In the Loop: Hillary Clinton, Back After a Break

Is Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid playing around with the assignments? Most likely not. Judiciary might be a high-profile committee, but only during times like these. And membership often involves some heavy lifting, some actual preparation, or you can look like a fool. It is not like Appropriations, which is just a question of shoveling out money to the states or the federal government.

BYE, PARTISAN

Noted in passing. . . .

George W. Bush's guests at Camp David just before he left office included Sen. Judd Gregg (R-Vt.) and his wife. They spent the night there just a few weeks before President Obama asked him to be his commerce secretary, the Associated Press reported, based on guest lists it has obtained.

But then Gregg changed his mind about joining the Obama Cabinet. Maybe something Bush said . . .?

THE WAIT IS OVER

It's official: Obama has tapped former Agency for International Development official Aaron Williams to be the Peace Corps' new director.

Williams, a former Peace Corps volunteer, is the vice president for international business development with RTI International and has helped develop and manage aid programs in Africa, Latin America, the Middle East and Asia.

CORRECTION

While news accounts have reported that Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) used the word "extortion" when talking about conversations with his former chief of staff Doug Hampton regarding Ensign's affair with Hampton's wife, we're advised by his office that Ensign has repeatedly declined any comment on this matter and did not use that term himself. An Ensign spokesman had talked of Hampton's "outrageous demands" but didn't use the E-word.

Also, his office says that the alleged $25,000-plus severance payment to the Hamptons that some critics had questioned is part of the generous $96,000 gift Ensign's parents decided to give the Hamptons.