BlackBerrys in Hand, Senators Thumb Their Noses at Ban

"The president has a penchant for handing out nicknames . . . and, it's true -- President Bush calls me 'Corndog.' Admittedly, it's not my favorite nickname . . . but it sure beats the heck out of what Senator McCain calls me," joked Cornyn, referring to McCain famously cursing him out last May during negotiations over immigration legislation.

"I'm the man missing a finger -- and over the years there have been a number of wild stories about how I lost my finger. Tonight, the truth will come out. It was a bris gone horribly wrong," cracked Emanuel, who did, indeed, lose the middle finger of his right hand -- but to a meat slicer, not a moyle.

And Cornyn, a freshman, joked that for those who don't know him well, they may recognize him as "someone who got his start on Capitol Hill like so many others . . . as one of Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison's purse boys."

Emanuel, a former Clinton White House aide, said he has learned a lot since those days: "Back then, the words 'stimulus' and 'package' had a whole different meaning."

Race and Religion Baiting

If you thought race was an uncomfortable issue in the Democratic presidential primary, get a load of what's going on in the Democratic primary in the 9th District of Tennessee, in the Memphis area, where a flier paints Jewish Rep. Steven I. Cohen (D-Tenn.) as a Jesus-hater.

"Memphis Congressman Steve Cohen and the JEWS HATE Jesus," blares the flier, which Cohen received in the mail last week.

The flier was circulated by an African American minister, whose name and phone number are printed on it and who confirmed he wrote it, according to the Memphis Commercial Appeal. He is from Murfreesboro, Tenn., which is outside Cohen's district. The flier encourages black leaders in Memphis to "see to it that one and ONLY one black Christian faces this opponent of Christ and Christianity in the 2008 election."

Cohen's main opponent in the Aug. 5 Democratic primary in the predominantly African American district is Nikki Tinker, who is black. A spokesman for Tinker denied any connection to the flier, according to the Commercial Appeal.

Cohen says it was "shocking" to receive the flier, "particularly coming from an African American the week after Dr. King's birthday. This was just such an ignorant and racist and prejudiced type of flier -- it's hard to fathom we're in the 21st century."

Cohen battled racial and religious innuendo in his 2006 campaign for Congress, but not anything as blunt as the flier he received last week. After winning, he tried unsuccessfully to become the first white member of the Congressional Black Caucus.

"It's a kink in my armor," Cohen says. "I'm always going to be white. I don't have to always be Jewish -- but I am, and will be."

A Starbucks Run

Rep. John Shadegg (R-Ariz.) gave us the scoop on why he announced his retirement this week: It's the coffee.

Shadegg is bummed out that the House-side cafeteria where he has gotten his afternoon coffee for 14 years no longer sells Starbucks. "I can take a lot in the minority: losing votes, not being a subcommittee chairman, but not being able to get Starbucks is unacceptable."

The congressman says the coffee was replaced about two or three weeks ago by something called Pura Vida Fair Trade coffee. "Spare me! There's got to be a kickback somewhere," he groaned.

Actually, word is that Shadegg is leaving the House to train his sights on the Senate, banking on Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) winning the White House and McCain's Senate seat opening up in 2010. Some of Shadegg's colleagues have joked quietly that Shadegg, who is known as one of those members who sleeps on a sofa in his congressional office and showers in the House gym to avoid paying rent on an apartment, is just looking for better quarters in the Senate.

All Shadegg would tell us is, "I continue to believe that the House gym is much nicer." As for whether he's plotting a Senate run, he said, "I'm absolutely not leaving to run for that, but I'm also not ruling out the possibility that I will."