It’s almost time for the Congressional Women’s Softball Game. It’s the annual event that pits female lawmakers against female journalists in a softball game that benefits the “Young Survival Coalition.” It’s always a fun affair, but it’s not something that participating journalists or politicians take lightly. It’s competitive. They practice for weeks leading up to the game and play hard when it comes around.

This time, they’ve even started talking smack in the lead-up to the big game, which takes place on Wednesday, June 26. It all started with NBC’s Kasie Hunt, who tweeted a shot of herself in the batting cages, telling Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz (D-FL) to “look out.”

Wasserman-Schultz responded. Read more

Washington journalists and political onlookers took to Memorial Day much as they would any other day. They flooded Twitter with the gamut of occasionally entertaining and mind-numbing commentary. Some felt some need to lecture their peers, while others had serious matters to address — in one case, a decision to quit drinking, which was later praised by MSNBC’s Al Sharpton. Here we offer 11 ways in which the writers and political types reacted to Memorial Day. Who did it well and who has major room for improvement next year?

A sicky on Memorial Day Weekend sees the glass half full: Shop till you drop!

“You know what you can do a lot of while you’re home sick in bed for 3 days? Online shopping. You can do a lot of online shopping.” — Washingtonian Fashion Editor Kate Bennett.

Troops. What troops? This is my anniversary.

“Memorial Day 2004 I made a decision that changed my life. I haven’t had a drink since.” — GOProud Co-founder Jimmy LaSalvia.

Short, sweet and just right.

“Thank you. #MemorialDay.” — NBC’s Kasie Hunt.

Who better to salute the troops than Sherri Shepherd?

“Thank you to all the veterans who have defended our freedom. And thank you to all military personnel who sacrifice daily. God bless you.” — ABC “The View’s” Co-host Sherri Shepherd, who took a brief break from oversharing to thank the troops.

Reality sets in. The weekend is not a break from murder, wildfires.

“Twelve people were shot in four days over Memorial Day weekend in Baltimore.” — The Baltimore Sun.

“Surging wildfire forced more than 1,000 people, including Memorial Day campers, to evacuate the mountains of California’s Santa Barbara.” — NBC’s Al Roker.

How thoughtful. The Lecturer.

“#MemorialDay: Enjoy the holiday, but take a moment to remember the reason behind it.” — Chicago Book Editor Beth Renaldi, who often has a thing or two to say about Washington politics and journalists. Thank God she reminded us what the day is really about.

The instigator and would-be weatherman tries to incite the progressives.

“It’s 46º (really cold) and snowing in New York on Memorial Day – tell the so-called ‘scientists’ that we want global warming right now!” — Donald Trump.

Fun in the sun!

“Having fun in Chris and April’s pool over the Memorial Day holiday with @DexterVonFrisch.” — Syndicated columnist and Bullfight Strategies’ Karl Frisch. Dexter, his dog, won FBDC’s DogBowl 2011 as the cutest dog in Washington.

But, unfortunately, it’s not all fun and swimming with adorable dogs.

“I officially live in the Ghetto, local store robbed, my pool didn’t open on memorial day and the air condition is broke, shall I name names?” — DC’s answer to paparazzi, Marky Mark, a.k.a. Celebrity photographer Mark Wilkins.

From the Dept. of Bragiculture. Clearly, I won the day.

“I spent Memorial Day with @TeamRubicon, fighting the battle of SW 7th St in Moore, Okla.” — TIME‘s Joe Klein. Read all about it here.

Rounding out Memorial Day on a gay note.

“Standout lead performances from Michael Douglas & Matt Damon in the Liberace biopic light up HBO’s #BehindtheCandelabra.” — Miami Herald feature writer Howard Cohen.

Quotes of the Day

“I think we have enough beer. Maybe not?” — Politico‘s Ginger Gibson.

