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Montgomery County's most frequent presidential candidate, Alan Keyes, and his newly formed American Independent Party filed a lawsuit last week in California Superior Court to require President-elect Barack Obama to verify his citizenship.

Right-wingers on the Internet have claimed for months that the Hawaiian-born Obama was really born in Indonesia, Kenya or Great Britain, depending on the latest variation. The Constitution requires the president to be a native-born citizen.

"I and others are concerned that this issue be properly investigated and decided before Senator Obama takes office," Keyes said. "Otherwise, there will be a serious doubt as to the legitimacy of his tenure. This doubt would also affect the respect people have for the Constitution as the supreme law of the land.

"I hope the issue can be quickly clarified so that the new president can take office under no shadow of doubt. This will be good for him and for the nation."

Keyes, a Gaithersburg resident who waged a losing carpetbagging 2004 bid for U.S. Senate against Obama in Illinois, might be less than truthful about his doing it for the "good" of Obama, in that Hawaiian officials already had verified Obama's birth certificate.

Keyes had run in the primary as a Republican before Sen. John McCain won the party's nomination, then he unsuccessfully sought the presidential nomination for the Constitution Party and the Libertarian Party before the newly formed American Independent Party selected him as its presidential front-runner.

— C. Benjamin Ford

Liberal elite media

or liberal regular media?

Gov. Sarah Palin spent some time on the campaign trail decrying the media establishment, setting off a "shame-shame" taunt of the NBC News booth during her speech at September's Republican National Convention.

One member of the media elite likely will get a bit warmer reception from another Republican woman next month.

Cokie Roberts, the National Public Radio analyst and ABC News commentator, will discuss her new book "Ladies of Liberty: The Women Who Shaped Our Nation" on Dec. 3 at Montgomery College's Rockville campus.

Roberts will be introduced by a woman who shaped Maryland for 16 years as a congresswoman representing the 8th District: Connie Morella.

The book examines the contributions of prominent American women, including Abigail Adams, Margaret Bayard Smith, Martha Jefferson, Eliza Hamilton, Sacajawea and Dolly Madison. It is a companion to "Founding Mothers: The Women Who Raised Our Nation," which looks at some of the women who impacted the lives of the Founding Fathers, including Adams, Martha Washington and Eliza Pinckney.

After losing to Chris Van Hollen in 2002, Morella was U.S. ambassador to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development until late 2007.

— Sean R. Sedam

From State House

to White House?

Last week, Anthony Brown was named co-chairman for veterans affairs on Obama's transition team.

Brown, an Iraq veteran who still serves in the Army Reserve, attended Harvard Law School at the same time as Obama.

The news led a reporter Wednesday to ask Brown if he would be taking on a larger role in his former schoolmate's administration.

"I'm taking everything one day at a time," Brown said, carefully measuring his words. "I'm Maryland's lieutenant governor. I really do enjoy the partnership I have with Governor Martin O'Malley."

Asked whether he'd had any discussions with the Obama camp about a job after Jan. 20, Brown gave some semblance of his original answer.

What he didn't say: "I shall not seek and I shall not accept the nomination of President-elect Obama to any position in his administration."

After all, he's AGB, not LBJ.

— Sean R. Sedam

Bay Bridge ‘Jeopardy!'

Don't confuse Brown with Alex Trebek, but the looie revealed this week that he fashions himself as a titan of trivia.

Brown likes to ask his children trivia questions when they are in the car together, he said during Wednesday's Board of Public Works meeting.

Then Brown, who was guest-hosting the meeting for O'Malley, asked Geoffrey Kolberg how much it costs to inspect both spans of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge.

About $1 million, said Kolberg, chief engineer for the Maryland Transportation Authority.

"Good," Brown replied. "I'm going to be going out to the Eastern Shore during the holiday season. I'm going to ask 'em that one."

But will it count as a "BPW Daily Double?"

— Sean R. Sedam

Pulse of the Dems

Van Hollen, the District 8 congressman who led the Democratic Party's capture of at least 22 more seats in the House of Representatives as chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, will be the latest guest on "Political Pulse" with Charles Duffy.

Van Hollen will discuss the election, the economic bailout, the new Congress' priorities under Obama and the Iraq war.

The show can be seen on Montgomery Municipal Cable Channel 16 at 9:30 p.m. Tuesday and at 9 p.m. Thanksgiving Day.

— Sean R. Sedam

‘My bad'

On Tuesday, MoCo Councilwoman Valerie Ervin publicly chided County Exec Ike Leggett about his proposed ambulance fees, which he said would raise $14 million.

Then, less than two hours later, Ervin learned that Leggett no longer wanted to fund her John F. Kennedy Cluster project, which offers in-school and out-of-school services to black students in her district.

By that night, Ervin believed the funds' pullback was done on purpose, since she had spoken out against the fees.

By Wednesday morning, no one on her staff could find where the funding was cut in Leggett's fiscal 2009 savings plan to close next year's projected $250 million gap.

That's because there was no cut to the project in the savings plan, said Joe Beach, the county's budget director.

By Wednesday night, Ervin's office reversed course and said that the flap was a misunderstanding with Leggett.

