All Blog Posts from Political Hotsheet

Kristin Davis, the self-proclaimed "Manhattan Madam" who claims that former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer was a frequent client, is vowing to run against Spitzer if he jumps into the race to be New York state comptroller.

Spitzer, who resigned as governor amid revelations that he was "Client number 9" at a high-end escort service, is reportedly considering running for the office.

"I will run firstly to highlight the inequities and sexism in our criminal justice system which penalizes women, minorities and poor people while wealthy, connected white men like Eliot Spitzer evade justice," Davis wrote in a blog post. "Our system that allows Spitzer to walk on money laundering and violating the Mann act (transporting a prostitute across state lines), but sends Plaxico to prison for seven years for shooting himself in the foot is ripe for real reform."

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The annual cultural debate over Christmas has come to Congress.

South Carolina Rep. Henry Brown, Jr. and 18 of his fellow House Republicans this week introduced Resolution 951, which makes it clear that Christmas should not be watered down for political correctness.

"I am troubled by the growing sentiment that the phrase ‘Merry Christmas’ is not appropriate," Brown said in a statement on his web site. "I am worried that attempts to celebrate a 'politically correct' holiday season may cause the loss of some of the traditions sacred to this widely celebrated holiday."

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This year's Hanukkah party has an unexpected guest, and he's even brought a song.

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, a Mormon, has given the world "Eight Days of Hanukkah," a cheerful pop ballad celebrating the Festival of Lights. The song appears on Tablet, a Web site on Jewish "news, ideas, and culture."

"Anything I can do for the Jewish people, I will do," Mr. Hatch said in an interview with the New York Times. "Mormons believe the Jewish people are the chosen people, just like the Old Testament says."

While his voting record is generally considered to be solidly pro-Israel, Hatch's long songwriting repertoire is mostly Christian and patriotic. "Hanukkah" marks his first attempt at songwriting aimed at a Jewish audience.

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Russell Wiseman, the mayor of Arlington, Tennessee, wrote a post on his Facebook page suggesting President Obama purposely preempted "The Charlie Brown Christmas Special" with his speech on the war in Afghanistan Tuesday evening.

Wiseman suggested the president is Muslim. Many Christians have embraced "The Charlie Brown Christmas Special" for what they percieve as a Christian message.

Here's what Wiseman wrote, as reported by the Commercial Appeal: "Ok, so, this is total crap, we sit the kids down to watch 'The Charlie Brown Christmas Special' and our muslim president is there, what a load.....try to convince me that wasn't done on purpose. Ask the man if he believes that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and he will give you a 10 minute disertation (sic) about it....w...hen the answer should simply be 'yes'...."

"...you obama people need to move to a muslim country...oh wait, that's America....pitiful," he wrote.

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Here's the latest from the Obama Pardon Scoreboard:

People: 0
Turkeys: 1

President Obama has yet to grant any pardons or commutations to people since taking office. Over 1,000 pardon requests are pending for Mr. Obama, who has received 232 since he took office.

He pardoned his first turkey today.

President George W. Bush granted no pardons until Christmas of his second year in office.

At one point, his pardon scoreboard was Turkeys: 4, People: 0.

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Mark Knoller is a CBS News White House correspondent. You can read more of his posts in Hotsheet here. You can also follow him on Twitter here: http://twitter.com/markknoller.

Texas lawmakers wanted to make sure gay people couldn't be married. Instead, it seems, they may have made sure no one can.

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram has the story. Here's what happened: In 2005, Texas voters and the state Legislature approved a Constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage.

But the amendment included the following clause, which was reportedly designed to ban civil unions and domestic partnerships: "This state or a political subdivision of this state may not create or recognize any legal status identical or similar to marriage."

One thing that is "identical…to marriage," of course, is marriage. And Texas Attorney General candidate Barbara Ann Radnofsky, a Democrat, is arguing that the current Attorney General, Republican Greg Abbott, made a "massive mistake" in allowing the language.

"You do not have to have a fancy law degree to read this and understand what it plainly says," she said, according to the Star-Telegram. She called on Abbott to acknowledge the error and consider apologizing.

