Photograph by Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call/Getty Images

Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., and Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., right, check on judges former Rep. Vin Weber, R-Minn., left, and House Chaplain Patrick Conroy during the second annual ‘hotdish’ competition in the Capitol Visitor Center, featuring casserole-like dishes from members of the Minnesota Congressional Delegation, on March 7, 2012. The dishes of Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., and Rep. Chip Cravaack, R-Minn., tied for first place in the competition.

Can you smell what Congress is cooking?

Tater-tots and more, washed down with Jell-O.

Not to mention Rep. Michele Bachmann’s volcanic “Metro” dish with a whole can of sweet corn, or Sen. Amy Klobuchar’s hold-the-SPAM (not to be confused with e-mail) pepperoni special.

Al Franken, the Democratic senator from Minnesota, has a well-known sense of humor harking to his SNL days. (And who can forget his 2006 pre-Senate remarks about Dick Cheney shooting a hunting partner in the face?)

But who knew he also had a chef’s eye bigger than the average person’s stomach?

The Minnesota delegation’s bipartisan “Hotdish-Off” plays on a fine Minnesota tradition — the “hotdish,” usually, as it’s explained at Franken’s official Senate Web-site, a casserole that “goes real good” with Jell-O or a salad.

In the annual contest initiated by Franken two years ago, his own “Mom’s Mahnomin Madness Hotdish” tied for first place with a former congressman’s “Minnesota Wild Strata Hotdish” last year.

Klobuchar took top honors in 2011 with a “Taconite Tater-Tot Hotdish.”

In the latest dish-off, served up on April 10, Rep. Tim Walsh’s “Hermann the German Hotdish” (brats and a bottle of Schell’s beer are the keys) captured first-place, competing with Rep. Rick Nolan’s “Real Deal Danger Ranger Hotdish” (venison, presumably not roadk kill, and wild rice) and Bachmann’s “Southwest Metro Hotdish” (something to do with a can of Green Giant sweet corn and taco seasoning — not to mention two pounds of the ever-popular tater tots).

Rep. Keith Ellison weighed in with a “Juicy Lucy Hotdish” (crumbled hamburger buns, ground beef, mushrooms  and cheese),” and Rep. Betty McCollum cooked “Beef, Beer and Biscuits” in her hotdish.

And Klobuchar was back this year with her “Hormel `I Can’t Believe it’s not SPAM’ Pepperoni Pizza Hotdish”), a mix of donkey meat, hamburger and Ronzoni rotini.

As for Franken, he stuck with Willmar Stew, which he assures us goes well with a Vikings game and, as everyone should know, requires a dutch oven and two pounds of Cannelini beans soaked overnight, turkey thighs — duck or pheasant will do — pork roast plus sausage, bacon and butter and a medley of vegetables (for health) salted to taste.

All the hotdish recipes are here.

And that Cheney talk is here.

Original post is Tater Tots and Pepperoni (Hold the SPAM) — What Congress is Cooking by Political Capital.

Photograph by Jay LaPrete/AP Photo

Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, wearing the red jersey, riding in the Pelotonia with his son Will Portman, right in this file photo. Portman said his views on gay marriage began changing in 2011 when his son, Will, then a freshman at Yale University, told his parents he was gay and that it wasn’t a choice but “part of who he was.” Portman said he and his wife, Jane, were very surprised but also supportive.

Written with Mark Niquette in Columbus, Ohio

Republican Senator Rob Portman of Ohio, voicing support for same-sex marriage with a personal note that his son is gay, joins a bipartisan movement toward a recognition of rights that many Americans are embracing.

Portman joins some within his own party, notably former Vice President Dick Cheney, in speaking to an issue from the heart — Cheney has a daughter who is gay.

Leaders in both parties, most prominently President Barack Obama, have joined in calling on the U.S. Supreme Court (1000L) to overturn the federal Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage as between a man and woman, and to reinstate a constitutional amendment for gay marriage in California. The court will hear arguments on March 26 and 27.

“I’m glad Senator Portman has joined the growing majority of Americans who support full civil rights for our gay and lesbian family, friends and neighbors,” said fellow Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown, a Democrat, in a statement today.

Ian James, co-founder of FreedomOhio, said in a statement that Portman is “the first Republican member of the United States Senate to endorse the freedom to marry, but we believe he will not be the last.”