“The logo has since been changed. Too bad the candidate can’t be changed.” — MSNBC “Hardball” host Chris Matthews on ex-Rep. Anthony Weiner’s skyline screwup on his campaign website.

Boss sends reporter directions to his office

“Boss sent me an invite on Google calendar. Invite helpfully offers me directions to his office, up 4 floors. Thanks, Google.” — National Journal “The Hotline’s” Editor-in-Chief Reid Wilson.

It is what it is…is what it is

“Phrase that should be banned: “It is what it is.” — WaPo‘s Ben Pershing, who linked to this story in WaPo in which Weiner employed the phrase in reaction to women who may come forward with more pictures.

JMart gets new handle  

“Thanks for all the love, folks. Means a lot. New handle: @jmartNYT” — Politico‘s Jonathan Martin, who, as previously reported, landed a new gig at the NYT. We do hope he’ll still be the go-to Twitter guide for 13-year-old girls.

Bad job interview memories…

“Had the most humiliating job interview of my life at ESPN. Good times.” — Mother Jones‘ Nick Baumann.

Convo Between Two Journos

NYT‘s Michael Barbaro: Weiner on Politico today: ““Actual people don’t read that”

Politico‘s Glenn Thrush: “Guess we under-covered his long list of legislative accomplishments.”

IRS Press Office is crap

“I love how all this Lerner stuff is coming from other sources, not the IRS’ utterly unhelpful press office.” – Politico‘s Byron Tau.

Editor has advice for politicians 

“#Protip for pols trying to avoid making news with an answer to a tough question. Start with ‘my position has always been…’” — BuzzFeed Political Editor McKay Coppins.

More Morning Chatter… Read more

Today we’re going off the beaten path to bring you a different kind of Separated at Birth.  We have NBC News’ Kasie Hunt‘s dog, who she calls The Skipper and Sid who belongs to Chuck Holmes, the supervising editor of NPR’s “Morning Edition.”

Uncanny, right?

Ex-Politico staffer Karin Tanabe revealed last night that there will be a sequel to her fictional book The List. “There’s got to be a sequel,” she said at a party celebrating the publication of her first book.

Though The List is a kind of fictional tell-all about Tanabe’s tenure at Politico, several current staffers still showed up to offer congratulations. Former employees showed up as well, including Kendra Marr Chaikind, who was fired from the publication in 2011.

“I wrote it really fast in secrecy,” Tanabe said in a short speech to the room of 70-ish attendees. She started it in the summer of 2011 while still working at Politico. “I was terrified,” she said.

Tanabe acknowledged other Politico “survivors” in the room (some of whom could be heard trading jokes about Politico) and said her book is about “paying homage” to reporters working in today’s new media environment. Of new media, she said, “It’s easier to make your career but also break your career.”

At one point, what appeared to be the cast of D.C. Housewives swooped in and had their photo snapped by the photographer. Among the women (and wearing all sorts of furs and leathers) were… Read more

Quotes of the Day

“Sunrise on the Potomac at Key Bridge in Georgetown.” — NBC Washington cameraman Jim Long with the accompanying photograph.

Convo Between Two Journos

This morning’s conversation is between NYT’s Mark Leibovich and Atlantic’s Molly Ball.

Ball: “Back in the office, and there is a No Labels robocall on my voice mail.”

Leibovich: “I label that annoying…labels can be useful that way.”

Someone swipes journo’s newspaper

“Someone took my newspaper off the lawn. That’s pretty much a felony around these parts. #thissuburbanlife.” — NYT‘s media writer David Carr. (Sign of the times? Yesterday we reported that NBC News reporter Kasie Hunt‘s Advise and Consent was snatched off her doorstep.)

From the Dept. of Bragiculture I: “Congratulations to the Morning Joe team. We were the #1 cable news morning show in Washington DC in the demo. Great job!” — MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough.

