CQ Roll Call’s Susan Benkelman issued an internal memo today to announce two new hires and a newsroom shift. Ambreen Ali will become a technology reporter. Melissa Attias will now cover healthcare. “I’m excited to announce staff additions in two important policy beats, and one personnel shift in the Executive Briefing line,” wrote Benkelman. At the bottom of the memo comes the news that they’ve lost Kathy Wolfe to Politico. Wolfe has been at the pub for a decade. John Boyd will assume her responsibilities at the Executive Briefing on Transportation.

See the memo…
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Jennifer Granholm, former governor of Michigan, just started a new gig hosting “The War Room” on Current TV and now she’s joining Politico as a regular columnist.

“The former Democratic governor is the newest addition to POLITICO’s impressive roster of opinion writers,” said a press release. Granholm’s first column was published last night and future columns will run every other week.

She joins the ranks of Roger Simon and MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough, who are also regular columnists for the publication.

You know it’s a fantastic day in journalism when the American Mustache Institute comes calling. This afternoon they sent us a pitch about the Stache Act, a bill they say is being spearheaded by the mustachioed Rep. Roscoe Bartlett (R-Md.). The Institute claims that he plans to propose to the House Ways and Means Committee. The gist is that mustache maintenance should be tax deductible. According to the Institute’s website, if adopted by Congress, the STACHE Act would provide up to a $250 annual tax refund for Mustached Americans. We’ve called and emailed Bartlett’s office for more details and to confirm the congressman’s alleged seriousness on the matter.

Favorite line of the pitch: “As you probably know, last week on the west lawn of the U.S. Capitol, the American Mustache Institute launched its Million Mustache March.” Actually, we didn’t know. But we’re ecstatic to learn about such a march.

The AMI (which stands for American Mustache Institute, but say “AMI” for a more insidery effect) lists guidelines for anyone wishing  to support their cause. To pledge support they ask that you do the following..Favorite line: “Continue my mustache growth in the extremely rare case that it causes significant decreases in sexual activity, friendships, and approval by society at large.” The AMI disclaimer about how mustache aficionados wear them at their own risk is also incredible. They bear no responsibility for mustaches that make men look like child molesters. See that after the jump…UPDATE from Bartlett’s office after the jump…

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Don’t expect FNC Prez Roger Ailes to be on the guest list, or anyone from The Daily Caller for that matter. But this weekend, former MMFAers Eric Burns and Karl Frisch, now of Bullfight Strategies, are coming together to host a joint birthday party. Frisch is also a syndicated columnist.

Will the birthday cake say “F–k Fox?”

The invitation is as follows:

They attacked Tom DeLay and the culture of corruption in Congress together on the House Rules Committee. They battled Fox News and the right-wing noise machine together at Media Matters. Now they duke it out for their clients at Bullfight Strategies. The only fight Eric Burns and Karl Frisch seem to be losing is the one with age. Please join us for a party celebrating their respective birthdays at BLANK on Saturday, March 3, 2012 upstairs at BLANK.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has jumped back into her signature look: The pantsuit. Here she is looking eager and kind of Callista Gingrich-ish in this monochrome outfit on her way to the Senate building.

Photos via Colin Drummond with Celebrity Q&A.

While CNN commentator Roland Martin continues to serve his suspension for his comments on Twitter, we cannot help but admit that we are addicted to him. At first, it was a natural curiosity to see what he would tweet while on suspension. But, we have been genuinely swept up in the enigma that is Roland Martin. His suspension may be the best thing that ever happened to his Twitter feed because it seems as that’s ALL he does all day. So, let’s just take a stroll through some of our favorite Martin tweets of the last few days.

Parents, please monitor what your kids are saying on Facebook and Twitter. That’s a peak into their minds and lives.

— rolandsmartin (@rolandsmartin) February 28, 2012

Big Brother Martin is right there with the parenting advice. He suggests that if more parents took a “peak” into the lives of their kids, we wouldn’t have the societal problems that we have today. One of history’s greatest teachers once said, “I believe the children are our future. Teach them well and let them lead the way. Show them all the beauty they possess inside.” Martin also took a turn into the world of sports. This caused a slight bit of panic, since this is where he got in trouble in the first place. But, he lightheartedly makes fun of the rain-delayed Daytona 500 and says he’d rather watch S.E. Cupp’s tweets about the event since she’s a “NASCAR nut.”

Martin then had an exchange with African-American author Michael Eric Dyson over the use of the “N-word.” Dyson seems to think that there are certain moments when it’s appropriate to use the word, while Martin applies his “zero tolerance” policy to it.

