Chris Dodd

Republican challenger Jeff Beatty has called on U.S. Sen. John Kerry to return campaign contributions from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Jeff Beatty (R)According to OpenSecrets.org, Kerry has received $111,000 in campaign donations from the two mortgage lenders between 1989 and 2008, the second most of any senator.

"This is totally inappropriate and I am demanding that he give this money back," Beatty told PolitickerMA.com. "It just goes to show his pattern of taking special interest money."

The government agreed to bailout the mortgage lender this week in an attempt to shore up the credit market.

U.S. Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.) had little presence in California during the Democratic presidential primary campaign, suggesting he may need to re-introduce himself to voters as Barack Obama's vice presidential running mate.

According to a campaign tracker on The Washington Post's website, Biden made his last stop in California in May 2007, for a town hall meeting and a later speech in San Francisco. Biden dropped out of the race in early 2008, after a series of losses in early primaries.

When Sen. Ted Kennedy received his grim diagnosis of a brain tumor last May, Sen. Barbara Mikulski promised to be "ringside" for anything he needed. Turned out he needed an extra hand in the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, which he chairs and Democratic Senators Chris Dodd, Tom Harkin and Mikulski are next in seniority.

Two well-known New Hampshire Democrats have endorsed the Republican Party's presumptive presidential nominee. Jim McConaha and Valery Mitchell, who have pledged their support to U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), will serve as co-chairs of "New Hampshire Democrats for McCain."

The announcement comes the day before U.S. Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), McCain's presumptive general election opponent, campaigns in New Hampshire with U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.).

Jamie Radice has been hired to be the communications director for U.S. Rep. Carol Shea-Porter's (D-Rochester) congressional office.

"I'm thrilled to be working for Congresswoman Shea-Porter,"  Radice said in a statement.  "I look forward to promoting her message of supporting our troops and veterans, standing up for the middle class, and fighting for New Hampshire families."

With Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) undergoing surgery today and spending the week in recovery, his Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee colleagues Barbara Mikulski and Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) will help shepherd bills on mental health parity and higher education.

"Senator Kennedy turned to them because he didn't want his absence to slow progress just as these bills are nearing completion,” a Kennedy aide told The Hill last week.

With major business pending before it, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee that Ted Kennedy chairs will need someone to take the reins during his medical absence.

But because it is customary that a senator  chair no more than one committee at a time, The Politico reports that the chairmanship may very well fall to fourth-in-line member, Sen. Barbara Mikulski.

A conference committee on an overhaul of the Higher Education Act is currently postponed, while a bill on electronic medical records is nearing completion.

The second and third majority members of the committee, Senators Chris Dodd and Tom Harkin, chair the Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee and Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee, respectively.

Vermont state House Speaker Gaye SymingtonMore than 400 excited Vermont Democratic Party activists gathered Friday night to hear U.S. Sen. Christopher Dodd speak at the party's Curtis Leadership Awards. While the speech by the Connecticut Democrat and one-time presidential hopeful was the main attraction, more importantly was Gaye Symington. The state House speaker, who is weighing a gubernatorial run, took on a more prominent role at the events.

It is clear the game of musical chairs has begun. As a potential Symington run against Republican Gov. Jim Douglas seems more imminent, change also seems to be in the air for the House leadership.