Amazon.com is offering readers early access to former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson’s upcoming memoir if they own a Kindle (Amazon’s digital book device).

“Pre-order ‘On the Brink’ now and begin reading your Kindle edition at 12:01 a.m. on February 1,” the website touts on its homepage.

“On the Brink” also will be released in hardback on Feb. 1 though non-Kindle owners will have to wait until bookstores open. 

In his author’s note Paulson writes: “I believe the most important part of this story is the way Ben Bernanke, Tim Geithner, and I worked as a team through the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.”

Amazon.com was one of the first booksellers to offer a handheld reading device and has marketed it aggressively.

And it’s noteworthy that Paulson’s book will be available immediately for download. When Sen. Ted Kennedy’s memoir, “True Compass,” was published in October, the publisher with held back the digital version of the book in hopes of boosting hardcover sales. “True Compass” is available on Kindle now.

But buying a downloadable book doesn’t give you a price break. The Kindle version of Paulson’s book costs $15.65, the same as the hardback.

Sen.-elect Scott Brown (R-Mass.) told Jay Leno Thursday night that he has challenged President Barack Obama to a game of two-on-two basketball.

The invitation was made over the phone when Obama called Brown last week to congratulate him on winning the Senate seat held by the late Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) for more than 45 years.

Appearing by satellite on the "10 at 10"' segment of Leno's prime time show, Brown said would pick his daughter Ayla (shown here with her father over Christmas), a senior on the basketball team at Boston College, as his teammate, and Obama could pick whomever he wanted as his partner.

Brown and Obama both shoot hoops with their daughters; the president took Sasha and Malia Obama out for a friendly practice game this month.

Brown also joked with Leno about his 1982 nude photo shoot in Cosmopolitan magazine, saying that if ever modeled again, it would have to be for "AARP magazine."

Three popular actors are lobbying for an environmental bill in D.C.

Actor and activist Leonardo DiCaprio, Gossip Girl's Chace Crawford and the face of Apple commercials' Justin Long lead the campaign driven by viral videos and social networking.

The National Resources Defense Council Action Fund (DiCaprio is a trustee) launched the effort called "This is Our Moment," People Magazine reported.

The link on the group's website has the three actors, along with actress and singer Emmy Rossum and Juno's Jason Bateman and others asking Congress to pass the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act. The act promises to stimulate the economy by creating millions of jobs in the clean energy sector, according to the Environment and Public Works website.

"Tell your senators to vote for strong, clean energy jobs," Justin Long said in the video.

The Board of Directors also boasts some of Washington's key power players and their relatives including Ari Emanuel, brother of White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel and founder of the Endeavor Talent Agency in Beverly Hills, and John Podesta, president and CEO of the Center for American Progress. The group's executive director is Peter Lehner.

President Barack Obama will attend Saturday's men's basketball game between the Georgetown University Hoyas and the Duke University Blue Devils, according to sources involved in the planning of the event.

Saturday's game at the MCI Center will raise money for educational programs in the war-ravaged Darfur region of Sudan, and other special guests include NBA star Tracy McGrady, Alexander Aleinikoff, the United Nations Deputy High Commissioner for Refugees, and John Prendergast, Co-founder of Enough, the project to end genocide and crimes against humanity at the Center for American Progress.

The White House did not confirm Obama's attendance, but this wouldn't be the first time he's ventured into the district to see college hoops. Over Thanksgiving weekend, he attended a George Washington University game against Oregon State, where his brother-in-law, Craig Robinson, is the head coach.

H/T: Kris Kitto

The buses taking some Republican members of Congress to their party’s strategy retreat in Baltimore, Md. were delayed Thursday because a “handful” of congressmen decided not to show up for their free ride, which was organized by the Congressional Institute and the Republican Conference.

Staffers made frantic calls to the tardy members’ offices as the punctual wing of the party waited on three idling buses between the Longworth and Rayburn buildings.

Rep. Michael Burgess (R-Texas) was one of the last stragglers to make his way on before the convey left a half-hour late at 2:30 p.m.

Asked if some Republicans might be missing the bus, staffers seemed nonplussed. “They must’ve made other arrangements,” one staffer said as the doors shut.

Michael Brown, the oft-maligned director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency in the Bush administration, has a new gig: a talk radio host in Denver. 

The grandson of former president Richard Nixon announced his plans to run for Congress in New York’s first congressional district on Thursda

USA Today reported his grandson, Chris Cox, has never run for office before. The 30-year-old was, however, state executive director of Sen. John McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign in New York.

Cox will run on the Republican ticket. Part of his campaign includes “protecting jobs from being outsourced overseas and ending this period of overtaxation.” Tim Bishop, a Democrat, has represented the district since 2003.

Congressional staffers are great at making their salaries go as far as possible.

But depending on how far away from Capitol Hill they live, as of Thursday, congressional employees may need to plan for as much as $100 extra in commuting expense per year.

The DC Metro board on Thursday approved a 10 cent surcharge for all metro trips, effective until at least June 30, 2010. The vote was unanimous and the charge will go into effect in March.

For someone who commutes back and forth to Capitol Hill via Metrorail five times a week, that's about an extra $50 a year. But add a bus trip to the Metrorail stop, and that figure doubles.

Some more senior-level staffers are provided with pre-loaded SmartTrip cards, but the policy on covering commuting expenses differs from office to office.

A source close to Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) says the 2004 presidential candidate has privately commented that his former Senate colleague and running mate, John Edwards (D-N.C.) "isn't the person I campaigned with back then."

Kerry's comment was made in the wake of new revelations about the dissolution of Edwards's marriage, largely the result of his extramarital affair with Rielle Hunter, which produced a child, Frances Quinn Hunter, who is nearly two years old.

Earlier this month, Edwards admitted to having fathered the child, after years of public denials.

Speaking to ABC News, the Kerry source said the senator phoned Edwards's estranged wife, Elizabeth, a few days ago, and that his "focus" and "sympathy" are directed toward her.

Speaking through her sister, Elizabeth Edwards revealed this week that she and her husband are formally separated after 32 years of marriage.

The increased media attention comes on the heels of two political memoirs that paint the Edwards's marriage in an unflattering light.

H/T: Emily Goodin