Bush has his own nicknames for Utahns as well: He calls U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt “Mikey” and, sources now confirm, Republican Rep. Rob Bishop is referred to as “Big Boy." Rep. Chris Cannon is the "Big Cannon" or "my buddy Cannon," and Sen. Orrin Hatch is, on rare occasions, the "Hatch-o."
Sen. Bob Bennett's tall stature might lend him to a nickname such as “stretch,” “beanpole,” or in ironic reverse, “shorty.” But Bush, we're told, just calls him Bob.
Romney 2008: OK, OK, he isn't running yet. But that doesn't mean you can't buy pins, shirts and bumper stickers for the Mitt Romney 2008 presidential campaign. Some eager capitalists are wagering there are some very interested Mitt fans out there and have created several items for sale on www.cafepress.com. The best deal appears to be a 10-pack of Romney 2008 buttons for $10.99, but the pink, “I [heart] Romney” shirt for $20.99 may be too good to pass up.
If you're not a Mitt 2008 fan, you can also buy the usual campaign fare for Sens. Hillary Clinton, John McCain and Evan Bayh, and Rep. Trent Lott. And in case you didn't stock up the first time, Sen. John Kerry.
Spare a dime?: According to PoliticalMoneyline.com, the Goldman Sachs Group Inc. political action committee recently contributed $5,000 to help retire debt that Sen. Bob Bennett has left over from his 1992 Senate race. So far in 2005, Bennett has received $114,600 from PACs to help wipe out $1.27 million in debt left over from the '92 bid. Bennett's backers include PriceWaterhouseCoopers PAC, KPMG PAC, FannieMae PAC, American Bankers Association PAC, Bond PAC, and other financial services political committees. Bennett is chairman of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Subcommittee on Financial Institutions. All $1.27 million in debt is owed by the campaign to Bennett.
Gochnour's back: Natalie Gochnour, who served as spokeswoman for then-Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt and followed him to Washington as a senior adviser at the Environmental Protection Agency and at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is back in Utah.
Gochnour, who says she wants to spend more time with her young family, has taken a job with the Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce as vice president for policy and communications, which means she'll be working on the remake of downtown Salt Lake City and helping push issues for the chamber.
Leavitt said in a statement issued to us that, "She has served in multiple important roles and I'm appreciative of her outstanding performance in each. Salt Lake City will be the beneficiary of her significant energy, keen intelligence, dedication, expertise and the love she has for the state of Utah."
After nearly two years in Washington working for him, Leavitt gave her a quintessential D.C. send-off: lunch at the White House mess in the private Cabinet members-only dining room. Sitting next to Leavitt and Gochnour: Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, who, we bet, usually isn't found lunching at Lamb's.