Still, opposition to same-sex marriage remains a potent political force, with 41 states banning it, and opponents say endorsements such as Portman’s can’t sway the basic family values of the American public.

“For him to try to influence public policy because of a tragic situation in his family,” said Phil Burress, president of Citizens for Community Values in Cincinnati, “I do not see that as changing the views of the voters in Ohio.”

Nationally, a plurality of Americans have said they support marriage equality, according to a poll conducted by George Washington University and Politico in December, with 40 percent agreeing and 30 percent supporting civil unions. One in five surveyed said they had changed their minds on the issue, and among younger Americans — those 18-29 years of age — almost two-thirds said they support same-sex marriage.

The increasing number of political leaders speaking out in support is bound to accelerate an evolution in public thinking, says Paul Beck, professor emeritus of political science at Ohio State University in Columbus.

“This is like a snowball rolling downhill,” Beck said in an interview today. “People who you and I might respect take a view that is different from ours; we begin to think twice about our own view.”

See the full report at Bloomberg.com. 

(Hint, here’s the kicker, the son’s tweet:)

Especially proud of my dad today dispatch.com/content/storie…

— Will Portman (@wdportman) March 15, 2013

Original post is Portman’s Signal of Political Evolution: Hello, Columbus by Political Capital.

In Showtime’s documentary, “The World According to Dick Cheney,” the man generally acknowledged to have been the most powerful vice president in U.S. history is asked to name his main fault.

He punts.

“Um, I don’t spend a lot of time thinking about my faults, I guess would be the answer.”

Fair enough, but the filmmakers shouldn’t get off so easy.

Directed by R.J. Cutler and Greg Finton, the film is more even-handed than revelatory.

In documentaries as in politics, nice doesn’t always triumph.

“If you want to be loved,” Cheney advises politicians, “go be a movie star.”

Granted, Cutler (“The War Room,” “The September Issue”) and Finton don’t ignore Cheney’s unlovable qualities, and the biographical recap in the first portion of the film is no whitewash. (Cheney, who flamed out at Yale before notching two DUIs, was hardly a young man of promise.)

But the opportunities presented by having Cheney in the hot seat go unexploited. The pricklier subjects are left to talking- head journalists (Bob Woodward, David Corn, Ron Suskind, among others) to expound upon.

Nothing, for example, is mentioned of his energy policies. His rote answers to questions of historical import go largely unchallenged. Asked about water-boarding, which Cheney denies is torture, the former veep answers with a question of his own, effectively framing the issue in his favor:

“Tell me what terrorist attacks you would have let go forward,” he rebuts, “because you didn’t want to be a mean and nasty fella?”

Kathryn Bigelow has endured greater challenges on the subject than Cheney does here.

“The World According to Dick Cheney” airs Friday, March 15 on Showtime at 9 p.m. EDT.

Greg Evans is a critic for Bloomberg Muse, the arts and leisure section of Bloomberg News.

Original post is Showtime’s Cheney Wet Kiss: TV by Political Capital.

Photograph by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images

Former Vice President Dick Cheney speaks at the Long Island Association fall luncheon at the Crest Hollow Country Club on Oct. 18, 2012 in Woodbury, New York.

Further proof that the rifts in Washington are not all partisan:

A Republican congressman unhappy with some of the wars the U.S. has waged suggests that former Vice President Dick Cheney, one of the champions of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, will be joining the late President Lyndon Johnson, prosecutor of the Vietnam war, in Hell.

“Congress will not hold anyone to blame,”  Rep. Walter Jones of North Carolina said at a weekend conference in his home state, according to the Huffington Post. “Lyndon Johnson’s probably rotting in Hell right now because of the Vietnam War, and he probably needs to move over for Dick Cheney.”

Jones, a libertarian, has been an outspoken critic of the Iraq war in recent years, the Hill notes. He was speaking at a meeting of the Young Americans for Liberty, an offshoot of former Rep. Ron Paul’s (R-Texas) presidential campaign.

Original post is Cheney Headed for Hell: Congressman by Political Capital.

Photograph by Nicholas Kamm/AFP via Getty Images

Former first lady Laura Bush speaks at the Global Women’s Cancer Summit in Washington on Feb. 4, 2013.

