All Quiet on Israel's Eastern Front? Not Quite.

Deal may go to the awards ceremony again this year, he told our colleague Elizabeth Williamson yesterday. He has his own law practice these days and has been working on the MMS's royalty-policy committee, which advises the agency on collecting fees for the oil the industry pumps out of public property. Deal's a "public at large" member -- one of three people on the committee who are supposed to represent non-aligned folks like you and me. "I nominated myself," he said.

And there was a party just yesterday at the main Interior Department auditorium to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the founding of the MMS. MMS invited all Interior employees to come celebrate.

Many surely did. As one Interior wag noted, folks at other Interior agencies are relieved at all the attention MMS is getting. "Thank God for MMS," he said. "They're not going to be coming after us for a while."

Painting a Clinton as Kerry

The Republican National Committee was out quickly this week with an early attack line on presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.). The initial feint is a flip-flop jab, comparing Clinton to the hapless 2004 candidate Sen. John F. Kerry's line about voting for the war in Iraq before voting against it.

"Hillary's Kerryoake on Iraq," the headline said.

"Hillary Campaign Kicks Off With A Kerry Classic: Use Of Force Vote Was Not A Vote For Use Of Force," citing her vote giving Bush authorization to wage war in Iraq. No need for a quotation from Clinton. The ad cited a comment by "Clinton advisor Terry McAuliffe" that sounded much like Kerry's comments.

A Swing Through the Revolving Door

This just in. Homeland Security general counsel Philip J. Perry will resign effective Feb. 6, Secretary Michael Chertoff announced after business hours yesterday, adding that he fully supported Perry's decision "to put his family first."

That would include wife Elizabeth Cheney, daughter of Vice President Cheney, and their five children, the youngest of whom arrived last summer. Liz Cheney has stepped down as principal deputy assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs, although she had time to publish an opinion column yesterday criticizing Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) on Iraq. Our colleague Spencer S. Hsu reports that the vice president's son-in-law will rejoin his the Washington office of his old firm, Latham & Watkins, as a partner in its litigation department.