The county still plans to put money toward the project — just not as much as anticipated.

"The project is moving forward," said Sonia Healy, Ervin's chief of staff, who added that the "timing wasn't good" between Ervin's fees comments and the funding decision.

Oops!

— Marcus Moore

Franchot's

hot stove league

The season may be over, and the big postseason awards handed out, but Comptroller Peter Franchot still couldn't resist talking baseball at Wednesday's Board of Public Works meeting.

The board voted 2-1, with Franchot opposed, to forgive more than $400,000 in back rent for the Sports Legends Museum at Camden Yards.

Museum director Mike Gibbons cited declining attendance at Orioles games as one reason the museum has struggled to attract visitors.

"I'm a little concerned that the success of the Orioles is tied to the museum," Franchot said. "I love the Orioles, but I don't know if there's significant improvement coming down the road."

— Sean R. Sedam

Brother banter

Mike Steele and Allan Kittleman drew many a quizzical look at the Senate GOP slate fundraiser Monday when they revealed their kinship.

They're brothers.

Well, not really.

But what many in the crowd of roughly 200 supporters may not have known is that the two men were born just one day apart in October 1958, leading to the quasi-sibling sobriquet.

There's even a bit of a playful "sibling" rivalry that exists.

Who's older? Both men say it's the other, but Steele eventually fessed up.

"I'm a day older, but that's all right," he said to chuckles. "I've got the looks, so what can you do?"

"And I've got the hair," Kittleman fired back, eliciting a roar of laughter.

The shiny-scalped Steele took the slight in stride, joking that when Kittleman loses his locks, he'll be sure to get even.

— Alan Brody

Manno rising?

Rarely do first-term lawmakers put on a fundraiser in the shadow of the State House. Venues there are typically reserved for the established pols who draw heavily from the Annapolis lobbying corps and other heavy-hitters.

That's why Roger Manno's $100-a-head breakfast reception Tuesday raised a few eyebrows around State Circle about the rookie's political aspirations.

Much ado about nothing, Manno said. Annapolis was simply a more convenient location for VIPs like Mike Busch, Talmadge Branch, Dereck Davis and Doug Gansler to attend than asking them to trek to Silver Spring during the morning rush.

"I hope that something like this or campaign activities would not be a way of raising one's profile," said Manno. "I think you distinguish yourself by what you do down there on the floor in Annapolis or in committee."

Perish the thought, delegate, that there's patronage in politics!

— Alan Brody

A dark December?

If it isn't bad enough that Congress is weighing a possible bailout for the staggering automobile industry the week before Thanksgiving, there's talk that a lame-duck session will bleed into December.

That prospect, which Steny Hoyer raised during a question-and-answer session at the National Press Club on Tuesday, seemed to draw a collective groan from just about every reporter in the room who had hoped for some post-election R&R between the holidays.

"You have a personal concern about that?" a grinning Hoyer said to one reporter who floated the possibility of a December session. "So do about 434 of my colleagues."

Bummer.

— Alan Brody

Back from basic

When J.B. Jennings returns to Annapolis in January, he's sure to get a lot of double takes.

Since the legislature adjourned in April, the Baltimore County Republican has shed 35 pounds (77 in the past 18 months), and sports a military buzz cut he got during boot camp in Texas.

He also is now officially enlisted as an airman first class in the Maryland Air National Guard after spending seven weeks of "hell" at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio.

It's unlikely any state legislator has had a more eventful interim, one in which Jennings qualified as an expert marksman, hitting 44 of 50 targets from up to 300 yards away with an M-16 rifle.

During basic training, Jennings was virtually cut off from the outside world. He talked to his wife for a total of 20 minutes and had no knowledge of the economic meltdown on Wall Street until reading about it in the airport on the way home.

The physical demands were particularly grueling for Jennings, who, at 34, was the oldest person in his squadron of 58 boot campers (perhaps the oldest trainee at the base) and nine years older than his training instructor.

"It's all about discipline and pushing yourself further and harder than you've ever pushed yourself before and places you didn't think you could go mentally or physically," he said Monday while attending a fundraiser for the Senate GOP slate.

Each day started at 4:15 a.m. with an hour of exercise and went nonstop with training until lights out at 9 p.m. Trainees were given only five minutes to scarf down meals and had to do 20 push-ups for every piece of mail received.

"After about the fifth day, you're kind of a walking zombie, and your body becomes used to it," he said of the long hours and physical challenges.

And even though he's glad to be home, Jennings said he longs for the strict daily regimen.

"When you're there, you hate it, but the minute you leave, you start to miss it."

One byproduct of the experience is that Jennings plans to be more vocal and assertive in Annapolis, instead of assuming the meek demeanor he previously had.

"Most people see me, they don't hear me in Annapolis, but when it comes to situations that you need to be heard, I'm going to make sure I'm more assertive."

— Alan Brody

Late-night laughs

Vinny DeMarco has hit the big time.

Just not the way he might have hoped.

The loose-lipped health care hawk made Jay Leno's monologue — never a good thing — as part of a montage of follically challenged folks who testify on Capitol Hill.

