Lowell Weicker is weighing an independent run against Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-CT). Weicker, a former Republican whom conservatives loved to detest, used to be a Senator and a Governor. What’s he been doing since? Would you believe — he’s been a Director of World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. since 1999 and is Chairman of its Compensation Committee?

‘Tis true. Check out the WWE’s corporate website (yes, such a thing exists.) He’s just three corporate spots away from the big guy, Vince McMahon.

If Weicker ever debates Lieberman — could they do it as a steel-cage death match? Of course, a Weicker campaign may be fake — they produce those things so well.

Check out the April issue of Washingtonian magazine. A mail-in ballot card for voting for best of Washington. Among the categories: Best local blogger.

You know what to do — vote Extreme Mortman.

What’s in it for you? By sending in your ballot, you’ll be eligible for a drawing to win a free dinner for two at Cafe Oggi, McCormick& & Schmick’s, M&S Grill, or Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar. What a deal!
So pick up a copy of Washingtonian, write in Extreme Mortman for best local blogger (by May 1), and sit back and wait for your winnings.

It’s that simple. It’s that fun. It’s that extreme.

Now, the next installment in Extreme Mortman’s regular feature: a peek inside the blog-reading habits of our nation’s top reporters and media celebrities. This time we’re doing something really nutty — double the fun. The Cleveland Plain Dealer was kind enough to provide two responses: from Stephen Koff, the Plain Dealer Washington bureau chief and Jean Dubail, editor of OPEN, the Plain Dealer’s political site, and a veteran editor and political junkie.

First, here’s Stephen Koff:

After the usual newspapers, my own list is short: Romenesko (a daily habit), Kos and Drudge as I get to them, the fix, quick skims of The Note and Hotline on call, occasional Roll Call electronic updates. Wonkette is a blast, though I feel hopelessly — and thankfully — dull by its sensibilities.

I look at a few Ohio blogs: Cincinnati Enquirer’s politics extra, buckeyestateblog, brewedfreshdaily, others sometimes. Jim Schifrin’s the Whistleblower (I think of it as a blog, though it comes by e-mail) can be vulgar and offensive — he wants it to be — but has occasional gems from Ohio politics. Colleagues and other folks send notes or links that inevitably lead me to other blogs, though an awful lot out there is ruminations on that day’s New York Times or Washington Post.

Now, here’s Jean Dubail:

I look at a number of Ohio blogs fairly regularly: lincoln logs, right angle blog, nixguy and red-state (not the same as the unhyphenated redstate). lefties: buckeyestate, ohio2nd, psychobilly democrat, plunderbund, UAPA Upper Arlington. (That’s not an exhaustive list.)

I also look at a couple of local ones that aren’t exclusively politlcal, like brewed fresh daily and writes like she talks. Also the Cincinnati Enquirer political blog.

As for national, the usual: Taegan Goddard’s political wire, Hotline On Call, Stu Rothenberg, Andrew Sullivan, Josh Marshall, Daily Kos. Used to look at Drudge regularly, but the more he writes about movie stars, the less I read.

Extreme Mortman loves extreme politics — and extreme political trivia. So imagine our excitement to see this in today’s Billings Gazette:

“By the close of the filing deadline Thursday, 10 Montanans had filed for the U.S. Senate seat held by Republican Conrad Burns. That total ties the record for Montanans running for the U.S. Senate set in 1922 and 1960.”

With barely 900,000 people in the state, you gotta wonder who’s left who didn’t file. Perhaps Joe Montana?

Extreme Mortman loves when politics gets extreme. Example: an extreme fine from a state ethics commission for extreme campaign finance violations.

So let’s salute Missouri Democrats.

Here’s the AP story, courtesy of the Springfield News-Leader:

“The Missouri Ethics Commission has fined the Missouri House Democratic Campaign Committee $104,000 for various campaign finance violations during the 2002 elections. The fine is among the largest ever levied by the commission.”

The story also reports that “U.S. Rep. Russ Carnahan, a former state House member, also was fined $600 for signing checks for the committee that he wasn’t authorized to sign.”

Now that’s extreme. Bravo. The Show Me Democrats really have shown us something.

Congratulations to Dick Polman, the Philly Inquirer’s national political correspondent. The most recent pariticpant in Extreme Mortman’s feature “Blogs the Famous Media Reads” will soon become a full-time lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania, including a class in modern American political writing.

The Philly.com blog Bling reports Polman is in negotiations to continue writing for the Inky. It also ran this intriguing nugget:

“Polman said that Penn, where he has taught journalism for three years, approached him for a full-time position. The offer became more attractive, he said, after the The Inquirer’s fate became less certain. It is one of a dozen papers that McClatchy has said it will sell once it buys the chain from Knight Ridder.”

An Extreme mazel tov to Prof. Polman!

Best political story of the day comes from the Cleveland Plain Dealer’s blog Openers.

Stephen Koff reports:

Brand-new disclosure reports filed with the FEC show that the new House majority leader, John Boehner of Ohio, or his representatives, spent $1,465 at Schneider’s [of Capitol Hill] on Feb. 3. Just a day earlier, Boehner had been elected to the mighty leadership post, so a celebration was in order. The bill was paid by The Freedom Project, Boehner’s leadership PAC.

Grand Old Party — or Grand Old Marnier?

