Oklahoma Sen. James Inhofe greeted Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. just moments before the start of Huntsman's confirmation hearing to become ambassador to China. Then the senator turned to a staffer and asked if any of the nominees were around.
When the staffer pointed at Huntsman, a slightly sheepish Inhofe tried to make amends by making a joke, according to Politico, a D.C. publication. Huntsman displayed his diplomatic skills, responding: "It's OK, sometimes even my wife doesn't recognize me."
Cut Inhofe some slack for the faux pas, it was his first day as a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Delaware sports betting bugs Hatch
Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch fired off a letter to the U.S. attorney general this week asking that he step in before Delaware starts allowing people to bet on individual sporting events.
The letter is in reaction to the First State's budget saving effort to add sports books to its casinos. The move might help Delaware's bottom line, but Hatch says it could hurt sports.
"Sports betting threatens the integrity of the pastimes our citizens enjoy and the nature of the games they follow," Hatch wrote along with Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz.
Delaware is one of the states grandfathered into a federal regulation on sports gambling, but Hatch is wagering the state violated the law.
An honest freshman mistake
Utah Rep. Jason Chaffetz strode into the House Natural Resources subcommittee meeting on National Parks, took his seat and, when called on, launched into his opening statement about water projects, including a bill he's sponsoring that would impact Magna.
Chaffetz was gently informed that he was in the wrong room and that the subcommittee on water was meeting just a few doors down at exactly the same time.
He took the freshman mistake in stride, sending a message to his Twitter followers that said: "Funny that I initially went to the wrong Nat Res committee mtg and started my statement. Just wanted everyone to know."
Coleman's loss is Bennett's gain
Senate Republican leaders gave Utah's Bob Bennett a nice new committee assignment this week, filling in gaps made when Minnesota Sen. Al Franken overcame legal challenges in the tight race with former Republican Sen. Norm Coleman.
Bennett is now the newest member on the Senate Homeland Security Committee, which also oversees such things as the post office and Census Bureau.
The decision gives Bennett a pretty hefty dose of hearings to attend. He is also a member of the banking committee, joint economic committee, energy and natural resources and the powerful appropriations committee.
Oh, and don't forget the sexy Senate Rules and Administration Committee. He got to walk in the inaugural parade because of that one.
Short-winded Hatch
Senators, more comfortable making speeches than asking questions, turned the confirmation hearing for Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor into a gabfest.
But Hatch wasn't playing along.
Politico counted up the words during the week-long hearing and it turns out Hatch spoke less than any other Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee.
During his 60 minutes of questions for nominee Sonia Sotomayor, Hatch uttered 3,583 words, compared with 8,071 from Arizona Republican Sen. Jon Kyl.
Outside of the committee chairman, Democrats were less verbose than their counterparts, mostly because they already had an affinity for President Barack Obama's pick.
The impetus for the word count? Now-Vice President Joe Biden famously took 12 minutes to ask Samuel Alito one question in 2006.
Burr and Canham report for The Salt Lake Tribune from Washington. They can be reached at tburr@sltrib.com or mcanham@sltrib.com. For more political tidbits, visit http://blogs.sltrib.com/utahpolitics.
