.’s funniest journalist.

On following President Obama’s introductory speech: “Beware of the warm-up act. Traditionally the president does comedy at the White House dinner, and is always funny. After all, he’s got the same writers who did that boffo financial reform speech [last] week. Seriously, it’s hard to follow the president.”

On topics Leno should touch on: “[It’s] always good to be topical, and there’s nothing like a good collateralized debt obligation or credit default swap joke to get the crowd loosened up.”

Kathy Griffin

Griffin has performed in Washington several times during the past few years and was in town last month to lead a protest against the “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.

On Leno’s performance prospects: “I know Jay will do a great job. It’s in his ‘wheelhouse,’ as they say in Hollywood. Jay has performed for several presidents. He has written jokes for many political events.”

On Leno’s scandal: “He also has a special edge this year, as he was involved in a real-life television elected-office scandal of his own ... and he won! Just ask the president. Of course, I mean [NBC] President Jeff Zucker.”

Emily Goodin contributed to this article.

Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) defended her use of the word "s***tty" at a hearing examining a federal investigation into Goldman Sachs. 

McCaskill and Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), who helms the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, used the term several times while quoting from internal company e-mails. 

She took to her widely-followed Twitter, saying:

Just so Mom and Missourians know, my use of bad word in hearing today was only quoting Goldman's language in one of their internal emails.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez will create an account on the social networking site Twitter, according to media reports.

The announcement comes after the socialist Chavez compared use of the social networking sites to terrorism due to negative comments made against him on Twitter and Facebook.

"Comandante Chavez is going to open his Twitter account soon to wage the battle online," Diosdado Cabello, head of the country’s telecommunications regulator, said today on state television, according to Bloomberg. "I’m sure he’ll break records for numbers of followers."

The message appears to be a change of pace for Chavez, who was accused by the opposition of trying to block the sites because of negative sentiments being aired on them.

Now, he is poised to take his critics head-on.

Should Chavez follow through, he would become one of several world leaders who have official accounts, including U.S. President Barack Obama, who has over 3.7 million followers.

Obama ranks among the top 5 most-followed Twitter accounts in the world.

Michael J. Fox is making his return to the midterm elections.

After cutting some memorable campaign commercials for now-Sens. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) and Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) four years ago, Fox is back in a new spot for Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.).

"Arlen Specter is moving forward," Fox says. "He's won the battles to double funding for biomedical research, to find cures and to save lives.

"He's smart, tough and always moving forward."

Fox's 2006 midterm ads for Cardin and McCaskill drew plenty of attention, especially after Rush Limbaugh accused him of exaggerating the effects of his Parkinson's disease in the ads.

Specter faces Rep. Joe Sestak (D-Pa.) in the May 18 primary.

This week marks the beginning of HouseLive.gov, the lower chamber's attempt to put all of its floor proceedings online.

In addition to offering live video, much as C-SPAN already does, the newly unveiled site also includes searchable and downloadable video archives, assembled by the Office of the Clerk, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif) announced in a blog post on Monday.

Viewers can also click on specific points in a recorded debate -- when voting begins, for example -- and automatically begin streaming the proceeding right there. And for those who intend to keep close track of floor speeches and debates, HouseLive.gov will sync its updates to an RSS feed.

However, the technology is still in beta, so interested readers who navigate over to the new site right now may notice (as we just did) that it isn't exactly loading.