Congressman Paul Tonko waxed poetic about his opposition to tying an extension of a payroll tax credit to approval of the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline.

New York's congressional delegation talks about Israel more than any other in D.C. 

Assembly Minority Leader Brian Kolb said there's no conflict of interest with his ethics committee pick.

Donald Trump cancelled his planned presidential debate, but he reserves the right to re-start his campaign for the White House.

Newt Gingrich has donated $260,560 to 42 members of Congress through his leadership PACs and committees, but none of the beneficiaries of his largesse have given him their endorsement.

White House staffers are giving the presidential kitchen a kosher makeover for Hanukkah.

(Disclosure: Donald Trump is the father in law of Jared Kushner, the owner of Observer Media Group)

Chelsea Clinton (Getty)

According to the New York Times, former first child Chelsea Clinton is joining NBC News to report stories for the "Making a Difference" series on the network's nightly news broadcast. Ms. Clinton's stories will focus on feel-good tales of community volunteer work.

NBC News is clearly the destination of choice for former first children who want to dabble in journalism. George W. Bush's daughter, Jenna Bush Hager, signed on as a correspondent for the "Today Show" in August 2009.

NBC News president Steve Capus told the Times he was approached by a representative of Ms. Clinton's about taking a job with the network in July. "We knew she wasn’t going to do the lead story. But having somebody who was going to do really captivating feature assignments for the ‘Making a Difference’ franchise really kind of synced up,” Mr. Capus said.

Since her father left office in January 2001, Ms. Clinton has kept herself quite busy. She graduated from Stanford University in 2001. Ms. Clinton went on to attend Oxford University where she graduated with a master's degree in international relations in 2003. Following her studies at Oxford, Ms. Clinton spent three years working at the consulting firm McKinsey & Company. In 2006, she left McKinsey to work at a hedge fund, Avenue Capital Group. In 2008, she spent a great deal of time working on her mother's presidential campaign. Ms. Clinton returned to academia in 2009 to get a second master's degree at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health. She graduated in 2010. Ms. Clinton has no experience working in journalism.

Mr. Capus told the Times he expected Ms. Clinton to take a very active role reporting her stories for NBC News. "She wants to be in the field for the shoot and in the edit room for the edit," Mr. Capus said. "We both want to see how this goes. It will be full time for the near-term future. But I hope it’s the beginning of a nice, long-term relationship."

To those without presidential parents who are to survive the dismal journalism job market, we can only offer the words of broadcast great Edward R. Murrow, "Good night and good luck."

Talk of the Sound has learned that Chelsea Clinton may run for Congress next year.

Clinton has been approached by "the right people" in the New York Democratic Party, according to one source in Albany. While no decision has been made, Clinton is said to be "actively considering" a Congressional run from New York State in 2012.

[...]

The plan is to identify an open seat for Clinton in or around New York City where she currently resides with her husband, Marc Mezvinsky. While no specific district has been determined, New York City and Westchester are said to be the focus with New York's 18th District considered a strong possibility. The 18th encompasses much of Westchester County, just south of where her parents have maintained a home for the past 12 years.

There are no sources quoted by name, but the piece suggests that Ms. Clinton could be a candidate for the seat currently held by Democrat Nita Lowey, or could challenge Republican Nan Hayworth in the Hudson Valley district just north of there, where her parents currently have a home.

The younger Ms. Clinton however currently resides in Manhattan, so may have to slough off those same carpet-bagging rumors that dogged her mother.

Chelsea Clinton joined advocates this evening in Manhattan to mark the first week of a phonebank campaign to legalize same-sex marriage, and said she hopes that New York will pass a same-sex marriage bill by her anniversary this July.

"As someone who got married last year, it was certainly the happiest day of my life to be able to marry my best friend," she said of her 2010 wedding to husband Marc Mezvinsky. "I fundamentally believe that every New Yorker, every American, and everyone should have the same right."

This closely follows Bill Clinton's latest comments in support of same-sex marriage, which was announced by the New York office of the Human Rights Campaign earlier today. The announcement by the former president marks just how widely accepted the issue has become in the mainstream--Clinton, after all, was the president who signed the Defense of Marriage Act and Don't Ask Don't Tell into law--and adds yet more power to the increasingly active movement to get same-sex marriage legislation passed in New York. Every statewide elected official supports it, as does New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Politico said the former president's comment earlier today "underscores" the fact that "President Obama is increasingly to the right of his party" on this issue.

"I was very grateful that my father gave me yet another reason to be proud," said the daughter of the former president,  standing inside the 1199 SEIU Headquarters on West 42nd Street.

The phonebank is part of a larger campaign by New Yorkers for Marriage Equality, a coalition of gay rights organizations that is now attempting a final push for same-sex marriage by reaching out to supporters in swing districts through the end of the 2011 legislative session. Meanwhile, Cuomo has announced that he's about to hit the campaign trail to rally support for (among other things) getting gay marriage legislation passed in June.

"I also know, having grown up in politics, that sometimes we need to help politicians do the right things, and that we need to help constituents understand what's really at stake," she said. "I know that we'll get there."

Now, where's Hillary Clinton?

Former President Clinton comes out in support of same-sex marriage, a sign of how far into the mainstream the LGBT agenda has become. (It was Clinton, after all, who signed things like the Defense of Marriage Act, which allows states the right to refuse same-sex marriages performed in other states; and Don't Ask Don't Tell, the military rule from the 1990s whose repeal earlier this year was cheered as a major LGBT victory).

In a statement released by the Human Rights Campaign, Clinton said:

Our nation's permanent mission is to form a ‘more perfect union’ - deepening the meaning of freedom, broadening the reach of opportunity, strengthening the bonds of community. That mission has inspired and empowered us to extend rights to people previously denied them. Every time we have done that, it has strengthened our nation. Now we should do it again, in New York, with marriage equality. For more than a century, our Statue of Liberty has welcomed all kinds of people from all over the world yearning to be free. In the 21st century, I believe New York's welcome must include marriage equality.

As with the videos from HRC, the message is positive, points no fingers at those who are opposing it, and paints the issue as an expansion of freedom.

Update: Chelsea Clinton will join activists at a phone bank inside 1199 SEIU headquarters, around 7 p.m. tonight, pushing for the cause. Tonight kicks off bi-weekly calling sessions, notes Liz Benjamin.