The Media Observers

Pro: “Bless @rolandsmartin for bringing the funk to that ridic skeet shooting segment on @OutFrontCNN tonight.” — BuzzFeed‘s Dorsey Shaw.

Con: “Roland Martin, David Frum, and Marsha Blackburn now debating Obama going skeet shooting on Erin Burnett #wtf” — BuzzFeed‘s Zeke Miller.

Important Q to Ponder: “What if most of the outside of our bodies looked like the stuff underneath the tongue? Would we ever have sex?” — WaPo‘s Gene Weingarten. Um, Gene, are you feeling okay?

From the Dept. of Bragiculture II: “Schieffer is very much a man of talking points. He’s giving Kalb the same lines he gave me in our interview in October. For that matter, they’re all saying a lot of the same things they told me in October.” — Politico‘s Dylan Byers at an event with presidential debate moderators put on by Marvin Kalb and the George Washington Global Media Institute. He is, of course, referring to CBS “Face the Nation” host Bob Schieffer, who isn’t characteristically a man of talking points. A question to ask ourselves: Why bother going to events when you can just read Dylan Byers?

Journo spellbound by Shakespeare play

“I’m here @FolgerLibrary for commanding production of Henry V; can’t take my eyes of lead actor; magnetic show so far.” — Bloomberg‘s Stephanie Green.

Politico Playbook publish time: 4:48 a.m.

Breitbart.com editor rips Slate‘s Weigel for being unfunny and a GOP press aide with an occasional temper goes to work for the NRSC. Read more

Quotes of the Day

“No one cares what’s said on Sunday talk shows, Martha.” — NPR’s Steve Inskeep on the ABC “This Week” roundtable, joking to host Martha Raddatz. The joke is in reference to Sec. of State Hillary Clinton‘s remarks before Congress last week in which she said appearing on Sunday talk shows is not her preferred way of spending her Sunday mornings.

Reporter robbed of copy of Advise and Consent

“To whoever stole the $3 copy of Allen Drury’s Pulitzer-winning but out-of-print Advise and Consent off my doorstep: I hope you enjoy it.” — Kasie Hunt, political reporter, NBC News. Hunt told FishbowlDC the book was in a box from Amazon. So far, no leads.

Senator’s parents are named what? 

“In his opening remarks, Biden took note of the presence of the senator’s parents, Moon and Verna Landrieu, as well as many of their nine children and 37 grandchildren. ‘I love these Landrieu family gatherings,’ he said.– A weekend White House VPOTUS Pool Report referring to Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.).

Comedian puts McCain on level of Applebees

“Dear @ThisWeekABC : Bragging about an ‘Exclusive’ interview w/ @SenJohnMcCain is like bragging you scored a table at Applebees.” — Lizz Winstead, comedian and co-creator of “The Daily Show.”

The Geek Squad

“Sitting behind @daveweigel. I can see his computer screen. It’s just a waterfall of raw code like in the matrix.” — NationalReviewOnline‘s Jonah Goldberg in reference to the most wildly popular Boybander around town outside WaPo‘s Ezra Klein. Slate‘s Weigel was spotted at the National Review summit Friday night, where he was standoffish.

Important Q to Ponder: “Which interview serves up more softballs to Obama, TNR or 60 minutes?” — Blake Hounshell, managing editor of Foreign Policy magazine.

Time for better dreams?

“My dream on my next trip to New York: meeting @chrislhayes. My likely reality: missing #uppers because I stayed up too late.” — Jesse Taylor, founder and editor of Pandagon.net. He was previously an internet consultant for Jerry Springer‘s political group, Make Ohio Blue.

Journo irritated by weather

“What the hell is that symbol on Monday, & why will it be 70 one day, snowing 2 days later?”– PBS Political Director Christina Bellantoni.

Spotted: Radio host for 94.7 FreshFM Tommy McFly in the toiletries isle at Target in Columbia Heights.

