Hey everyone... weather has intervened on getting our pre-Iowa Caucus show out tonight, but we'll be getting the ragtag gang of the usual suspects together for a show before our favorite Hawkeyes do their thing. Stay tuned!

... so we're scheduled to record the next Capital Caucus this weekend. It's a good thing nothing happened in politics during our hiatus, right?

It's our pre-4th of July recess spectacular! Join the ragtag gang of the usual suspects as we delve into the summertime goodness of all the goings on in DC. In the meantime, check out a blast from the past... DJ Ted Stevens talkin bout the Internets being a series of tubes...

We were just finally getting over the loss of Don Knotts... now this.

We have lost the genius of Match Game, Cannonball Run II and All Dogs Go to Heaven's Charles Nelson Reilly. Sir, you... shall... be... missed. Here's CNR's "appearance" on Inside the Actor's Studio as our tribute:

We've had some health challenges the past couple of weeks with the ragtag gang of the usual suspects, and that's had to take priority over the show. Looks like we should be back early NEXT week. Thanks for hanging in there with us... clearly there's a lot to talk about!

Happy mother's day! Our usual combination of craziness is delaying our next episode... we're looking at recording next week. In the meantime, let's join the GOP candidates and suck up to people who like to hear the name, "Ronald Reagan."

A bold prediction... the ragtag gang of the usual suspects return for the 26th edition of Capital Caucus next Tuesday.  Will Alberto Gonzales still be the Attorney General?  Will John McCain sing another alternative version of a Beach Boys classic?  Time will tell... have a great weekend!

Scheduling conflicts and the potential bizarre recurrance of whooping cough may push us into next week. I know, I know... "whooping cough?"  Suffice to say either (a) it's making a comeback, or (b) we ran out of decent  health-based excuses for pushing back a Capital Caucus recording session.  I'll let you decide which is the true statement, with the caveat that they may not be mutually exclusive... hmmmmm...

Check it out... we were featured on Yahoo Podcasts this week!  For you new listeners, welcome!  We're hoping to put together a new episode sometime this week... but loyal listeners know that a promise of a new episode and a buck fifty gets you a latte at the Dupont Circle Starbucks... but stay tuned anyways!

Seems that the subject of a certain person's last call from well over a week ago is suddenly making news all over the MSM. How about the coverage of that curious 1984-inspired ad!? Hmmmm... could it be that Capital Caucus is actually the ahead-of-the-curve maverick podcast we all thought it could be?

Nahh.  Just spent enough time digging on YouTube...

New show next week, we think.  Tim's thrown his shoulder out patting himself on the back (and typing in third person).

No podcast tonight as planned... the DC area is getting slammed with - get this - ONE INCH OF ICE!  Grab the kids!  Shutter the doors!  The end may be near!

Um... the hysteria around here over a little winter weather that represents about 3 and a half seconds of what they've experienced in Oswego, NY this week baffles all of us.  That being said, we're bagging the show for the time being. Fun will be made of all of this on the next Capital Caucus...

It's too damn cold in DC to podcast... either that or Kelly's renovating her apartment and Tim's still on island time. In any event, we'll be back with a new Capital Caucus next week!

Greetings all!  Our two month hiatus is just about to expire... we'll be back with a new episode hopefully in the next week or so.  Between jury duty, illness, travel, the holidays and those pesky jobs, the ragtag gang of the usual suspects has been a bit busy of late.  We look forward to bringing you new pop culture politics episodes just as soon as we can find the damn mics... we think Dan has them in Uzbekistan or something.

We'll need a holiday weekend to process the big changes coming down the pike here in DC. On Monday, we'll give you our thoughts, allow some of us to gloat over predictions, and talk about what a Democratic House and Senate will mean for the next 2 years...

In the meantime... let's all gather 'round and watch Rick Santorum concede again...

My personal favorite moment is the shocked "oh NO!!" from one of Santorum's supporters immediately after he says he called Senator-elect Casey. It's almost as if she thought this was going to be a victory speech... Check it out about :45 into the video here:

Looks like the expected happened... House to the Dems... and the less expected is also happening... Senate to the Dems.  Rumsfeld is out... and we get to practice using the term "Madame Speaker" for the first time in US history.  What a day!

We'll let Virginia shake out a bit, let the dust settle, and come out with a new show with our thoughts soon!

We'll probably play some kind of drinking game involving a Congressional district map, a blue marker, a red marker, and some form of frothy beverage made with hops. Oh, and Rick Santorum is wearing a hot pink victory shirt today (like this tie... only hotter, pinker, and um, the whole shirt). We'll miss him.

Apparently, the Houston Chronicle has now picked up the story of Fred Head and the romance novel. The "pornography" charge is still on his website. Good going, Fred.

Regarding Adam's (at the time baseless) bashing of Lamont, seems like the Washington Post was listening to our podcast and rushed this story to print the next day:

Lamont's primary victory drew national attention, but momentum in the Senate race began to change that night...

