Vito Fossella's Dread Ringer

So much for the war as a major selling point to GOP voters.

Now, Jones has fired another shot across President Bush's bow over the president's frequent use of "signing statements" to give his opinion on -- or even express his intent to ignore -- laws approved by Congress, as our colleague Ben Pershing reported on washingtonpost.com's Capitol Briefing.

Signing statements have become a source of particular controversy during Bush's tenure. Various press reports -- most notably a Pulitzer Prize-winning series by the Boston Globe -- have documented Bush's aggressive use of the documents, prompting critics to deem the practice an unconstitutional end run around Congress.

The Jones bill would require that such statements be disclosed more quickly and more publicly, and it would demand that "executive staff . . . testify on the meaning and justification for presidential signing statements" when the House or Senate Judiciary committees wanted to hear from them.

Jones's bill wouldn't ban the practice of issuing such statements, but it might provide House Democrats with nice fodder for more public excoriation of the Bush administration's alleged hubris and secrecy. It helps Democrats' case that Jones is a Republican. The North Carolinian has made a habit of late of bucking his party, most prominently on the Iraq war.

For the record, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has said he won't issue signing statements if elected president. Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) and Barack Obama (D-Ill.) both have criticized Bush for his handling of the statements, but they haven't gone as far as McCain in vowing to stop writing them altogether.

A Ranking Member

Many authors share the obsession of frequently checking how their books are doing in Amazon's rankings. Some do it hourly, others less often. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has the luxury of delegating the task.

Reid held his book-release party Tuesday night at the Source, Wolfgang Puck's new downtown restaurant adjoining the Newseum. Hundreds of politicians, journalists, lobbyists and others turned out to celebrate publication of the former boxer's new book, "The Good Fight."

Asked how high his book had risen on Amazon's sales list, he immediately answered, "32." (That's actually where the book sales ranked in the political science category, not overall.)

But the senator said he personally has checked his Amazon ranking only once. "I have Susan check," he said.

Susan is Susan McCue, Reid's longtime key adviser and trusted top aide, who, as always, was front and center at Tuesday night's fete.

McCue said she checks Amazon every day for the senator. Yesterday morning she e-mailed that the book was No. 18 among biographies.