Amy Walter is Editor-in-Chief of National Journal’s The Hotline. She has a weekly column on National Journal.com. She’s a regular contributor to PBS’s “The Newshour with Jim Lehrer”. She regularly appears on CNN and CBS’s “Face the Nation”. She has been a guest on HBO’s “Real Time With Bill Mahr”.

If you were a carbonated beverage which would you be? Tie between Diet Coke and Lime Seltzer. I suspect the caffeine would break the tie.

How often do you Google yourself? I do have a “Google” alert but mostly it just keeps me up to date on the latest news from Walter Matthau and anyone named Amy.

Who is your favorite working journalist? Judy Woodruff. A class act all around. One of the most generous people I’ve ever known.

Did you see “Twilight” and “New Moon”? If so, who is more your type, Edward or Jacob? Nope. I have enough weird obsessions. I can’t really get into the whole Vampire thing too.

Who would you rather have dinner with – First Lady Michelle Obama or Bestselling Author Sarah Palin? M. Obama. She’d have MUCH more interesting gossip.

When did you last cry and why? Anytime “Abby” from “The Biggest Loser” was featured. Her heart wrenching story (she lost her two kids and husband in a car accident), gave some true “meaning” to this otherwise mindless reality show.

What swear word do you use most often? Goddammit

See full interview after the jump…

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Newsmax surveyed congressional staffers, lobbyists, and former members of Congress to come up with their “Popularity Contest 2009″ list. The list outlines the most hated and most loved legislators of this year.

Topping the list of “most loved” is Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN), Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX).

Most hated? Sen. Arlen Specter (D-PA), Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX), Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX).

Check out Newsmax for the full list and explanations.

CBS’ Face the Nation: WH Press Sec. Robert Gibbs. Roundtable with former Sen. Charles Hagel and Former Rep. Lee Hamilton.

ABC’s This Week w/ Jake Tapper (Steph on vacay): Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius, Sen. Arlen Specter (D-PA) and Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT). Rountable with Donna Brazile, Nat. Journal’s Ron Brownstein, Anne Kornblut of WaPo, Rep. Strategist Ed Gillespie

NBC’s Meet the Press: Senator Tom Coburn, former Congressman Dick Armey, MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow, Gov. Bill Ritter, Rep. Charlie Rangel, former Senator Tom Daschle and Chamber of Commerce’s Executive VP of Government Affairs Bruce Josten

Fox News Sunday: Sen. Kent Conrad(D), Sen. Richard Shelby(R),
J. James Rohack, M.D., President of the American Medical Association, John Rother, Executive Vice President for Policy and Strategy at AARP.

CNN’s State of the Union with John King: Sec. Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius and Rep. Mike Ross (D-AR) on health care. James Carville and Mary Matalin on “Sound of Sunday.”

CNN’s Reliable Sources with Howard Kurtz: NYT’s Jeff Zeleny, Conservative Commentator Amy Holmes, WaPo’s Ruth Marcus on coverage of health care town hall. Pop culture analyst Lola Ogunnaike and Balto Sun’s TV critic David Zurawik on Kate Gosselin & Octo-mom reality series.

CNN’s GPS with Fareed Zakaria: Sec. of State Hillary Clinton, Michael Oren, Israeli Ambassador to the US and Prime Minister of Kenya Raila Odinga.

NBC’s The Chris Matthews Show: Richard Stengel, managing editor, TIME; Trish Regan of CNBC; John Heilemann of New York Magazine; and Kathleen Parker, Washington Post columnist.

Washington Week with Gwen Ifill and National Journal: Janet Hook of the Los Angeles Times, TIME Mag’s Michael Duffy, Nat. Journal’s James Kitfield and Janine Zacharia of Bloomberg News.

Bloomberg’s Political Capital with Al Hunt:

We’ll update as we learn them.

So our headline has become a bit misleading…really should read “Weekend Show Preview.” That said, I think it is just about complete.

