House Democratic Caucus Chairman Rahm Emanuel (Ill.), many might not be aware, has a very witty side to him. He also has this tough, potty-mouth reputation. So the question is, can he — or will he want to — do tough-funny? The Illinois Democrat is facing a high-stakes speaking assignment this Saturday night, paired with Republican White House hopeful Mitt Romney as the keynoters at the annual Gridiron Club dinner.

The usually glib Emanuel is preparing shtick for this one. The tart-tongued Emanuel is honing his material. The motto of the club is to “singe, not burn,” in the skits the journalists — plus some ringers — perform to the gowned and white-tied-and-tailed audience. But the speakers have a much higher threshold since the spotlight is on them to be uproarious before a who’s-who crowd.

Emanuel has assembled a writing team to get him through the night, at which the usual fare is to dish up supersized portions of self-deprecating humor. If Emanuel goes that traditional route, his writers will have an abundance of material.

Emanuel’s comedy club includes David Axelrod, the Chicago media consultant who is one of Emanuel’s key advisers. Axelrod, who is spending most of his time these days advising the presidential campaign of Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), crafted much of Obama’s hit Gridiron speech last year.

(Obama’s closing line: “And most of all, I want to thank you for all the generous advance coverage you’ve given me in anticipation of a successful career. When I actually do something, we’ll let you know.’’)

Another Emanuel helper is Paul Begala, the CNN commentator and Democratic strategist who has known Emanuel since they worked together in former President Clinton’s first campaign in 1992. Political humor is a specialty dish — it is to be served neither well nor overdone — and Jeff Nussbaum is another Emanuel writer with experience in pairing pols with comedy.

Nussbaum was a deputy communications director and speechwriter for former Sen. Tom Daschle (D-S.D.), for whom he penned a 2002 Gridiron speech.

The Emanuel speech is down to the final drafts — currently the lawmaker’s team is at the stage of  “adding in new jokes to keep it timely,” I was told. Emanuel practiced for an hour or so on Monday in Chicago with Axelrod. He had another trial run on Tuesday night with his staffers and others in the Emanuel orbit. He will do more run-throughs as it gets close to curtain time.

He’s expected to be making edits up to the last minute. What’s more, a talent scout will be watching Emanuel’s act. His show-business brother, superagent Ari Emanuel, founder of the Endeavor Agency in Los Angeles, is expected to come in for the dinner.

Not pork — vegetables

The Senate Democratic leaders pulled off passing H.R. 1591 — the House passed U.S. Troop Readiness, Veterans’ Health, and Iraq Accountability Act, without having to broker deals between the four Democrats running for president who have their own signature plans. If President Bush makes good on his veto threat, it will free Dems Obama, Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.), Chris Dodd (Conn.) and Joseph Biden (Del.) to talk about what they will do as president — rather than as legislators — to end the war in Iraq.

Under a provision in the bill, a sum of $25 million is set aside for spinach growers hurt when the FDA issued a warning for the leafy plant last September.

Don’t call it pork. It’s vegetables.

Sweet is the Washington bureau chief for the Chicago Sun-Times. E-mail: This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it