There followed a series of missteps. Lamont, who had run a skillful, grass-roots primary campaign, left for vacation and his campaign immediately began to flounder.

"We kind of went to sleep," said Tom D'Amore, a senior Lamont adviser. "We were led to understand, as naive as it sounds, that there were forces at work" trying to persuade Lieberman to give up his independent candidacy for the good of the Democratic Party. "They said, 'Don't come out and go too hard on Joe. Give us an opportunity.' " That never happened.

Or to translate:  "John Kerry said taking a vacation just when you've got momentum by winning the primaries is a winning strategy.  Why don't you try windsurfing et al."

Greetings all... Capital Caucus will go to weekly show through the end of election season.  Look for the next episode to hit early next week....

Turns out Adam may have finally gotten a prediction right.  The Washington Post reports today that

No sooner did Congress authorize construction of a 700-mile fence on the U.S.-Mexico border last week than lawmakers rushed to approve separate legislation that ensures it will never be built, at least not as advertised, according to Republican lawmakers and immigration experts.

Florida Republicans have never been the types to listen to polls, or apparently, conventional wisdom.  Despite a near-daily barrage of negative press, embarassing headlines and bizarro behavior, Sunshine State GOPers are poised today to send Katherine Harris to represent them in the race for Florida's U.S. Senate seat.  And why not?  Apparently no other Florida Republican seems to have the gumption to take on Democratic incumbent Senator Bill Nelson, despite earlier thoughts that his seat was vulnerable.  If nobody else wants to run, we at Capital Caucus applaud the state GOPers for giving us all the entertainment value of Rep. Harris.

For that, Florida... we thank you.

And we also thank Flickr's mrbigmuscles for this picture.  ("Me and Katherine Harris at the Langord Park Repbublican Luncheon yesterday. She was nice enough to honor me with a photo.")

With the traditional beginning of election season hitting this Labor Day weekend, we'll be rolling out a new edition of Capital Caucus this week.  Our talented and talentless prognosticators (you be the judge as to whom that applies) will chat about themes, hot races, and other nonsense later in the week.

In the meantime, let's watch Senator Allen look silly.  Again.

We at Capital Caucus don't know whether Sen. Lieberman's campaign site went down due to hackers or failure to pay the bills, or low-end webhosting. 

But we do know one thing.

He should have listened to DJ Teddy Stevens.  You can't just dump a truck on the Internet.  It's a series of tubes.

There are no words...

But enough of the gift that keeps on giving.  The ragtag gang of the usual suspects is eagerly awaiting the results of tomorrow's CT primary.  No, the substance of the outcome is not nearly as intriguing as the "who shall eat crow" issue.  Was Dan correct in predicting a Lamont victory?  Did Tim and Adam foolishly go against the clear tide of public opinion?  ABCs The Note is giving Tim and Adam a glimmer of hope in that department...

Check out the returns tomorrow night and then point your podcatchers to Capital Caucus on Wednesday night for the aftermath...

Summer's a bit slower in DC, and it seems it's made our podcasting schedule a little less regular.  The good news is that we have some interesting things to talk about this next week.  Lamont is making a race of things in CT, and Katherine Harris seems to be losing the support of her own party... but apparently not Republican primary voters, as the only poll she's way ahead in is the FL GOP Senate primary.  All the election news that's fit to jabber about, plus our take on Sen. Kennedy's piece on judges... all in the next Capital Caucus.

Update - seems our schedules are preventing a show this week after all. Apologies to the ever-increasing audience out there, but I have it on somewhat decent authority that we'll be able to put a show together next week. In the interim... check out the crack shot of one Rep. Harris!

I suppose we could have done a show on the Georgia Lt. Governor race... that would be a scintillating 30 minutes of podcast goodness... but we've decided to put off the show another week to see if Katherine Harris implodes a little more.  Is it too long to wait to listen to Dan gloating over the ever-increasing possibility that he was right and the rest of the ragtag gang of the usual suspects were wrong in crystal balling CT primaries?  We think not...

Many have openly wondered where President Bush will go after he leaves the White House... what profession will he leap into? Considering his track record as an oil man and a baseball owner was, ahhhh... mixed... perhaps he's considering a lucrative and rewarding career in the day spa industry? Skeptical? Check out his massage technique on German Chancellor Angela Merkel...

Thank you YouTube!

I will warn you now... headbutt references will dominate tomorrow's show...

Too good... too good. New show on Thursday night!

While we haven't exactly been clogging our show with thoughts on net neutrality, it's certainly an issue that has come to the forefront of the tech and policy crowd. For a very revealing and interesting take on the issue, take a listen to the latest Podcast411 featuring a faux interview with Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska. His spin on defining net-neutrality as a two-tiered system (um, it's not... what the telecoms want would be two-tiered), plus his oft-quoted concept of the internet as a series of "tubes" is frankly, a classic... as is his pronounciation of DeutscheTelecom. Let's just say his German needs a brush-up, and if we had been present, all sense of decorum would have been lost...

