Connie Schultz is glad to be off the campaign trail. It means she can once again speak her own mind, and loosen up a little. “I feel a lot freer,” says the wife of Sen.-elect Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), who plans to resume her Pulitzer-winning opinion column for the Cleveland Plain Dealer in January. “I actually wore sweats to the grocery store this week.”

Schultz took a leave of absence from the newspaper to campaign with Brown, who has served as a member of the House for Ohio’s 13th District. She says being the wife of a political candidate on the campaign trail can be uncomfortable for a woman with strong beliefs of her own. “It was interesting to go from being a woman who is paid to give her opinion to a wife who gives her husband’s opinion,” she says, although she does note that she and Brown agree on more than a few points. She spent much of the campaign scribbling notes she plans to use in an upcoming book that Random House will publish in June called “And His Lovely Wife,” about her experiences on the trail.

Schultz says she will dedicate the tome to “every woman who has ever felt anonymous” and bemoans how politics still marginalizes spouses. “I’ve met so many other spouses, and many of them should be running for office themselves,” she adds.

As she did when Brown was in the House, Schultz plans to avoid writing about issues that come before her husband in the Senate. And as a Senate spouse, Schultz is joining an elite club of a few not-so-anonymous types, including ex-prez Bill Clinton, former senator Bob Dole and Labor Secretary Elaine Chao. “I haven’t really thought about that,” she says. “I guess I don’t define myself as a spouse — my club is the newsroom.”

We just can’t stand the anticipation. We’re like kids waiting for Christmas morning (and yes, we were the kind that fished around in Mom and Dad’s closets to peek at the presents). The official Loretta Sanchez Christmas card is in the works, the California Democrat assures us. She and Gretzky (her cat) are heading into the studio this week for their annual photo shoot.

Sanchez is mum on this year’s theme, but we can only hope that it tops last year’s shot of a flannel-pajama-clad Sanchez and Gretzky curled up asleep. For the uninitiated, Sanchez’s wacky holiday card, featuring the lawmaker and Gretzky in off-the-wall costumes and poses, is one of the season’s highlights on the Hill. Sanchez sends the card to about half a million lucky folks.

Sanchez let us in on a little behind-the-scenes magic: She and her staff toss ideas around and usually end up shooting a few different costumes so they can choose the one they like. Although the cards have raised some eyebrows among some who thought they were a tad racy or silly, Sanchez insists that it’s all in the name of holiday cheer. “You should see the ideas we don’t use,” Sanchez says.

It’s so unfair to tease us like that.

 Souder irritated by callers’ accents

Talk about mixed messages. Callers touting Indiana Republican Rep. Mark Souder’s tough stance on immigration apparently have thick enough foreign accents that the congressman himself said he couldn’t understand them.

According to the United Press International, Souder complained about campaign calls made on his behalf after listening to a message left on his sister’s answering machine in which the only word he understood was “Hayhurst,” the last name of his Democratic challenger, Tom Hayhurst.

According to the UPI, Feather Larson & Synhors, a St. Paul, Minn., company that many Republicans use for such services, promises calls with neutral accents. But since automated telemarketing calls are illegal in Indiana, the company must use live callers.

Short-timer Sekula-Gibbs short on décor

If you blink, you just might miss her. Short-timer Rep. Shelley Sekula-Gibbs (R-Texas) won a special election to fill the seat left vacant by ex-Majority Leader Tom Delay, who resigned this year.  Sekula-Gibbs isn’t planning to get too comfortable: In January, she’s being replaced by Democrat Nick Lampson, who beat write-in candidate Sekula-Gibbs in last week’s general election.

The congresswoman’s spokesman, Josh Shultz, says the office is fully functioning, despite its short half-life. “If you walked in, you wouldn’t think it was different than any other,” he says. But it is a little bare. DeLay decked the office out with all kinds of Texas memorabilia, including flags. After he resigned, the clerk of the House cleared out all the décor for the incoming member, just as they usually do when a member leaves.  “We’re hoping to jazz it up a little,” Shultz says, referring to its, ahem, minimalist look.

Sekula-Gibbs is focusing mostly on constituent services, he added, and is getting a taste of life in Congress, hosting receptions in the office and attending Veteran’s Day events over the weekend. “She’s excited and ready to serve, even if it is just for a few months,” he says.