Congress: How We Spent Our Summer Vacation

The National Journal‘s Michael Catalini spent his summer vacation cataloging what legislative leaders did on theirs.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV): “Put Pete Rose in the Hall of Fame!”

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY): Watched his aide Jesse Benton holding his nose.

Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL): Compiled an “Enemies List.”

Senate Minority Whip John Cornyn (R-TX): Got put on the Enemies List of FreedomWorks.

House Speaker John Boehner (R, OH-8): Played golf with Donald Trump.

Sue Lowden’s chickens come home to roost.

Sue Lowden, former state senator and state Republican Party chairwoman, lost the Nevada Republican senatorial primary to the toast of the Tea Party,  Sharron Angle, a former Nevada state assemblywoman. Ms. Angle bucked the trend in other states, where insiders won primary battles. but this was no ordinary race. Nevada is a conservative state with legal prostitution and gambling, the highest percentage of foreclosures in the nation, and massive unemployment. It also had Ms. Lowden, whose idea of health care reform is bartering chickens for medical services, and Ms. Angle, funded by the national Tea Party Express.