Unnecessary Tweet of the Day

“Anyone else realize New York is sexist? If there’s a Man-hattan shouldn’t there be a Woman-hattan???” — Ron Meyer Jr., spokesman for American Majority Action.

Peter Ogburn and Eddie Scarry contributed to this report.

Convo Between Two Journos… Read more

Quotes of the Day

“He’ll be insufferable now.” — MSNBC “Morning Joe” Contributor Mike Barnicle reacting to TIME‘s Mark Halperin role in “Game Change” winning four Emmys last night. Halperin wrote the 2010 book that later became a movie with New York magazine’s John Heilemann.

Luke says Dad is among the ghosts

“.@brainsalsa Great shot. He’s there with the ghosts Bruce mentions.” — NBC’s Luke Russert, in reference to a picture from a Bruce Springsteen concert. After Salsa wrote and told him he’s in the front row of a Springsteen concert and misses Luke’s dad “a ton,” Luke tells his new acquaintance that Tim Russert is among the ghosts. Um, creepy?

Arianna says buon giorno to HuffPost Italy 

“Arrived in Rome for the launch of L’Huffington Post Italia.” — AOL-HuffPost Editor-in-Chief Arianna Huffington.

Important Q’s to Ponder: “Why am I sitting in traffic in LA at 7:30 on a Saturday? Don’t people have somewhere to be already?” — Politico‘s Ginger Gibson.

Scribe notices peculiar blend of hotel guests

“Interesting vibe in my hotel. 3 conventions going on: funeral directors, financial planners, Rwandans” — WaPo‘s Karen Tumulty.

Dowd dismisses Stuart Stevens

“You get the sense that the strategist considers himself cooler than the candidate, that he’s too hip to walk through fire for Mitt and that he lacks confidence that Romney could be a better campaigner. He treats Mitt like a cardboard cutout, never asking him to risk anything or pushing him to be big, bold and inspirational.” — NYT Columnist Maureen Dowd in reference to Mitt Romney‘s Campaign Strategist Stuart Stevens in her Sunday column.

Reporters get shaft on Romney plane

“In the 2 hours the press was off Romney plane in SD, a new curtain has been installed to separate the reporters from the staff section.” — NBC News’ Garrett Haake.

Ana Marie unveils her weekend plans

“Boyfriend has mysterious journey planned for bday: ‘wear comfortable clothes, bring toiletries, and something nice for later.’” — The Guardian‘s Ana Marie Cox.

Speaking of the weekend…

“Rihanna, thanks for being the song in my head. Cheers to the freakin’ weekend… I drink to that, yeahh yeahhh.” — Politico Publicist Olivia Petersen.

Preacher Sophia gets prayed up  

“Boy do I have a whole LOT to say-God is doing some stuff in and for me. It’s kinda scary, crazy, wonderful. When I get back 2 VA will share!” — Essence and theGrio.com columnist Sophia Nelson.

Self-appointed media critic

“This MTP roundtable is really good. @JoeNBC vs.Bay Buchanan is exquisite.” — Politico Capitol Hill reporter Jake Sherman temporarily parts with his Phish obsession to watch MTP.

Noteworthy: AP‘s Kasie Hunt appeared on the Fox News Sunday panel for the first time this weekend.

Wednesday night was the 4th annual Congressional Women’s Softball game. It’s one of the official kickoffs of summer for D.C. and it pits a gathering of female journos against a bi-partisan collection of female politicians. The journos were led by team captains Amy Walter from ABC News, Abby Livingston from Roll Call and Brianna Keilar from CNN. The captains for the Congressional team were Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-NH), Rep. Jo Ann Emerson (R-MO) and Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL).

The announcers for the game were Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell. Klobuchar acknowledged early in the game that she might have problems with all the baseball terms since she had spent “all day debating catfish and the farm bill.”

The journos, who call themselves “The Bad News Babes,” got off to an early start with AP’s Kasie Hunt getting a base hit to start the game. The cheering section for the members of Congress was mostly made up of staffers, although Speaker John Boehner and Majority Leader Eric Cantor made appearances.