Sen. Clinton’s got a big problem brewing on the Internet — online Democrats aren’t flocking to her running for president. And the media is noticing.

Kos is running a Dem 2008 straw poll. With nearly14,200 votes cast, Hillary has 2%. Down from 3% in January’s Kos poll.

Perfect fodder for mainstream media desperate to pitch the first 2008 horesrace stories.

Vanity Fairs serves up its Jack Abramoff profile in the new issue.  Lots of old ground, but some fascinating new quotes by Abramoff.  One amusing running bit in the story is citing the big-name politicians who met or knew of Abramoff, but suddenly claim they had never heard of the guy.

A fun example involving Sen. John McCain (R-AZ):

Abramoff believes the hearings were unfair and blames McCain, with whom he says he has long had a contentious relationship ….

“Mr. Abramoff flatters himself,” said Mark Salter, the senator’s administrative assistant. “Senator McCain was unaware of his existence until he read initial press accounts of Abramoff’s abuses, and had never laid eyes on him until he appeared before the committee.”

“As best I can remember, when I met with him he didn’t have his eyes shut,” replies Abramoff. “I’m surprised that Senator McCain has joined the chorus of amnesiacs.”

Now, the next installment in Extreme Mortman’s regular feature: a peek inside the blog-reading habits of our nation’s top reporters and media celebrities. And what a treat we have in store for you this time. Cited by the Columbia Journalism Review as one of the nation’s top political reporters, and lauded by legendary columnist/author Jules Witcover as “one of the best of the political reporters who have succeeded my own generation,” Dick Polman analyzes national politics for the Philadelphia Inquirer. He has covered the last four presidential campaigns, and recently joined our blogging ranks by launching the immediately must-read political blog, Dick Polman’s American Debate.

And now, Dick Polman — here’s what he tells Extreme Mortman he reads:

I have become a blog devotee. I don’t believe that they should replace some of the habits that are so two years ago - things like actually talking to real human beings - but they are often great tip sheets for measuring mood and ‘tude in the political world. I work with some friends who scoff at blogs and say “nobody is reading them, nobody is reading you,” but I keep insisting that they are behind the times. Yes there are many thousands of political blogs, and most of them are probably rant-infested, but I suspect we’re in an era not totally unlike the early 20th century with the autombile. There were scads of car companies, but over time most died off as consumers gravitated toward the credible ones. Anyway, I get story ideas from the credible blogs of today; I also get links to stories I would not have known about.

Partisan blogs are great just so you can find out what those partisans are thinking about.

My top five liberal ones are:

1. Talking Points Memo –Josh Marshall is a professional guy with interesting hobby horses. And his spinoff, tpmcafe.com, is a good bulletin board.
2. David Corn — I think David is one of the most thorough liberal reporters, and I suspect he wears that label proudly. When he takes positions, but grounds them in fact-based research.
3. Eric Alterman — One of the smartest flamers around. That’s a compliment. He’s especially good on why the “liberal media” label is a canard. He also branches out, and writes cool music reviews. I get CD ideas from him sometimes.
4. Tapped — A passel of liberal analysts contribute to the American Prospect blog, on a wide range of subjects.
5. Kevin Drum — He’s willing to get more policy-wonky than the average smart blogger. He’s also willing to buck liberal orthodoxy and act the contrarian.

My top centrist blogs:

1. Ed Kilgore — He’s a Democrat, but, hailing from the Democratic Leadership Council and a southern upbringing, he’s often quite good on religion issues, values issues, and the importance of Democrats connecting below the Mason Dixon line.
2. Marshall Wittmann — He’s been a Christian Coalition lobbyist, Bush 41 underling, McCain press aide, and now he’s with the aforementioned DLC. So he’s the scourge of the liberal bloggers, but always an independent thinker.
3. Andrew Sullivan — You never know whether he’s going to go left, right, or both at the same time. But wherever he ends up, he’s impassioned about it.

My top five conservative blogs:

1. Red State — A slew of right-leaning flamers regularly contribute here, although too many insist on being anonymous. A good tip sheet on what the right is thinking about on any given day. Or hour.
2. The Corner — This is like eavesdropping on the crisscossing emails of all the intellects, large and small, that Bill Buckley has spawned. Great for mood-testing. This was the first place where I saw the growing fury over the Harriet Miers nomination.
3. Power Line — If what you need is a defense of George W. Bush, no matter what he has done and no matter what bad things even Republicans are saying about him, the three lawyers on this site are happy to oblige.
4. Hugh Hewitt — This law professor and radio host is good for a number of reasons: He
   sometimes posts stuff five or six times a day, he often does his own original interviewing, he links to posts all over the credible conservative blogosphere, and he can be relied upon to always explain away anything that hints at trouble in the GOP camp.
5. Real Clear Politics — This blog features a lot of good conservative posters, led by Tom Bevan. It tries to be newsy over the course of a day, so you get developments mixed with the commentating.

And lastly, on the mainstream media clearinghouses:
Does one favor First Read or The Note? It’s a bit like the Hydrox versus Oreos debate of my youth, but I come down narrowly on the side of First Read, even though it’s The Note that occasionally links my stuff. For me, it’s a tone issue. First Read is more straightforward. The Note, for my tastes, smacks too much of Beltway smugosity. But that’s just me, because I don’t live inside the Beltway, or work there either.