NBC’s Meet the Press with David Gregory: Chairman of the Judiciary Committee Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) to discuss Sotomayor confirmation hearings.

ABC’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos: Sens. Charles Schumer (D-NY) and John Cornyn (R-TX) and roundtable with former Bush adviser Ed Gillespie, PBS’ Gwen Ifill, New York Times columnist and Nobel laureate Paul Krugman, and ABC News’ Legal correspondent Jan Crawford Greenburg and columnist George Will will discuss the impact of a potential GM bankruptcy, the North Korean nuclear threat, and the rest of the week’s politics.

CBS’ Face the Nation with Bob Schieffer: Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA)and Jon Kyl (R-AZ) and roundtable with WaPo’s Bob Woodward and NYT’s David Brooks

Washington Week with Gwen Ifill: Peter Baker of The New York Times, Joan Biskupic of USA Today and James Kitfield of National Journal will have analysis of the Obama administration’s efforts to stop the spread of nuclear weapons and secure a new arms reduction treaty with Moscow.

Bloomberg’s Political Capital w/ Al Hunt: World Bank president Robert Zoellick will discuss global financial conditions.

Fox News Sunday: Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) with Sen. Arlen Specter (D-PA) and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney.

CNN’s State of the Union with John King: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) to discuss Obama’s Sotomayor nom., the economy and the future of the GOP.

Roll Call TV with Robert Traynham: Rachel Brand, Former Assistant Attorney General; Emily Pierce, David Drucker and Emily Heil from RC newspaper.

The Chris Matthews Show: NY Mag’s John Heilemann, NYT’s Helene Cooper,NBC DC Bureau Chief Mark Whitaker, WaPo’s Anne Kornblut will discuss Sotomayor and the Prez’s trip to Egypt.

CNN’s Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer: David Axelrod & Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT)on Sotomayor, Rep. Joe Sestak (D-PA)on Penn Senate race, Alberto Gonzales on interrogation investigations and Richard Ben-Veniste on his new book “The Emperor’s New Clothes.”

FAREED ZAKARIA GPS: Henry Kissinger on diplomacy with rivals, Selig Harrison and Charles Prichard on N. Korea tests, Joshua Cooper Ramo and Niall Ferguson on global recession.

An iconic group from Capitol Hill, K Street, NIH and the media gathered at the home of Marina and Daniel Ein‘s home on Thursday to celebrate the publication of Michael Smerconish‘s new book, Morning Drive: Things I Wish I Knew Before I Started Talking.

Folks chattered about Pennsylvania politics (Senator Arlen Specter‘s chances for re-election post-party swap…deemed “excellent” by most) and swine flu. MSNBC Hardball host Chris Matthews extracted an “I’m not running for the Senate” from popular Democratic Pennsylvania Congressman Patrick Murphy while former Senator Ted Stevens talked up WaPo’s MaryAnn Akers.

Roll Call reporters Tory Newmyer, Emily Heil and long-time Chicago Sun Times bureau chief Lynn Sweet made the fete and celebrity biographer Kitty Kelley mixed it up with Politics Mag’s Boyce Upholt.

Chris Matthews and Rep. Patrick Murphy (D-PA)

Chicago Sun Times Washington Bureau Chief Lynn Sweet and Biographer Kitty Kelley

Chris Matthews and Michael Smerconish

* All photos courtesy of nobilephoto.com

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Got a blind item, interesting link, funny note, comment, birthday, anniversary or anything of the sort for Morning Reading List? Drop us a line or let us know in the tips box below.

We’ve got your morning mix of media Muesli after the jump…

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Good morning Washington.

Got a blind item, interesting link, funny note, comment, birthday, anniversary or anything of the sort for Morning Reading List? Drop us a line or let us know in the tips box below.

We’ve got your morning mix of media Muesli after the jump…

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Good morning Washington.

Got a blind item, interesting link, funny note, comment, birthday, anniversary or anything of the sort for Morning Reading List? Drop us a line or let us know in the tips box below.

We’ve got your morning mix of media Muesli after the jump…

Read more