@rolandsmartin @paragon720 @everydaylavan @drjamespeterson No worries. You don’t. King did. To each his own man! — Michael Eric Dyson (@MichaelEDyson) February 26, 2012

We’re with Roland on this one. But, at least he’s not shying away from controversial topics on Twitter. At least for now. But, if he screws up, we’ll be there with another edition of What’s Roland Tweeting. Even if he doesn’t, we’ll still be there. We’re hooked.

We reported last week that Anne Kristol, daughter of The Weekly Standard‘s Editor-in-Chief Bill Kristol, recently got hitched to Matthew Continetti, who works at — you guessed it — The Weekly Standard. But we also learned of more fertile ground at the magazine.

As it happens, Publisher Terry Eastland‘s daughter, Katie Eastland, who works at Commentary and previously The Weekly Standard as an assistant editor, is dating  Robert Messenger, a Books Editor at WSJ who previously wrote for The Weekly Standard.

The pair may be heading toward the chapel themselves — this pis her profile picture on Facebook. Comments include, “It’s about time!” and “Congratulations!! You and Robert look very cute together” and “fiiiiiiiinally!”

Quotes of the Day

GONE TO THE DOGS: ABC7 Stephen Tschida‘s new Twitter picture: His English Toy Spaniels, Henry James and F. Scott. “Wow, just saw my new twitter photo. much better than the ‘Kathy Bates/Christopher Walken’ shot. don’t you think?”

Romney gives Baier lame excuse

“Tried to talk one on one with gov Romney even for a few questions but were told there was no time – we’ll try again down the road.” — FNC’s Bret Baier, who royally pissed off Romney during an interview earlier in the campaign season.

The power of ‘timeout’

“Actually my 2-y/o likes going into timeout. He goes if the word is even mentioned.” — Washington Examiner‘s Political Columnist Tim Carney.

Self-deprecating Buttry

“Hotel breakfast room TV is doing a Dancing w/ Stars thing. Didn’t catch all the ‘stars,’ but didn’t recognize those I did see. That may say more about me than it does about the stars.” — JRC’s Community Outreach Director Steve Buttry.

Kat Fight

“Mika Brzezinski=idiot? She asked ‘What if another country burned our flag?’ Lady, that happens every single day. Geeze. This is journalism?”– Houston Chronicle blogger and Newsbuster’s Kat McKinley.

To cash in on the election year hype, Jeopardy has announced that they’re coming to Washington D.C. for their “Power Players” week. Longtime host of the show, Alex Trebek will be testing the knowledge of “political figures, authors, journalists and newsmakers.” While there’s still no word on WHO those contestants will be, we’re hoping to see Meghan McCain have to choose “Emoticons for 400, Alex.” We spoke to Paul Woodhull, from Media Syndication Services. He had a successful run as Jeopardy champion in 1986. As some of us know, UrbanDaddy’s smartypants Jeff Dufour had a relatively successful run at being on the show last year.

We wanted to find out how to succeed at the game show. Woodhull tells us, “If Alex likes you, he’ll help you. Just the tone he takes and the way he addresses you.” Good to know. Butter up the host should work just fine in this town of schmoozers. Woodhull also says, “DO NOT GUESS. If you don’t know the answer, don’t try to answer.” A canned Trebek says in a release, ““I’m thrilled about going to Washington, D.C. and hosting the show in front of such a large audience.”     “The Power Players shows will not only be incredibly entertaining to watch, but also enlightening.” Enlightening, Alex!? You really think so? It must have been a LONG time since he’s been to Washington, because when it comes to enlightenment, Washington is about as deep as it’s iconic reflecting pool.

The shows will tape on April 20 and 21 at DAR Constitution Hall and will air locally on WJLA the week of May 14-18. Visit www.jeopardy.com for details.

WaPo released a new iPad app today. It focuses exclusively on the publication’s political news coverage.

“This app is ideal for those interested in the 2012 presidential campaign,” the app’s description reads. Formatted for the iPad’s larger screen, emphasis is placed on graphs, charts, maps and other original graphics rather than text.

The app is free, but for $2.99 a month, subscribers get access to “an aggregation of blogs,” “campaign files” and new stuff in the future. The blogs aren’t named, the “campaign files” aren’t specified and there are no hints as to what the new features will be. Sounds a little vague and who wants to pay $2.99 without knowing what they’re actually purchasing?

Since it was just released today, the app only has two reviews in the Apple app store. Predictably, they’re positive, written by the completely made up authentically named “Jas123456789,” and “PB6391.”

They gave the app the maximum five-star rating.