When House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) was recently embroiled in controversy, Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.) issued a release saying it might be a good idea for the Texas lawmaker to step down, at least until all the tension wore off.

Now he’s at it again, criticizing his own party in a press release in regard to President Bush’s judicial nominees and the deal made between Senate Republicans and Democrats.

“The Republican Party does not yet know how to govern,” Tancredo said in the release. “I can certainly understand why the party faithful are becoming disenchanted. So am I.”

Disenchanted, maybe. But will he switch parties?

“No, he’s not considering that,” said Will Adams, Tancredo’s new spokesman. “I think he was expressing some frustration. If the congressman were to leave the Republican Party, he would have to start his own — a party of one — because the Democrats certainly wouldn’t be more hospitable.”

Sighting: Rep. Udall en route to Denver

Over the Labor Day weekend, Rep. Mark Udall (D-Colo.) was spotted on a United Airlines flight from Washington to Denver, Colo.

He kept to himself for much of the flight with his headphones on. The low-key lawmaker sat in a middle seat of coach and chatted amiably with passengers when the flight landed.

Rep. Berkley moonlighting as a landlady

Rep. Shelley Berkley (D-Nev.) isn’t an ordinary congresswoman. Along with her penchant for wearing flashy Vegas clothing, she’s in the landlord business. She recently purchased a house on the House side of the Capitol and is renting part of it to Rep. Dennis Cardoza (D-Calif.), who intends to occupy the basement apartment.

Richard Urey, Berkley’s chief of staff, said he was almost certain that the deal was set with Cardoza. “I have to make sure he hasn’t backed out, that there [aren’t] mice,” he joked. “It’s a swinging bachelor pad.” (Not that the married Cardoza plans to use it like that.)

The huge new three-story triplex is located on D Street S.E. Urey said that he wasn’t sure what kind of landlady his boss would be but that she chose her tenant carefully. “Well, I think the congresswoman would only select tenants with the best possible r�sum�s,” he said.

Berkley has owned a home in D.C. since 2000. The reason for the move? “She wanted to live in a nicer place,” Urey said.

Kucinich is all about peace with his blog

Unlike Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.), who puts up with voters’ occasionally calling him an idiot on his blog, Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), still milking his presidential-hopeful fame for what it’s worth, has an entirely different approach to his online journal.

“We try to be careful about the rhetoric,” he said last week. “No hostility. I try to find ways of uniting people. Our approach is insight and action.”

For example, he explained, after he recently gave a speech at the United Nations, the text immediately went up on his site. In other instances, Kucinich has entered material directly from his BlackBerry.

“It’s not about politics,” he added. “It focuses on the issues — peace and healthcare and Social Security and workers’ rights.”

The blog is run by 20 Kucinich volunteers around the country who maintain the site and make sure the material is fresh.

Coburn: ‘Not making a moral judgment’

Contrary to conservative form, Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), the right-wing firebrand known for his “Leave It to Beaver” morality shtick, has staked out a mushier middle ground when it comes to safe sex.

In his slide show/pizza party last week meant to combat sexually transmitted diseases, Coburn told the crowd of interns and Hill staffers that he was “not making a moral judgment” about their extracurricular behavior but did want to offer medical information.

That information included Planned Parenthood-style paeans to condoms and a slew of slides of inflamed fallopian tubes, genital warts and cold sores.

“If you decide to have any risky behavior, use a condom,” the Oklahoman said, as audience members gathered in a Capitol conference room, munched pepperoni pizza and drank Diet Cokes.

Top 50 update
The ballot box for the 50 Most Beautiful People on Capitol Hill is now closed. But that doesn’t mean the contest isn’t in full swing. It is, as The Hill sets out to capture these beauties on film. Any comments? E-mail This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it . Stay tuned. …

Edited by Betsy Rothstein
Tips, complaints and sightings: This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it
Peter Savodnik contributed to this report.