All Blog Posts from Political Hotsheet

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.

Actor Matt Damon has recorded a rather amusing endorsement video for New York City mayor Mike Bloomberg, who is now seeking a third term.

The New York Times notes that the two men filed a scene together Tuesday. Asked how they became friends, Bloomberg quipped, "All young sex symbols know each other."

Check out the video at left. It's a bit slow at first but worth staying with until the end.

Perhaps there was too much dust in the room, or a bad case of allergies prevented NBC's Chuck Todd from covering his mouth when he sneezed as Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius was speaking during Thursday's White House briefing.

Sebelius gave Todd a mock scolding, pantomiming the correct way to cover up a sneeze. She asked the other reporters in the room, "Who's got some Purell? Give that to Mr. Todd right away."

Sebelius jokingly suggested Elmo, fresh off his public health ad campaign which, among other things, promotes sneezing into ones arms, give Todd a special briefing. "Elmo knows how to sneeze," Sebelius quipped.

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Two headline-generating speech interruptions – Rep. Joe Wilson's "You Lie!" outburst from President Obama's health care address and Kanye West's Beyonce-related hijacking of Taylor Swift's microphone at last night's MTV Video Music Awards – have come together in a YouTube video. Check out the 13-second, chuckle-inducing video, which already has more than 150,000 views, below:

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Fox News host Bill O'Reilly, a regular critic of President Obama and other Democrats, has written an "unexpected and glowing tribute to the president's character" in Parade Magazine, Politico reports.

In a piece entitled "What President Obama Can Teach America's Kids," O'Reilly writes that Americans can learn from, among other things, the president's persistence.

"For example, in 2000, he lost his run for Congress in Illinois," O'Reilly writes. "He could have given up and gone into the private sector where high-salaried jobs awaited him. But he preferred public service. So, just four years later, he ran again, this time winning a U.S. Senate seat."

Staying away from politics, O'Reilly writes that Mr. Obama "has toughed it out and become one of history's great stories."

"What he has achieved in his 48 years is simply astounding," writes the Fox News host. "Consider the odds. The United States is a nation of more than 300 million citizens. Only one person is currently the Commander in Chief. That man had no fatherly guidance, is of mixed race, and had no family connections to guide him into the world of national politics."

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Yesterday, Hotsheet wondered what beer President Obama should offer at his heavily-publicized sit down Thursday with Harvard professor Henry Lewis Gates, Jr. and Cambridge police Sgt. James Crowley.

Our unscientific poll found widespread support for Sam Adams, the presidentially-named brew that comes from the same area where the Gates/Crowley incident took place.

As of this writing, 37 percent voted for the president to serve Sam Adams, while 13 percent said he should serve Budweiser. Nine percent chose Blue Moon, and just two percent pointed to Red Stripe or Becks.

Another 22 percent said the president should go with "something else," while 15 percent said "all of the above."

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters Wednesday that the president has made his decision: According to Gibbs, Mr. Obama will be drinking Bud Light. Gibbs suggested that there will be other beers on offer as well.

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