Other News

After Vice President Joe Biden spent the day in Connecticut touting the stimulus with two of the state's lawmakers, one of them took to Twitter to make light of Biden's outgoing nature.

Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.) did his best to return the favor after Biden appeared at a private fundraiser for him and spoke at an event near a Connecticut highway praising the economic stimulus.

The freshman lawmaker, who is running for re-election in 2010, tweeted: 

VP is the most gregarious man I've ever seen. I watched his staff visibly age as he spoke at length w/everyone he met.

Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), who is also up for re-election next year, appeared with Biden and Himes at the stimulus event. Dodd's tweets about Biden's visit were a bit more guarded:

Driving down the Merritt Parkway. Meeting Vice President Biden in Fairfield.

We'll be discussing how the $70 Million Merritt Parkway Project is creating jobs and rebuilding CT infrastructure.

Watch Senator Chris Dodd and Vice President Biden live: http://bit.ly/RmNrh

"The road to recovery must literally be repaved, and that's what's starting in this lot," the "gregarious" Biden said today.

Rangel must step down - Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio)
Teen unemployment over 25% - Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.)
Why not put the bill online? - Rep. Randy Forbes (R-Va.)
Register for Va., NJ elections - Organizing for America
GI benefits must be improved - Rep. Buck McKeon (R-Calif.)
Handing out coats to doctors - Mark Knoller, CBS
Off to Honduras - Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.)
Pulling out of Afghanistan not an option for W.H. - Major Garrett, Fox News
He picks his doctors wisely.... - Steve Benen, Political Animal
No Finance Committee vote tomorrow - George Stephanopoulos, ABC
Fox News quietly corrects Jennings error - Greg Sargent, Plum Line
Dem strategists are nervous about Rangel - Marc Ambinder, The Atlantic

Rep. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) changed his Twitter handle today to match his Senate website's address, which also clarified his account as a campaign entity.

Kirk previously tweeted under the name @markkirk but will now tweet under @Kirk4Senate. The Illinois Republican's campaign is just rolling out its campaign site.

He tweeted on Monday:

Changed from @markkirk to @Kirk4senate in preparation for launch of website http://www.KirkForSenate.com #tcot

Lawmakers possess Twitter accounts through their congressional offices, their campaigns, independently of either or some combination of the three.

Kirk only operates a campaign account. His account drew fire from critics in July after he appeared to tweet while on active duty as a Naval reservist. Kirk may have broken military regulations prohibiting active members from participating in political campaigns.

Newly confirmed Army Secretary John McHugh received a hardy "hooah!" on Monday from the U.S. Army at the Assocation of the United States Army's annual convention in D.C.

McHugh is speaking before the convention today. The Army's official feed tweeted:

Press Conference at #ausa with the Chief of Staff and new Sec Army John McHugh - Hooah!

Defense Secretary Robert Gates also spoke at the annual meeting.

Several Republican senators held the nomination of McHugh, who formerly served as a Republican on the House Armed Services Committee, due to an administration proposal to move Guantanamo Bay terror suspects to the U.S. mainland.

McHugh took office on September 21.

Several days after Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) lead a controversial congressional delegation trip to Honduras, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) on Monday departed on a similar journey.

The ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee is opposed to the Obama administration's support of ousted President Manuel Zelaya. She announced the trip late last week.

Ros-Lehtinen tweeted that she would meet with Americans and officials ahead of the tumultuous nation's November 29 elections:

Off to Honduras to meet w/Americans in Honduras as well Honduran officials so that upcoming elections are free, fair and transparent.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman John Kerry (D-Mass.) last week nearly blocked DeMint, along with GOP Reps. Peter Roskam Ill.), Aaron Schock (Ill.), and Doug Lamborn (Colo.), from traveling to Honduras last Friday. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) intervened to approve the trip late Thursday night.

The feud stemmed from DeMint and Kerry's disagreement over the political crisis in the Central American nation. DeMint backs the de facto government lead by President Roberto Micheletti, which came to power after the military overthrew President Manuel Zelaya.