Laura Bush generally steered clear of controversial issues during her eight years as first lady, and that’s a posture she wants to continue.

Although she has voiced support in the past for legalizing same-sex marriage, she didn’t authorize and doesn’t want to be part of a $1 million advertising campaign on the issue that featured her.

Bush appeared in television and print ads paid for by Respect for Marriage, a coalition of faith, civil rights and gay rights groups advocating for same-sex marriage. She was joined in the spots by former Vice President Dick Cheney, who has a lesbian daughter, and former Secretary of Defense Colin Powell, as well as President Barack Obama.

Respect for Marriage cobbled public statements from the four into the campaign that began yesterday. Bush’s remarks were lifted from a 2010 appearance on CNN’s Larry King show, where she said, “When couples are committed to each other and love each other then they ought to have the same sort of rights that everyone has.”

But Bush, a spokeswoman told the Dallas Morning News, “did not approve” of her inclusion, and would like to be removed.

Respect for Marriage is respecting her wishes.

“We appreciate Mrs. Bush’s previous comments but are sorry she didn’t want to be included in an ad,” the group said in a statement today. “The ad launched a public education campaign that will now move to new and different voices that reflect the depth and breadth of our support.”

The coalition will swap the ad — called “Leadership” — for a Bush-free spot called “Stowell.”

The new TV ad features former Marine Cpl. Craig Stowell, who identifies himself as a Republican, sitting with his wife, Berta. “As Americans, we believe in freedom,” he says. “That’s what I fought for as a Marine.”

He goes on to say that his brother is gay: “He was the best man at my wedding. And I want to be the best man at his.”

Original post is Laura Bush Opts Out of Gay Marriage Ad Campaign by Political Capital.

Photograph by NYPL

O. Henry

President Barack Obama hasn’t pardoned a lot of people.

The 22 presidential pardons and one commutation of sentence issued by the president after four years in office amount to the fewest granted by any full-term president since George Washington, by the count of P.S. Ruckman Jr., a professor of political science at Rock Valley College in Rockford, Ill., and one of the national experts on the practice of executive clemency.

Which brings us to the case of the author known as O. Henry — William Sydney Porter,  a short story writer who penned a story a week for newspapers and magazines, most famously “The Gift of the Magi” — some of that work produced in prison.

O. Henry’s work may have been “praiseworthy,” the Justice Department says, but that alone is not evidence of rehabilitation.

Porter was indicted in 1896 on three counts of embezzlement of national bank funds in Texas, and after fleeing to New Orleans and then Honduras returned to face the charges in U.S. District Court. During three years of imprisonment at the Ohio Penitentiary in Columbus, he continued writing tales of Texas and Central America, collected in “Cabbages and Kings” in 1904. After release from prison in 1902, he moved to New York, which became the venue for his most lasting fiction. He died in 1910, at the age of 47.

“O. Henry” may have been an alcoholic, Ruckman noted in a petition filed late last year seeking posthumous clemency for the late author, yet Porter continued publishing stories behind bars, sending his manuscripts to a friend in New Orleans who relayed them to newspapers.

The petition is based on Porter’s “rehabilitation and post-prison life as a well-respected law-abiding citizen.”

This isn’t the first appeal for clemency filed on his behalf.

In 1985, the Office of the Pardon Attorney at the Department of Justice declined to process a request on Porter’s behalf. And Ronald Rodgers, the sitting pardon attorney at D.O.J., is “not inclined to take a contrary position.”

For one thing, Rodgers wrote to Ruckman and a colleague making the petition,  “the well-settled policy of the Justice Department not to accept for processing applications for posthumous pardon is grounded in the belief that the time and efforts of clemency officials are better dedicated to the clemency requests of living persons, who can actually benefit from the President’s mercy.”

Additionally, Rodgers noted, some — including Ruckman’s colleague, Scott Henson — have suggested that Porter suffered an injustice in a case rife with “irreparable flaws.” “It appears that at least a portion of the public accepts the claim that Porter was wrongly convicted,” the pardon attorney wrote, “”and would likely view a posthumous pardon as evidence of his innocence.”