It wasn’t long before relentless attention whore Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) took over the microphone to help call the game. He said that Gillibrand, who was pitching the the Congressional team, reminded him of “a young Whitey Ford.” This prompted Mitchell to tell the senator it was time for him to “go back to the stands.” Other notables in the crowd included the recently-announced D.C. Bureau Chief for Buzzfeed, John Stanton, Sec. of Labor, Hilda Solis and Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) with his wife, Elizabeth. It’s worth noting that the congressman was on the Bad News Babes side of the field to cheer on his daughter, Jackie Kucinich of USA Today.

Wednesday was the official start of summer and, right on cue, it was hot as hell. So, we can hardly fault John Harwood for guzzling one of the free purple Gatorades being handed out at the game. Also spotted was MSNBC’s Luke Russert sporting this loud pink T-shirt and a backwards Buffalo Bills hat. His buddy, Politico’s Jake Sherman, dressed himself with a little more sanity.

The Bad News Babes poured on the offense for most of the game until House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi arrived late in the game. That’s about the time that the Congressional bats opened up and made the game competitive again. In the end, the press was too much for Congress and they won 13-10. We asked Roll Call’s Meredith Shiner, who went 3-3 in the game what the key to the win was. She says, “Other than the innate killer instincts of reporting applied gracefully to a baseball diamond? My biased analysis is that we out-classed and out-sassed the other side, led by our three tireless captains, Abby, Amy and Bri. My former sports reporting analysis says the key to our win was what I like to call sports amnesia–forgetting the last play or inning and coming back stronger. I was especially impressed by Abby and our third baseman/relief pitcher Gregory Simmons, who even in times of softball duress both showed the mental grit we needed to win.”

Congratulations to the Babes on their win. The event raised awareness for breast cancer and benefited the Young Survivors Network, a group that assists women who have been diagnosed with breast cancer.

Quotes of the Day: The Nearly All Female Cast

The Prognosticator

“Cain isn’t running a campaign, he launched a soap opera.. voters will not want to watch much longer, I suspect.” — WaPo‘s conservative issues blogger Jennifer Rubin.

Anatomy of a sex scandal

“Law of sexual scandal: There is no such thing as two. Either a 1-person thing (Sanford) or lots of women (Weiner, Clinton).” — The Atlantic‘s Garance Franke-Ruta. Of course, this was before the third woman came forward regarding Cain.

Journo wants to set Cain’s COS free

“Why isn’t Mark Block smoking on Fox News right now? Let Block be Block!!” — HuffPost‘s Amanda Terkel.

Editorial disagreements

“I think ‘presidentials’ should be a word, referring to the candidates. But spell check doesn’t agree. Neither does my editor.” — TWT Senior Opinion Writer Emily Miller.

Politico CLICK screws up Bob Barker embargo: At the conclusion of their interview with the ex-game show host who visited Capitol Hill this week to fight for animal rights, they wrote, “Editor’s Note: Due to a production error, POLITICO inadvertently broke the embargo on this story. We regret the error.” The story published at 6:47 a.m. Wednesday morning.

AP’s Hunt steps back and assesses

“Herman Cain campaign manager goes on Fox to demand an apology from Texas Gov. Rick Perry. Somewhere, Mitt Romney is smiling.” — AP‘s Kasie Hunt.

Weingarten launches Mel Gibson’s campaign for Prez

“Man, this GOP field. They need someone comparatively solid and stable and ‘safe’ to get in that race, like Mel Gibson.” — WaPo‘s Gene Weingarten. If this happens, we want Weingarten as Gibson’s Chief of Staff.

Fake Jim predicts what’s next for Cain

“TOMORROW ON POLITICO: Only female employee at NRA not harassed by Cain sues for discrimination” — Fake Jim VandeHei.