We were a little surprised that Rep. Jason Chaffetz's favorite word to say on the House floor wasn't "cot." After all, the freshman Utah Republican loves to talk about how he sleeps on a folding bed in his office to save himself cash.

But, no, Chaffetz's favorite word is apparently "country," according to the new Sunlight Foundation Web site Capitolwords.org, which ranks the words every member of Congress said in the Congressional Record in the last year.

Rep. Rob Bishop's top word is "energy," followed by "river," and then "land," while Rep. Jim Matheson is fond of saying "blue," probably in reference to the fiscally conservative Blue Dog group that he's a part of. Then again, "dog" ranks No. 15 on Matheson's list so maybe he's talking up blue for a different reason.

Sen. Orrin Hatch likes to talk about "oil" and "tax" and "health," but "service" and "country" pop into his Top 10 as well. As for Sen. Bob Bennett, his most used words are "percent," "oil" and "tax," in that order.

By the way, Chaffetz's second favorite word is "look." The word cot doesn't even make it into the top 30. We don't know why.

Dinner date

USA Today is taking Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. to dinner. And not just any dinner -- the White House Correspondents Association dinner. The big gala, also known as the D.C. prom, is a gathering of Washington reporters, stars, politicians and occasionally even American Idol champs. Huntsman is a guest of the nation's biggest newspaper, which also invited the owner of the Chicago White Sox, Jerry Reinsdorf, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and a few television actors, according to the blog FishbowlDC.

PAC men

Earlier this week, members of Congress had to disclose who gave them cash this year and it turns out that just about everyone did. The list of political action committees is pretty impressive, going way beyond the standard health care companies, defense contractors or banks. Here is a sample of some of Rep. Jim Matheson's contributors: American Crystal Sugar Co., National Association of Convenience Stores, National Funeral Director Association and National Ready Mixed Concrete Association.

Matheson, a Democrat, also took money from -- gasp -- tobacco and alcohol companies. Altria Group, the parent company of Phillip Morris, gave him $3,500, while the Wine & Spirits Wholesalers handed over $5,000.

He wasn't alone. Chaffetz, a Republican, accepted $2,500 from the National Beer Wholesalers.

Quote of the week

The famed Boston Tea Party rebellion took place because "parliament decided the East India tea company was too big to fail."

-- Rep. Rob Bishop at one of dozens of "tea parties" around the nation protesting President Barack Obama's financial policies.

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.