Even by Congress’s normally dry standards, last Friday’s hearing on the impact of the No Child Left Behind Act on English-language learners was far from edge-of-your-seat viewing. So C-SPAN, which broadcast the proceeding, could not be blamed for trying to make things a little juicier by cutting away from one of the witnesses making an opening statement to capture freshman Rep. Phil Hare (D-Ill.) in the pose of someone dead asleep.

C-SPAN’s camera lingered on the immobile Hare, whose eyes appeared to be closed as he rested head on hand, for a full 10 seconds while Francisca Sanchez, the assistant superintendent of curriculum in San Bernardino County, Calif., delivered her remarks in a flat tone.

Tim Schlittner, Hare’s press secretary, however, strenuously denied that his boss nodded off even a wink.

“He did not sleep at any point in the hearing,” he said after conferring with Hare. “I am absolutely, positively confident. I don’t need to see the footage to know he was not sleeping.”

Unsurprisingly, Schlittner did not change his mind even after reviewing a video of the hearing on C-SPAN’s website.
“It appeared to me that Congressman Hare was looking at notes,” he said.

We’ll let readers decide for themselves from the video-still pictured on this page.

Sen. John Warner (R-Va.) has said he is running for reelection next year, maybe.

Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.) is ready at a moment’s notice to jump into the race if Warner retires, but is waiting patiently for the senior senator from the now-purplish state to make up his mind.

Asked yesterday whether he had any timetable on the big decision, Warner said, “No. But I think about it every morning when I get up and every night when I go to bed.”

So does Davis, Senator, so does Davis.

At the beginning of this Congress, the House GOP ridiculed the new leadership for its 100-hour agenda, which spanned more than 100 hours. Of course, Democrats insisted they were talking about legislative hours.

It seems like House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is now planning to make up for stretching those 100 hours.
Yesterday, Pelosi and other Democrats discussed their success in the “first 100 days of the 110th Congress” — on Day 84 of the new Congress. To be fair, the 100th day will be when Congress is in recess. But maybe those days shouldn’t count and Democrats can celebrate the 100th legislative day sometime this fall. Just an idea.

Going into Tuesday’s vote on an Iraq withdrawal date, neither side was sure it would prevail as the votes of some centrists were seen as up in the air. But imagine Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s (D-Nev.) surprise when Senate freshman Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), who is not exactly a hawk, cast his vote to reject setting a withdrawal date. Turns out it was a rookie mistake and Brown quickly changed his vote.

Brown’s office did not return a phone call seeking comment.

President Bush isn’t coming. Neither are most of the 2008 presidential candidates who’ll  be out on the campaign trail. And some of the 650 guests may have trouble getting there.

But Saturday’s 122nd annual Gridiron Dinner, where Washington’s media elite gather in white-tie splendor to drink and dine while poking fun at the nation’s top power brokers, won’t be much different than its previous editions, its planners insist.

“Everything really is as it was before,” Carl Leubsdorf, bureau chief of the Dallas Morning News, said yesterday when asked about the dinner’s move from the Capitol Hilton Hotel at 16th and K streets, where it’s been held for decades, to the Renaissance Washington Hotel at 999  9th St. N.W.

Nevertheless, Gridiron president Bill Neikirk of the Chicago Tribune, said he hopes some guests don’t show up at the Renaissance Mayflower instead.

“Potentially, it could be a problem,” Neikirk said as he worked on last-minute details, including the “Speech in the Dark” that he’ll deliver after guests are seated. “We’re trying to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

Other Gridiron members say the move to a new venue could also pose logistical and security problems as many  guests may find it difficult navigating new traffic patterns in the congested Penn Quarter neighborhood, especially if anti-war protesters turn out as expected to greet Vice President Cheney, who’s filling in for Bush as comedian-in-chief.

Neikirk will will be followed, in between comedy skits, by speakers representing each party: former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney for the Republicans and Rep. Rahm Emanuel (Ill.) for the Democrats, with Cheney in the cleanup spot.

“It’s got to be a tough thing for Cheney,” said one veteran Gridiron member who insisted on anonymity. “He’s got to be funny at a time when nothing’s going right for the administration, especially the war in Iraq.”

He added, “It’s tough for us as well. Most of the Gridiron’s members are pretty conservative and nobody wants to slam the administration, but they want to be sufficiently critical to maintain journalistic integrity.”

Neikirk may be a bit distracted because his Chicago-based Tribune Co. is the target of a takeover effort. Or maybe because most of the presidential candidates, including Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Barack Obama (D-Ill.) are skipping the dinner to raise money for their campaigns before Saturday’s first-quarter reporting deadline.

Or maybe he’s just worried  that Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.) will show up with a loaded pistol.