Democrats say t-shirts that riff on Vice President Joe Biden's well-known take on the healthcare law are selling like hotcakes.

Organizing for America, the grassroots arm of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), are selling the shirts for $25 a piece in an effort to fundraise off Biden's slip that healthcare's passage was a "Big F****** Deal."

So far, so good, writes spokesperson Brandi Hoffine. The Democrats have sold out a significantly sized first shipment of the shirts.

"We started selling them yesterday and sold out of our initial order overnight," Hoffine wrote in an e-mail. "They are selling faster than ipads will this weekend."

The shirt commemorates a remark Biden made while introducing President Barack Obama at the signing of the healthcare reform bill last week. The vice president whispered to Obama about the signing "this is a big f****ing deal" but the comment was picked up by microphones.

The comment was taken up as a rallying cry by Democrats but was viewed scornfully by Republicans who opposed the legislation. The White House was first to tout the comment. The day Biden made the remark, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs tweeted "And yes, Mr. Vice President, you're right."

The Congressional Jewish Staffers Association (CJSA) hosted its first Passover Seder on Thursday in the Russell Senate Office Building. More than 60 current and former Capitol Hill staffers turned out for the celebratory meal, which was led by Rabbis Shmuel Herzfeld of The National Synagogue and David Rose of JDiscover.

The meal began with a traditional reading of the Haggadah, beginning with a Kadesh, or blessing, and moved through traditional steps. Pictured here are Michael Levin, of Rep. Maxine Waters' (D-Calif.) office, Shelley Rood, CJSA president and legislative assistant to Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.) Yuri Beckelman, and Tom Jones, professional staff of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. 

On the menu? In addition to the traditional Seder plate pictured below, guests enjoyed potato and broccoli kuegel, sweet potatoes, gefeltefish, tabouleh salad, carrots, and pastries for dessert, including delicious dark-chocolate-covered Matzoh.

Organizers had planned to conduct the second part of the traditional Seder service after lunch, but the demands of the congressional workday necessitated that guests return to their offices. As they left, many offered the traditional Seder goodbye, saying "Next year in Jerusalem!"

Or in this case, perhaps next year in the Hart Building.

Several members of Congress have tweeted their way through the congressional spring break.

Around 200 lawmakers are estimated to be on the popular social networking site. And most of them are writing about their work and travels in their home states.

Twitter only allows 140 characters for each tweet, which explains the lawmakers abbreviated messages.

Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) wrote he was at a "Sand dunes in Juab County" and posted this picture of himself standing in front of dune buggy with the message: "With 30-50,000+ people here this weekend this Sandbulance will be used....a lot!"

Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) played an April Fool's Day joke on his followers, tweeting: "Just realized wisdom of massive gov't hc takeover. Now supporting it. Click here for more." The link leads to an April Fool's message.

Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) told followers he'd taped an interview for Fox News Channel's "Hannity" show, writing: "Appeared today in Salt Lake with Sean Hannity on his television show. Great show. Tune in to FOXNews at 7pm or 10pm MT to watch."

Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) tweeted about her travels around Missouri, writing: "Yesterday Monett, Harrisonville, Kansas City, St Joseph.Today Jeff City, Kirksville, Columbia. Great listening sessions w/small business."

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) is also traveling and tweeting: "81peeps at Cresco. One of most vehement health reform discusions of break as to opposition."

And Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) reminded his followers of his upcoming town hall meeting: "I am looking forward to meeting with folks at Pike Road Town Hall at 4:30. Come on by!"

First Lady Michelle Obama was spotted having lunch at Zaytinya today at about noon.

An ITK spy reported that Obama dined with a unidentified friend.

The two had the entire upper floor of the popular Chinatown eatery.

A West Virginia congressional candidate got into some hot water after joking about the dating habits of an opponent’s wife.

On Friday night, at a forum of GOP primary candidates to challenge Rep. Alan Mollohan (D-W.Va.), businessman Mac Warner (R) recounted a conversation he had with fellow candidate Tim Stark's wife, in which (according to Warner) she jokingly said the crowd at the event would be on her husband’s side.
 