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At the White House photo-op at the end of President Obama's summit with the leaders of the European Union, he was taken aback when each of the leaders had plenty to say – except one.

"Obviously we'll have to give you more training," Mr. Obama said to EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana (at left), who said he had "nothing to add" after the president and two EU leaders made substantial statements to reporters.

The president made it clear that's not the way it's done on this side of the Atlantic.

"You should understand that the rule in Washington is: even if you don't have anything to say – you should take a long time to say it," said the president to Solana, with tongue-in-cheek.

Mr. Obama also got to demonstrate another rule of the road in Washington: how to decline answering a pointed question from a reporter.

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Is Ukraine's Yulia Tymoshenko (left) the hottest leader in the world?

She is according to the Web site "Hottest Heads of State." The site ranks Tymoshenko as the hottest of its 172 listed world leaders, ahead of second-place Jens Stoltenberg of Norway (who looks a bit like actor Clive Owen), bronze medalist King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck of Bhutan (seen staring soulfully off in the distance), fourth-place finisher Joseph Kabila of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and fifth-place Argentine leader Christina Fernandez de Kirchner, who could plausibly be played by Penelope Cruz.

President Obama doesn't show up on the list until the 15 spot, a respectable finish but hardly what the fans of the sometimes-shirtless president might have hoped.

Still, he beats out some other big names: Among them the oft-shirtless Vladimir Putin of Russia, who comes in at 18; French leader Nicolas Sarkozy, who is married to former model Carla Bruni and finds himself in the 28th spot; Iranian leader and Holocaust-questioner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who lands in 48th place; and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who earns 65th place in the wake of a year of sex scandals.

Berlusconi can at least take solace in the fact that he is far from the bottom five on the list. That group includes Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe, Cuba's Raul Castro and Qatar's Hamid bin Khalifa. The second-least-hot world leader, the site says, is the Vatican's Pope Benedict XVI. And the least hot? That dubious honor goes to North Korean dictator Kim Jong-il, who was previously immortalized as a lonely puppet.

Though the list purports to be a "scientific and unbiased ranking of world leaders in order of hotness," there doesn't seem to be too much scientific about it: The creators say that "hotness is a subjective quality" and that "if you make a convincing enough argument in our 'comments' section, we will adjust the rankings."

Nonetheless, it’s a lot of fun. Check out the whole list here.

Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay is bowing out of the television show "Dancing with the Stars" tonight, People magazine and E! Online report.

The former Republican leader has suffered from stress fractures in both of his feet, and his doctors have advised him to stop dancing.

The injuries didn't stop DeLay from impressing the judges Monday night, dancing a samba in a red, white and blue outfit with a sparkly elephant on the back. He changed into orthopedic booties after his performance, according to People.

"What's a little pain when we can party?" DeLay said Monday night.

Photos: Season 9 of "Dancing with the Stars"
Highlights from Past Seasons

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The most prominent Republican yet to enter the race for the late Ted Kennedy's Senate seat is considered a rising star among the Massachusetts GOP establishment.

However, it turns out the magazine Cosmopolitan pegged State Senator Scott Brown as a hot commodity decades ago, when they named Brown "America's Sexiest Man" and featured a nude centerfold picture of him in 1982. (Check out the nude picture here.)

Back then, Brown was a 22-year-old law student at Boston College who reportedly described himself to the magazine as "a bit of a patriot."

Now 50 years old, Brown announced his candidacy for the Senate seat earlier this month, "casting himself as a fiscal conservative and Washington outsider," the Boston Globe reported. He claims to have never voted for a tax increase in his 11 years in the state legislature, the newspaper reports, and is also known for his advocacy for veterans and victims of sexual abuse.

"We bet he still has an amazing body underneath his suit and tie," Cosmo comments.

As Politico points out, this is one potentially embarrassing photograph that can't be blamed on Facebook.

Fans of pop culture may not only remember Brown's salacious photograph, but his daughter's brush with fame as well -- his daughter Ayla Brown is a Boston College basketball player and was a contestant on the television show "American Idol," the Globe reports.

Read more about filling the vacant Senate seat in Politics Today.