New show next week everyone!  We'll have the full ragtag gang of the usual suspects in Studio 3M... tentative topics include judicial nominees, an update on the '06 election, plus a completely soccer-less last call.  We think...

Intro

• Pop-Culture-Politics
• Shownotes at capitalcaucus.com
• Email us at capitalcaucus@gmail.com
• Roundtable intro - all testosterone Entourage edition
  

Judicial

• Hamdan v. Rumsfeld (PDF) - presidential power and enemy detainees
• LULAC v. Perry (PDF) - Texas redistricting
• Randall v. Sorrell (PDF) - campaign finance

Last Call

• Adam - American soccer
• Dan - Fred Phelps
• Tim - Robert Kennedy, Jr.'s Rolling Stone article - will there be lawsuits?

Conclusion

• capitalcaucus.com
• capitalcaucus@gmail.com

Clearly, this shownotes blog (and its author) are as trustworthy as a denial of wrongdoing from Repubican candidates for Georgia lieutenant governor.  (Google it... trust me, it's funny).

BUT, to usher in a new era of accountability... we promise a new show this week, and barring continued biblical rain in DC, it'll go up tomorrow night.

We're comin' at ya with a new show this week... seems like we've gone "Congressional" and become comfortable with a one week on, one week off kinda thing.  Must be in the water or something?

We're unabashed fans of the train wreck that is the Katherine Harris Senate campaign and YouTube. Put them together and you get a classic clip montage... 

A little over a week ago, we shared with you the maniacal math of Speaker Denny Hastert (R-IL). Today, we shake our collective heads in disbelief over Rep. Steve King (R-IA). It seems the good Congressman has been repeating the preposterous notion that it is somehow safer in Iraq than it is here in DC. Apparently, some willful ignorance and that patented "fuzzy math" has him concluding that the death rate is higher per 100,000 in DC than Iraq.

Um, we call bullshit.  Frankly, it's a disgrace to our soldiers who brave a truly dangerous environment that people like King peddle such nonsense.

Congress is taking Memorial "Week" off... so all of America must be enjoying the same benefits as Congress, right? We'll play the same game and come back at you next week with a new show...

Principal Vernon of Breakfast Club fame, RIP...

Um, no.  Actually a family of 4 (with two kids) pays a touch over $3,000 in federal taxes.  I guess 7.5% is now zero.  Fuzzy math indeed.  Check out the full statement here...

Busy week professionally for the ragtag gang of the usual suspects... we'll be back next week with the next edition of Capital Caucus.

In the meantime, check out this little bit of lunacy from the craziest of crazies over at Fox News, courtesy of Media Matters.

On a recent episode of Capital Caucus, Kelly apparently offended a very key demographic... homophobic Charmed fans.

Check out our iTunes commentary for the scoop:

Needless to say, we're going to have to chalk this one up as "lesson learned."

Thanks again to Think Progress!

At this point, it really seems like McClellan is mailing it in. Check out this response to a pretty straightforward question on the infamous "Mission Accomplished" banner... (thanks to ThinkProgress.org)

Thanks to C-SPAN for this pure comic gold (Real Player)

Ok, so we're no Barack Obama... or even Sean Hannity (trust me on that latter one), but the first episode of Capital Caucus launched us into the top 100 political podcasts on iTunes! Currently, the ragtag gang of the usual suspects sits comfortably at number 75... and rising! THANK YOU for your continuing support... if you dig the show, tell your friends all about it. They can subscribe with one click over there on the right side of the page.

Now, the truly amazing thing is that we're doing this without our full team. Succeeding despite the absence of Dan is kinda like Gerry McNamara, hobbled with a gimpy groin hitting those threes in the Big East tourna... what's that Kelly? Stop with the sports? Um, ok...

(go Orange!)

Tim was the featured interview on Darren Main's Inquire Within podcast this week. He discussed the history of Roe v. Wade and the ramifications of the recent law passed in South Dakota that makes virtually all abortions illegal. Check out Darren's podcast at darrenmain.libsyn.com, or download it directly here (mp3).

Next Capital Caucus will be held later in the week. Thanks for listening!

Too much stuff this week... we're still mourning the loss of Don Knotts, and our travel schedules are getting in the way of recording our best show ever. We were also momentarily distracted by the star power at the Court this week. (No, we're not talking about the guy who argued the campaign finance case for Vermont.) Trim Spa baby! We promise... next week!

We mourn the passing of Don Knots, AKA Ralph Furley. Many a lunch has been spent at a local pub renamed the Regal Beagle in honor of the pub downstairs in the fictional Three's Company universe. Needless to say, the mourning period has only begun, but we still plan on bucking up and getting show #1 together next week...

Thanks for hanging on... we've had a lot of initial interest in the show, and we're looking forward to the first edition of Capital Caucus. Look for show #1 sometime next week...

iTunes has us up... be sure to subscribe with the buttons on the right or click here.

Capital Caucus... Inside the beltway, out of the ordinary.