"I'm not sure what that is," Leno deadpanned when DeMarco's 'do was shown.

DeMarco wasn't watching, but found out about the spoof, which aired last Friday, while visiting his son last weekend at the University of Michigan.

A friend had sent DeMarco's son, Tony, the clip while they were together at a hotel near campus. As DeMarco started to nod off, his wife and son shreiked with laughter at dad's cameo.

DeMarco disputed his inclusion on the "Bad Hair on C-SPAN" bit, which featured him testifying recently before a congressional committee on health care at the request of Elijah Cummings.

"Everybody else looked terrible; I looked fine," he reasoned Thursday. "I don't know why I was included in this. If you look at the clip, you'll see I didn't belong in there."

DeMarco can take heart that several other people in the clip received far more ridicule from Leno's audience than his tousled hairstyle.

Surely, he's no slob, but we've seen him sport a disheveled dome from time to time (maybe they were windy days?).

Still, DeMarco's taking the jab in stride.

"I got a complete kick out of this," he said. "It was just hysterical. I made it to the big time."

— Alan Brody

When animals attack

By now, the gruesome story of Gil Genn's run-in with one of nature's creatures is part of Annapolis lore.

The short version: Outside his Gaithersburg home walking his dog, Genn was confronted by a sizable buck that didn't back down when the pooch started yapping. The deer charged Genn, piercing the back of his right leg with its antlers, knocking him down and then stabbing him in the upper chest.

Before Genn could get to safety, the deer struck once again, this time in the, um, down below, leaving a pool of blood that required immediate medical care. Or so it would seem.

But Genn had what he considered a can't-miss meeting with Mike Busch and other health care lobbyists — it almost sounds too ironic — in a few hours. So Genn improvised, using cotton, a disinfectant and a paper binder clip to patch up the wounds himself until he could get to the ER after the meeting.

Apparently, the meeting went off without a hitch, and Busch, we're told, was none the wiser the entire time.

Doctors at Suburban Hospital were astonished at Genn's tale. When the urologist asked how it happened, Genn responded, "Well doctor, I saw this deer on my front lawn and decided to ask him, ‘Hey bud, you giving free vasectomies today?'"

After getting properly treated, starting a series of rabies shots as a precaution and receiving an honorary "Brass Balls" award from the medical staff, he was released with a story that has become legend in the past week.

"Yesterday was clearly the weirdest day of my life," Genn said Friday. "I consider myself extremely lucky."

The upshot for Genn is that he can use this as a selling point to potential clients. If he'll risk life and, ahem, limb, to lobby the speaker, what won't he do?

— Alan Brody

Payback is a …

Before his gory goring, Genn helped settle an old score 36 years in the making.

Two weeks before the election, Genn and his wife headed to North Carolina to help campaign for Obama in what appeared at the time to be a critical battleground state.

Once there, the couple had a chance to sit down with Kay Hagan, a Democratic state senator who was engaged in a rough-and-tumble race against incumbent U.S. Senator Liddy Dole.

Rewind to 1972, when Genn was attending Duke University. His student adviser encouraged him to take an organic chemistry course because he had done so well in a basic chemistry class, even though he was on a political science and pre-law track.

Genn barely passed the organic chem class and stuck with his poly sci and pre-law courses.

The student adviser was named Elizabeth Hanford, who would become Liddy Dole.

Coming to the Tar Heel State to help defeat Dole was Genn's retaliation for the poor guidance.

"That woman gave me bad judgment then, and she's giving the state bad judgment now, and that's why I'm coming back for revenge 36 years later," Genn told Hagan, who repeated the story at a rally with Hillary Clinton later that night.

In the end, Genn got what he came for: Hagan ousted Dole, 53 to 44 percent.

— Alan Brody

Everybody loves Raymond

The year 2008 was a good election cycle for the Glendening family.

Former guv Parris saw the 1st Congressional District, whose lines he and his aides redrew in the 2002 redistricting, elect Democrat Frank Kratovil to Congress.

His son Raymond was promoted Thursday to political director of the Democratic Governors Association, which picked up several seats in this year's gubernatorial contests. He served as the organization's deputy political director for the past year, following a stint on Bill Richardson's short-lived presidential campaign.

It surely hasn't hurt that the elder Glendening served as head of the DGA and the National Governors Association during his two terms in Annapolis.

Glendening will be tasked with expanding the Democrats' 29-21 majority that they will hold in state capitals at the start of 2009 — their highest advantage since 1994. Voters in Virginia and New Jersey will cast ballots for governor next year, and 36 seats will be contested in 2010.

"With Raymond as the DGA's national political director, we will build upon our record-breaking year and take the DGA to the next level," said West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin, who serves as DGA chairman, in a statement. "The 38 gubernatorial races in 2009 and 2010 present us with many challenges as well as many opportunities, and Raymond is the right person to lead our political team to continued success."

Added DGA Executive Director Nathan Daschle, the son of former senator and Health and Human Services secretary-designee Tom Daschle, in a statement: "Raymond has been a tremendous asset to the DGA's thriving political program for the past year and has impressed those around him with his intelligence, tenacity and leadership."

— Alan Brody