I hope everyone saw the quality piece in the NY Times this AM re: Nancy Pelosi's...fashion sense. Way to bring us back 50 years.

Not quite as well known is this piece on Harry Reid:

The winds of change have swept through Washington DC since Harry Reid became Senate Majority Leader. Only one word can be used to describe him: chic.

Looking dapper in his Dolce and Gabbana suit, Sen. Reid reveals "I use a seaweed and peanut face mask every night to keep my skin fresh. When shopping for suits and ties, I always ask myself 'Will this suit make me look fat?'" Reid even conceded that when he was first married, his wife had to get him off of an embarrassing streak of buying ties at K-mart.

What does this have to do with governing? Absolutely nothing, but we still poked around Capitol Hill, asking every male we could find what they thought about Sen. Reid's amazing fashion sense. A sampling of their replies:

Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-MA: I try to wear red ties as much as possible, because red is a power color.

Sen. Sam Brownback, R-KS: I would like to be remembered as a trend setter. I try to wear a lot of navy blue. I think it is a color that commands respect, but it is not as drab as wearing black all the time.

Sen. Tom Coburn, R-OK: I only wear double breasted suits by Armani. They are really flattering on my body type. I also use Mac concealer, and Oil of Olay on my face at night.

Rep. Rodney Alexander, R-LA: I like to think of myself as fashion forward. Sen. Reid is alright, but I think I have a better sense of what will be in style next year. Also, I wear sensible shoes, and sometimes I see Reid trying to pull off shoes that don't work for Congress.

Rep. John Boehner, R-OH: That's odd, someone just came in here to ask me about Speaker Pelosi's fashion sense, and I couldn't stop comparing her to Reid. Reid is someone who has changed style on the Hill for good. He really makes quite a statement with the way he dresses - we're talking lapel pins that change lives, black dress socks that make you want to cry they are so comfortable, etc. But it's really his hairstyle that has made the biggest impact: I always request the Harry Reid style when I go to get my hair cut. I just wished it looked as good on me as it does on him. Oh well.

from NBC First Read:

Interrogating Detainees - Retired Gen. Wes Clark (D) said at UCLA yesterday that "the Bush administration's insistence on more leeway in applying Geneva Convention standards to the interrogation of terrorism detainees runs counter to America's history of observing international law."

I know it's all about the bottom line, but this is awful. From the NYT:

Verizon is not alone in its desire to reduce the number of landlines it owns. Big phone and cable companies are reluctant to upgrade and expand their networks in sparsely populated places where there are not enough customers to justify the investment. Instead, they are funneling billions of dollars into projects in cities and suburbs where the prospects for a decent return are higher.

But those projects are unlikely to reach rural areas of Vermont and other states, leaving millions of people in the Internet�s slow lane, just as high-speed access is becoming more of a necessity than a luxury. The United States already lags behind much of the industrialized world in broadband access.

The rest of the article talks about people that have a hard time finding a job without an email address and Internet access. There is a little "glass is half full" spin - wow, rural people still go to meeting halls because they can't IM.

While it's been encouraging that some rural folks are now getting increased access to broadband, it just seems like there is the potential that in some areas of the country, this will never get better.

Tomorrow, the Women's Vote Center and the DNC are launching TAKE SIX. It's all about getting unmarried women to the polls, because when they do vote, they vote for Democrats. Unfortunately, getting them to vote is often the difficult part because they are busy and tend to move a lot. Which is where we, the PartyBuilders, come in...

TAKE SIX wants you to get six unmarried women to the polls, but you know we can all do better than that.

Sign up here.

I think we can all agree that while the Washington Flyer is "fun" and the Rosslyn bus to Dulles International Airport is the best time in DC, a direct subway line to the airport would make getting to that airport a whole heckuva lot easier for those of us without a car.

The battle thus far has been over whether the line should be above or below ground. Looks like despite Virginia Governor Kaine's best intentions, the line is going above ground. The Washington Business Journal says:

After meeting with federal transit officials and several Virginia congressmen, Kaine has opted for an aerial alignment of a Metrorail extension through Tysons Corner. It's part of a planned $4 billion project that would extend the rail out to Dulles International Airport, and was deemed by Kaine a better option than a tunnel alignment that had "too many unanswered questions" about cost and timing.

I live in DC, so I don't care too much about this, but I wonder if it will affect traffic in and out of the city. I also am curious how long it will really take for it to be up and running.

A NY Times story over the weekend details the tough world high school and college students have graduated into over the past few years. According to the article, young professionals are entering a less than ideal market:

Entry-level wages for college and high school graduates fell by more than 4 percent from 2001 to 2005, after factoring in inflation, according to an analysis of Labor Department data by the Economic Policy Institute. In addition, the percentage of college graduates receiving health and pension benefits in their entry-level jobs has dropped sharply.

Even more disheartening is the idea that young professionals may be delaying buying a first home and even marrying because of the dismal economy.

Some labor experts say wage stagnation and the sharp increase in housing costs over the past decade have delayed workers ages 20 to 35 from buying their first homes.

"People are getting married later, they�re having children later, and they�re buying houses later," said Cecilia E. Rouse, an economist at Princeton University and a co-editor of a forthcoming book on the economics of early adulthood. "There's been a lengthening of the transition to adulthood, and it is very possible that what has happened in the economy is leading to some of these changes."

Most of the statistics cited in the article are from post-2000, making it clear that the Bush economy has left behind key people - young professionals who will form the backbone of the economy in a few decades.

Hope you all saw Saturday's 31-10 victory over Utah. If you didn't, check out www.bruinsnation.com for the full story.

I was watching ESPN last night and heard a lot of good things about QB Ben Olson.

Congratulations to Gautam, the DNC's Deputy Director of Finance in the Mid-Atlantic NE Region.

An update on our boy: Jordan was drafted by the LA Lakers. No word yet on his party affiliation, or whether he'll see any playing time.

For UCLA sports news, nobody beats bruinsnation.com.