Halfway through the Fellowship

It's hard to believe that I've already been here for six months. I feel as if I'm just starting to figure out my role, my way around, and my opportunities. I want more time...

I’ve been away for a week, and the Senate was apparently trying to eeck out legislation on Medicare, housing and foreclosure fixes and some other measures that just didn’t get enough votes – on one issue they were one vote short of getting cloture (that magic 60 votes) to be able to debate the bill.

Lobbyists (the “K” Street gangs) are preparing their clients for a new White House administration, which means new relationship to establish to find the side and back door. Guesses around town are a VP pick for candidate McCain of either Mitt Romney or Mike Huckabee, and for candidate Obama, possibly Senator Biden, and the generally thinking is not likely Senator Clinton. There’s constant scrutiny, debate, gossip and coverage of the candidates, their past speeches and remarks, etc. I think it’s unreasonable and it seems to reduce the likelihood of seeing authentic candidates.

Early last week I heard that Senator Clinton was returning to the Senate at about 1pm that day, so a group of us decided to join a growing group of tourists and other staffers on the steps of the Capitol to greet her upon her return. We waited about 20 minutes (not bad) and her black car pulls around. Security pushes back the group, insisting on a five-foot wide aisle for her entrance. Up she comes in a turquoise blue pants suit, smiling and greeting everyone on both sides.

She shook my hand (!) and I mentioned how proud we were of her. I think her campaign took courage, regardless what you think about her candidacy. What she did was not easy. She greeted almost everyone (except those pushy media, who kept elbowing their way in front of you with their microphones and steno pads), proceeding up to the steps of the Capitol, to the Democratic Senators waiting at their caucus lunch (Republicans have their own caucus lunch on Tuesdays, too), to be followed by votes that afternoon. Catch me on the CNN video clip on their website!

This was my first brush with celebrity, as I don’t see all that many senators in the hallways – they’re usually either behind closed doors, or on the underground subway to the Senate chamber to vote.

I did get a fabulous tour of the new Capitol Visitors Center, scheduled to be open to the public on December 2nd (a historical date for the Capitol – you’ll have to take the tour yourself to learn the story). The space is huge, mirroring the stone and architecture of the existing Capitol, up to date with security and AV features, and much more efficient for visitors. The displays are fascinating (I usually don’t feel this way about museums…), interactive and very well designed. I highly recommend coming once it’s open, and plan on visiting again myself. For more info: http://www.aoc.gov/cvc/.

Tom Fontana, the Project Communications Officer for the Capitol Visitor Center, gave us a tour personally, sprinkling his remarks with great stories, costs and schedule challenging, his conversations with different Congressional leaders, and other gossip. (Such as who reserved the new theater on the Sunday of the 2009 superbowl…) See for yourself: http://www.aoc.gov/cvc/photos/index.cfm. This week is recess, so it’s very quiet - less traffic, meetings, visitors. I’m preparing for my first meeting with the Senator for early next week, and have distilled my public health remarks from 15 pages to 5, and now I have to summarize it down to 2. It’s public health defined, great achievements from the last century and my predictions for this one, the overall problem and upstream solutions, and my focusing on obesity and the built environment, with specific legislative suggestions. I hope to identify a few opportunities that he would be interested in championing (is that a word?).

We have a softball game tomorrow against the best team in the league (I think we’re ranked 2nd), and two of our best players are away for the week; oh well. With summer comes great fruit at the farmers markets, and (I’ll regret thinking this) the weather hasn’t been too unbearable yet.

This weekend is July 4th celebrations – concerts, fireworks, parades, and the annual Smithsonian folk festival on the mall. Fingers crossed for good weather! I’m looking forward to the festivities.

Question: the actual name of the hill the Capitol was built on?