“I’m approaching the facility," Warner recounted, "and Mary tells me that I might as well just turn around and get in my truck and go on back down the road.

I said, ‘Why’s that?’ And she said, ‘Mac, I’ve dated about half the men in the room. This is my territory.’”
 
The line got plenty of laughs at the time, but Stark’s wife wasn’t one of them. 

Stark, who has been married for seven years, still denies that his wife ever said anything like that to Warner. “It was intended as a joke, and it didn’t go over very well,” he said.
 
Stark and Warner’s campaigns both said the issue has been smoothed over, with Stark saying his wife was happy with the resolution. But Stark still denied that his wife ever made the comments that Warner attributed to her.
 
Warner spokesman Anthony Conchel said Warner is known to be a gentleman and that he meant nothing derogatory. "There was no malice."

Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R) held a unique town hall meeting Wednesday night -- on Facebook. Pawlenty's Facebook fan page was set up with a special "Town Hall" tab where visitors could click onto avirtual webchat of sorts. Pawlenty was shown seated between an American flag and a Minnesota state flag.

He read about a dozen questions from viewers from the national to the local level, including one on national security issues and another on school budget cuts in Minnesota.

Also, like lots of new technology, there was a minor glitch about midway through the event, Twincities.com reported. The screen went black temporarily, but all viewers had to do was refresh their browsers to continue watching the meeting.

Pawlenty's Facebook page status now reads: "That was a blast. I think we should do more Facebook town halls in the future. Thanks to all who participated and we'll do the best we can to get more questions in during future events."

Pawlenty is considering a  run for president in 2012.

Visitors to Google's search page surely noticed on Thursday the company had apparently changed its name to Topeka.

But Google fans, rest assured: it's only the search giant's latest April Fools joke, and something of a wonky one at that.

The quip stems from Google's decision this year to launch a high-speed broadband testbed. Competition to partner with Google on that project has been fierce, as cities across the country see the testbed program as a way to stimulate their local economies. It has led some mayors to take drastic steps to stand out.

Among them is Topeka, Kansas Mayor Bill Bunten, who led his city's charge last month to rename the locale "Google, Kansas."

It surely got Google's attention, it seems, which wrote in a blog post on Thursday that it felt compelled to "honor that moving gesture." Its solution: change its name, too, to Topeka.

"We didn’t reach this decision lightly; after all, we had a fair amount of brand equity tied up in our old name," Google wrote. "But the more we surfed around (the former) Topeka’s municipal website, the more kinship we felt with this fine city at the edge of the Great Plains".

There's more to Google's post, including a surprisingly comprehensive history of Topeka and a section on how to and how not to use the company's new name (i.e.: "Before our blind date, I did a Topeka search on him" beats "Before our blind date, I topeka'd him with AltaVista," Google notes). 

Platinum album-selling country singer and registered Democrat Toby Keith was a bit surprised when he was featured in ads for Sarah Palin's new show on Fox News Channel, "Real American Stories."

Keith's spokesman told Hitflix late Wednesday that the singer was "never contacted by Fox," and that he had "no idea what interview [the footage] is taken from.

"They're promoting this like it's a brand new interview. [Keith] never sat down with Sarah Palin," he said.

Keith is the second celebrity in as many days to protest the use of an old interview he gave to Fox News Channel as a means to promote Palin's show, which premieres Thursday night.

Rapper and actor LL Cool J learned late Tuesday that an interview he conducted with a Fox News Channel reporter in 2008 was also being repackaged for the show and used to promote its opening episode. LL complained publicly about what he characterized as a 'misrepresentation' on his Twitter account. Fox News Channel announced Wednesday that LL had been edited out of the episode.

Press releases sent out by Fox News Channel about the first episode touted interviews and profiles of Keith, LL, and former GE CEO Jack Welch, in addition to military veterans and other "real Americans."

Fox News Channel told Mediaite they had spoken to members of Keith's team, including publicist Elaine Schock, about using the interview.