The military acted on orders from the Honduran Supreme Court, which accused Zelaya of attempting to change the constitution in part to eliminate term limits.

Kerry stands behind the U.S. government's endorsement of a negotiated settlement that would restore Zelaya to office with limited powers until his term expires in December. The de facto government has rejected that settlement while the U.S. has said it would not recognize the results of the contests next month.

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) on Monday congratulated sometimes-controversial talk show host Don Imus back to television.

Imus is returned to TV today on the Fox Business network after MSNBC and CBS Radio dropped his show in 2007 following the Rutgers women's basketball controversy. Imus returned to the radio few months after the incident.

The 2008 GOP presidential nominee was one of the first political guests on Imus' long-running radio show after the controversy. He also appeared on his Fox show this morning.

He tweeted:

Great to be back on with Don Imus again, congrats to his whole team - Bernie, Charles, and Warner!

Imus described players on the Rutgers team as "nappy headed hos." Imus received criticism from then-Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, civil rights leaders, and other national figures.

2008 presidential candidates Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.), Chris Dodd (D-Conn.); Govs. Mike Huckabee (R-Ark.), Bill Richardson (D-N.M.), and Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R-N.Y.) also made appearances on Imus' show shortly after he returned to radio.

RFD-TV, a rural cable network, had previously simulcasted "Imus in the Morning."

Claire McCaskill took a strange path to the Senate. Check out the following tweet exchange between Firedoglake's Marcy Wheeler ("emptywheel"), Time's Karen Tumulty, and McCaskill.

emptywheel @clairecmc admits on NPR she probably became a Senator because she wasn't picked as a cheerleader when young. She debated instead.

ktumulty @emptywheel surprised @clairemc couldn't name other fmr cheerldrs in senate: KB Hutch, and at one time, both Miss. senators: Lott & Cochran

emptywheel @ktumulty But didn't she say she FAILED to become cheerleader? Which means she's different from KB, Lott, Cochran, and the Cheer-in-C, Bush.

emptywheel @clairecmc Can you confirm that you NEVER became cheerleader? And so instead became debater and then a Senator? Thx

clairemc @emptywheel No, I was a cheerleader, but didn't make the squad my senior year. That's when I began speech and debate tournaments.

So there you have it. McCaskill was once a cheerleader, but got booted from the team senior year and caught the debate bug. The rest, as they say, is history.

Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh took on Twitter during his show today, saying "I'm too famous to be on Twitter."

Many politicians, athletes, and actors use the microblogging service.

Later in the show, Limbaugh admitted that he often instant messages with friends during political events and said that his insights might be well suited for Twitter.

In the end, the high-profile host called Twitter a "vast wasteland" and said that the Twitterverse might need him. Thus, he would "ponder" creating an account.

(h/t Townall)

'Read the bill' measure gaining steam - Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.)
GOPers refuse to read health bill - Senate Dems
Looking for answers on job losses - Rep. Bill Posey (R-Fla.)
At least Obama met with McChrystal - Fred Thompson (R)
Busy job numbers day - Sec. Hilda Solis (Labor Dept.)
Beware of Iran's deception - Rep. Jeff Fortenberry (R-Neb.)
Chicago loses Olympic bid - Rep. John Carter (R-Texas)
Celebrate Diwali - Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.)
Stimulus success - Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.)
Campaigning with Biden - Gov. Jon Corzine (D-N.J.)

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said on Friday that "possible progress" was made in yesterday's nuclear negotiations with Iran in Geneva.

In Thursday's negotiations with permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, Iran agreed to ship low-enriched uranium overseas for further enrichment for peaceful purposes.

McCain, who is the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, however warned that the negotiators must later verify that Iran acted on their concessions.

He tweeted:

Possible progress with Iran on nukes. "Trust but verify" - Ronald Reagan.

Representatives from the United States, Britain, France, Russia, China, and Germany sat down with Iranian officials.

Russia and France would enrich the uranium for the Iranians under the agreement.