The investigation of the 100-plus-year-old federal case against Porter and an inquiry into the extent of his rehabilitation would be a massive undertaking, he concluded. “A pardon is an expression of the President’s forgiveness, ordinarily granted in recognition of the applicant’s acceptance of responsibility for the crime and established good citizenship,” he wrote. “Although Porter’s writing is certainly praiseworthy, his literary works in and of themselves do not establish rehabilitation.”

The spirit of O. Henry may not want to take this denial too personally — though Ruckman has appealed it to the White House.

The Obama administration has shown historical restraint in the granting of clemency for the living, let alone the dead.

Obama has approved just 22 pardons, D.O.J. reports, and denied 1,019 petitions. The president has commuted one sentence, and denied  3,793 commutations. Hundreds of other cases, such as Porter’s, have been closed without presidential action.

The Bushes before him were sparing with that power as well. George W. Bush commuted the sentence of Lewis “Scooter” Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney’s former chief of staff — Cheney wanted a pardon. President Bill Clinton stood out for his mercy — most memorably a slew of relief, including clemency for fugitive financier Marc Rich, as Clinton was leaving office. Presidents tend to be most generous with the power as they are leaving office – December is a banner month for clemency.

Washington issued the fewest pardons of any full-term president.

James Garfield issued the fewest, though he was assassinated four months after inauguration.

Franklin Roosevelt was the most generous, yet he had three terms and then some to sign the petitions.

So it’s possible, perhaps, that time still is on O. Henry’s side.

Original post is Presidential Pardons: Few From Obama, and None for O. Henry by Political Capital.

Photograph by Peter Foley/Bloomberg

Former President Bill Clinton, right, introduces his wife Hillary Clinton, at the annual meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) in New York.

As secretary of state, Hillary Clinton made $186,000 a year.

As a former secretary of state, senator from New York, first lady and generally a “Friend of Bill” involved in her husband’s foundation work, she will make more than $200,000 for a single speaking engagement.

So reports Rosie Gray, of Buzzfeed, citing a person familiar.

This places Clinton in the stratosphere of the speaking circuit, along with others who make more than $200,000 for a talk, including her husband, the former president of the United States, and Arnold Schwarzenegger, former governor of California, action film star and champion body-builder.

Politico’s Playbook this week first reported Clinton’s admission to the club, noting that she also will “likely do some speeches for no fee for causes she champions, and expects to occasionally donate her fees for charitable purposes.”

By Buzzfeed’s count, that paid speaking circuit is worth $200,000 to $250,000 a pop for Schwarzenegger, $150,000 a talk for former President George W. Bush and $100,000 a year for his vice president, Dick Cheney. Sarah Palin, the former governor of Alaska and Republican candidate for vice president in 2008, draws $75,000 to $100,000. Joe Scarborough, the MSNBC talk show host and former Republican congressman from Florida, pulls in $45,000.

Original post is Hillary Clinton’s $200,000-Plus Talking Points: Major League Speaker by Political Capital.

Photograph by Daniel Acker/Bloomberg

Representative Dennis Kucinich, a Democrat from Ohio, greets delegates at the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Sept. 4, 2012.

To the losers go the TV deals:

This just in from The Plain Dealer and wires: Cleveland’s own Dennis Kucinich, the retired congressman and liberal firebrand, has a new assignment.

FOX News contributor.

Kucinich, 66, a former Cleveland mayor as well as congressman, will debut in his new role on ““The O’Reilly Factor” at 8 p.m. He’ll soon appear on a variety of other Fox programs as well, the Plain Dealer reports, sometimes once a week, sometimes more often.

“I’m really looking forward to it,” Kucinich told his hometown paper in a telephone interview. “I’ve had a good relationship with Fox over the years. They’ve always been open to letting me express my point of view.”

He has signed a multi-year contract, but would not discuss the terms. As for the possibility of getting rich off TV, he said, “I never look at the world in those terms.”

The deal came together quickly, he says after Fox invited him to New York. “This was not negotiated by an agent.”

Fox News Chairman Roger Ailes says he’s always been impressed with Kucinich’s fearlessness and thoughtfulness on the issues, according to the Associated Press, which was first with the story. “His willingness to take a stand from his point of view makes him a valuable voice in our country’s debate,” Ailes said in a statement emailed to The Plain Dealer.

