First, the answer to last week’s question.  In 1977, CBS aired a short-lived summer variety series taped in Washington that featured piano satirist Mark Russell and up-and-coming comedian David Letterman.  What was the name of the show?

AlexC of the great blog threesources.com and legendary Extreme Trivia winner Peter Roff correctly said The Starland Vocal Band Variety show.

Now, the next Extreme Trivia question.  Mark Warner’s decision not to run for president in 2008 likely deprives us the opportunity to have two candidates from the same state, Virginia/George Allen.

More impressive, though, is when there are two presidential candidates from the same hometown.  Name the presidential campaign cycle, the candidates involved, and the hometown when this last happened.

Looks like Mark Foley has an additional lawyer, Gerald Richman.

Our new list:

Representing Mark Foley: Gerald Richman, David Roth
Representing John Shimkus: Barry Pollock
Representing Jeff Trandahl: Cono Namorato
Representing Kirk Fordham: Timothy J. Heaphy
Representing Jordan Edmund:  Stephen Jones

Halloween must be approaching — or we’re getting a preview of what a Democratic-led Congress will look like for Republican job-holders.  Either way, today’s Washington Post is full of ominous language:

• Democrats could use their ascendance to … begin a new era of aggressive oversight and investigation
• Leon Panetta:  “My fear is that the Democrats after 12 years of trench warfare and a pretty rough time — these people are pretty battle-scarred from that — basically come out and seek vengeance for everything that’s taken place.”
• Democratic strategists “are telling donors that it is worth the risk to shoot for a 40-plus seat gain, which would give Democrats a large enough majority to guarantee that they could move legislation and carry out investigations of the Bush administration.”

Vengeance … investigations …. 

Why would anyone want to work for the government under these conditions?  For years we’ve heard from the good government types that we need more qualified folks in key positions – but for what, to face subpoenas and show trials?  The only ones who will benefit from grand inquisition gridlock are Republican attorneys.  Surely their pool of potential clients will soon be expanding — that is, for clients who haven’t already headed for the exits saying good riddance, government.

Longtime CBS News correspondent Christopher Glenn has died.

Christopher Glenn turned me into a news junkie.

Any kid who grew up in the early ’70s surely remembers his “In The News” features which ran during all those sugary Saturday morning cartoons and shows.  Truth be told, I was addicted to Glenn’s news, not the shows.  When he came on, I turned up the volume and pushed away the cereal.  Thank you Christopher Glenn for teaching me news, and saving my teeth. 

“There was a time when every single writer on the Love Boat was gay.” — former Congressman and former Gopher Fred Grandy, during a discussing on his WMAL radio show this morning on how many Republican members of Congress are gay.

White House press secretary Tony Snow, from today’s news briefing:

Senator Feingold thinks it is a stain to detain people who have killed thousands of Americans, to question them, to put together — on the basis of that questioning, to intervene in a number of terrorist plots that could have killed many more Americans, and now have a process that’s not only consistent with international law, but with our statutes; to bring people to justice, to question them — to detain them, to question them, and to try them? That hardly seems a stain on our national honor. As a matter of fact, it’s an example of the way in which the United States does care for the rights of people who don’t care for ours.

Marking the 300 millionth American, the Census Bureau tells us that America’s total population increases one person every 11 seconds.

Sounds staggering, right?  But consider:  There are two blogs created every second.

Now that’s a crisis.  Where are we going to put all those blogs?  Perhaps build a fence around Technorati?

Washington Examiner’s Yeas & Nays column talks to Pirooz Sarshar, co-owner of that metrosexual mecca the Grooming Lounge, who just released his “Ten Immutable Laws of Good Grooming.” Yeas & Nays wondered whether he had specific politicians in mind when he made some of the rules:

Sarshar says: “Two Eyebrows Are Better Than One.” Yeas & Nays nominates as inspiration Pennsylvania senatorial candidate Bob Casey.

For earlier on-location spot reporting about Casey’s brow-beaten eyebrow, click here on santorumblog (covered by Extreme Mortman here).

Meanwhile, in other Senate campaign news involving masculine bodily features, you might click on The A-Team for Jim Webb’s history of writing about endowments — and we don’t mean the Arts or Democracy.  Since reporting about the Virginia Senate campaign seems focused on western and cowboy clothing, this might be a good time to quite “Blazing Saddles”:

“They said you were hung.” 

“And they were right.”

This radio industry ad is making the rounds this morning:

SmartMoney magazine takes a swipe at members of Congress in its November “10 Things: What Your Congressman Won’t Tell You.”

A sample:

Inside Congress author Ronald Kessler says that historically, most officers have operated under the mistaken impression that the Constitution prohibits arresting or even ticketing congressmen while Congress is in session. The belief was so prevalent that the Justice Department issued a statement in 1976 explaining the “previous policy of releasing members who had been arrested was based on a misunderstanding of the clause in the U.S. Constitution,” which forbids only civil arrest, not arrest for a crime.

Nonetheless, Capitol Police still coddle and avoid arresting members of Congress. For one thing, protecting congressmen is part of their mission. For another, Congress controls their budget — including top cops’ salaries.