Other News

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) took to Twitter on Tuesday to express his distaste to a Los Angeles Times blog post that knocked his spelling of "school" in a tweet about a town meeting.

Yesterday, Grassley, who is well-known for his informal spelling on Twitter, tweeted about his visit to "Blairsburg skool" for a "student town meetin." The Times responded that Grassley should "probably knot use Twitter."

Grassley shot back today:

Those of u who abhor the use of shorthand"skool" for"school" ought to try to Tweet a message in 140bytes. Pls complain to Twitter

The Times' Tony Pierce continued that "no one wants their representative looking like a twit while surfing through the interweb tubes."

"But while it's commendable for gray-haired senators to embrace new technologies to communicate with their constituents, some people are really doing more harm than good," he said.

Grassley also responded to a blog post The Hill in May that raised the possibility that he had a staffer tweeting for him."

"To the Hill reporter who thought I didn’t input my own AM Tweet today. Well believe me I did. My Bb is always w me," he fired-back on Twitter.

Taking health reform recommendations - Health Care Caucus (House GOP)
Keep looking at Countrywide scandal - Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah)
Is Obama our Hamlet? - Fred Thompson (R)
No defense earmarks! - Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.)
Keep Gitmo detainees out of U.S. - Sen. David Vitter (R-La.)
We need a public option - Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.)
A new big problem in Iran - Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.)
Tracking your tax dollars - Rep. Mike Ross (D-Ark.)
Russia and China better get on board against Iran - Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.)
Happy birthday, son - Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.)

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R) is usually no fan of the Obama administration, but when it comes to education policy, the two are like peas in a pod.

The now-conservative activist appeared with ex-presidential candidate Rev. Al Sharpton and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan at a charter school and a public on Philadelphia on Thursday. The event is part of a road trip the trio is taking to promote education reform.

Gingrich tweeted about the stop today:

I am in philadelphia visiting a charter school and a public school with sect arne duncan and rev al sharpton to learn and advocate reform

Gingrich has previously made public comments supportive of President Barack Obama's health reform agenda. The road trip will also stop in Baltimore and New Orleans with other locations to be announced.

Rep. Joe Sestak (D-Pa.) has the worst attendance record of any Pennsylvania lawmaker, Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) suggested Monday.

Specter took to Twitter to hit his Democratic primary opponent for having missed 122 votes so far in 2009.

Specter tweeted Monday:

Joe Sestak has now missed 122 votes - that's almost 1 out of every 6 votes in 2009 - and the worst record in PA.

The veteran lawmaker launched his Twitter page in part to wage the primary campaign against Sestak, and has used it now for months to try to take down the Democratic House member a few notches heading into next year's high-profile primary.

Twitter may be the rage on Capitol Hill, but the American public at large is not yet sold on the microblogging site, according to a new poll.

Only 15 percent of Americans believe that Twitter is an important new tool for mass communication, according to a new 60 Minutes/Vanity Fair poll conducted in late August.

Much larger numbers of Americans cast doubt on Twitter's usefulness, or were otherwise unfamiliar with the social networking service.

Thirty-nine percent said Twitter is a fad that will fade away, while 43 percent had either heard of it but didn't know what it is, or had never heard of it.

The national poll of 1,097 randomly selected respondents was conducted Aug. 27-31.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's reelection is "good news" for the relationship between the U.S. and Germany, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said Monday.

A day after President Barack Obama called Merkel to congratulate her, McCain dispatched his congratulations on Twitter.

He tweeted Monday:

Merkel wins big in German Elections - good news for US/German relations.

Merkel is seen as a right-leaning candidate within the German political spectrum, and between pickups in her party and allied parties, is expected to enjoy more political leeway than she had in past years, when she's had to partner with the left-leaning Social Democrats.

Freshman Republican Rep. Jason Chaffetz (Utah) expressed sadness late Saturday night at the recent death of his House colleague, Carolyn Maloney's (D-N.Y.), husband.

Clifton Maloney, 71, died while participating on a hiking trip in the Himalaya mountains. The former Goldman Sachs vice president was considered an experienced hiker.

Chaffetz took to Twitter to offer his condolences:

http://bit.ly/bcJm2 So sad.

My thoughts and prayers go out to Carolyn Maloney. So sorry for her loss.

Arrangements are still being made to retrieve Maloney's body. He is survived by Rep. Maloney and their two daughters.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) and potential 2012 presidential candidate will attend an event for Rep. Pete Hoekstra's (R-Mich.) gubernatorial campaign Saturday night. 

Hoekstra took to Twitter to announce Romney's presence at the event:

Had a governors debate today. Went very well. Have an event w Mitt tonight.

Romney is no stranger in Michigan; his father George served as governor of the state in the 1960s. Hoekstra debated with the four other GOP primary candidates for governor today.

The 2008 presidential candidate has political action committee that raises money for candidates around the country.

According to the congressman's campaign site, he is attending the Mackinac Island Republican Leadership Conference this weekend. A recent poll showed state Attorney General Mike Cox leading Hoekstra 30-23 with 13 percent split between two other candidates and one-third undecided.

Voters will head to the polls in 2010.

Florida Rep. Bill Posey (R) took some time on Saturday to indulge his long-time hobby, classic cars.

Posey tweeted images of his 1966 Chevrolet Chevelle, one of his three cars:

http://twitpic.com/j7x2q - Jim Rufino's yellow GTO is beside my chevelle at the car show. Weather is perfect!

The congressman sat down for an interview with Specialty Equipment Market Association, a trade association that represents custom auto builders, about his passion: 

I sold off my race cars and moved into classic cars. I’ve mostly been involved in what they call the super-late models—cars of the last 20 years. Also, I would get fiberglass bodies of cars from the 1930s, put in a Chevy V8 motor and build around those. I enjoyed that quite a bit but eventually sold them. Today, I own three cars. I have a 2003 silver Mercury Marauder and a pewter 1966 Chevelle Malibu. I also have a gold 2005 GMC 1/2-ton.

Here is the Chevelle (right):

On a big day for many aspiring lawyers, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) wished her interns and others taking the Law School Admissions Test (LSAT) "good luck."

The LSAT is being offered today to those hoping to attend law school. The Florida lawmaker tweeted:

Good luck to all of our interns and others taking the LSAT this morning: law school entrance exam being given nationwide today.

Ros-Lehtinen is not a lawyer, but passing the bar is one popular path into politics.