Kucinich’s erstwhile desire to impeach former Vice President Dick Cheney didn’t stand in the way of his TV career.

Redistricting stood in the way of his congressional future, however — he lost his Democratic primary to another member last year after the two were drawn into the same Cleveland-area boundaries. Democrat Marcy Kaptur of Toledo took over.

Then again, losing has never stood in the way of Fox contributors: Sarah Palin ran for vice president and lost. Mike Huckabee ran for president and lost.

Pat Buchanan reigned for a time on CNN and MSNBC after losing a couple of presidential campaigns — the butterfly ballot-vote in Palm Beach was not enough to carry him over the line.

And just as MSNBC needed some right-leaners, even FOX needs a House liberal.

And FOX, too, did sign Karl Rove up today for “four more years.”

(He was a winner in 2000 and 2004, though a loser in ’12.)

Original post is Kucinich to Fox: ‘Open’ to His Views by Political Capital.

Photograph by Carolyn Kaster/AP Photo

President Barack Obama announces his nomination of former Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel, center, as the new Defense Secretary, next to current Defense Secretary, Leon Panetta, left.

Chuck Hagel, the president notes, stands to become the first enlisted man to serve as secretary of defense.

If confirmed by the Senate where he once served with his brother, he’ll be one of few secretaries who have been wounded in war, and the first veteran of the Vietnam War to do so.

The Republican from Nebraska stands in one well-trod path at the Pentagon, however: Bill Clinton, a Democrat, tapped Senator William Cohen of Maine, a Republican, to run the Pentagon. President Barack Obama, a Democrat, kept Republican President George W. Bush’s last secretary of defense, Robert Gates for a time. And in a capital where Republicans are itching to cut the federal budget, Hagel stands ready to do so.

A decorated war hero who still carries shrapnel from his service, Hagel views war as “the last resort that we, a nation, a people, call upon to settle a dispute.” He said so in a 2002 interview for the Veterans History Project of the American Folklife Center. “There’s no glory, only suffering in war.”

He made his fortune in telecommunications, founding a cellular company later acquired by AT&T, so he’s unlikely angling for some big defense contracting work such as that which Dick Cheney found at Haliburton after running the Pentagon.

He served 12 years in the Senate, and made a lot of enemies along the way — particularly in his own party, as Bloomberg’s David Lerman writes in a profile of Obama’s nominee for defense secretary.

The animosity that Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina displays for Hagel today in a promised confirmation fight probably has more to do with the way Hagel clashed with Graham, Sen. John McCain and others in opposing the  2007 surge of U.S. troops in Iraq than Graham’s stated objections about Hagel’s support for Israel. Hagel also declined to endorse McCain, a fellow Vietnam veteran who was held prisoner of war for five and a half years, in his campaign for president in 2008.

“Maybe I have no political future,” Hagel said at a Senate hearing during the Iraq surge debate. “I don’t care about that. But I don’t ever want to look back and have the regret that I didn’t have the courage and I didn’t do what I could to at least project something.”

For all the reasons noted at the start, Obama calls Hagel’s potential leadership of the military “historic.”

“Maybe most importantly,” Obama said, “Chuck knows that war is not an abstraction.” Just as “Sergeant Hagel was there for his own brother,” rescued from battle in Vietnam, “Secretary Hagel” will be there for the troops, he said: “They see one of their own.”

Original post is Sergeant Hagel: `No Political Future’ — Merely Historic Pentagon Nominee by Political Capital.

Photograph by Shawn Thew/AFP via Getty Images

Former Vice President Dick Cheney with former President George Herbert Walker Bush in this file photo.

Former President George H.W. Bush and former Vice President Dick Cheney will headline fundraising events in Texas for Republican nominee Mitt Romney in the coming days.

Cheney, who hosted a Romney fundraiser in July at his home in the mountain village of Jackson Hole, will be in Dallas tonight, according to a campaign official not authorized to discuss the event.

Bush, the 41st U.S. president, and employer of Cheney as secretary of defense,  is scheduled to headline a fundraiser next week in Houston.

The events were reported earlier by the Dallas Morning News and CNN.

Original post is Cheney, Bush 41 Headline Romney Fundraisers in Texas by Political Capital.