Wash Call: Chu-Chu race over ... new surgeion general power

This past week brought the conclusion of the Chu-Chu race, one of the greatest matchups in recent congressional politics.
A special election was held Tuesday in a Los Angeles-area district to fill the former seat of Democratic Rep. Hilda Solis, who was appointed by President Obama to be secretary of labor.
The Democratic challenger to replace Solis in the overwhelmingly Democratic district was Judy Chu, a former state assemblywoman. After a false start with one candidate, the Republicans settled on Betty Chu, a GOP councilwoman in Monterrey Park, where Judy Chu herself had long served as a Democrat on the council.
But exactly how Republican Betty Chu -- who is related by marriage to Judy Chu -- entered the congressional race is a matter of hot debate. Judy Chu accused her vanquished Democratic rival, State Sen. Gil Cedillo, of recruiting her GOP relative in order to confuse voters with a Chu vs. Chu ballot. Then came accusations that Betty Chu -- who previously went by the name Betty Tom Chu -- shortened her name for the same purpose.
Alas, Judy Chu sailed to victory Tuesday, becoming the first Chinese-American woman elected to the House. If only the congressional district had been in Chattanooga.

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Dr. Regina Benjamin, the family doctor from coastal Alabama nominated to be the next U.S. Surgeon General, stands to have considerable more clout than the "bully pulpit" to advocate on public health issues has afforded.
That's because, under at least one version of the health reform bills being refined by Democrats in Congress, the surgeon general would be in charge of a federal health benefits advisory committee with power to decide which medical services would or would not be included under a standardized benefit package that would have to be offered by all insurance plans.
And yes, that would include reproductive health services, which means her fall confirmation hearings could be far more heated than is the norm for the post.

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The saga of the Godless Capitol Visitors Center took another turn this past week, when an organization of atheists and agnostics filed suit to stop the engraving of the nation's motto and the Pledge of Allegiance on prominent spots in the new underground complex.
For a year, members of the Congressional Prayer Caucus and others have protested that there was no recognition of the importance of God and religion in U.S. History in the visitor's center, through which an estimated 3 million tourists will pass each year to enter the Capitol. Not only was the national motto -- "In God We Trust" -- absent, but another phrase -- "E Pluribus Unum" -- was mistakenly enshrined in bronze letters as the official motto.
About a week ago, they convinced the House and Senate to vote to order the chiseling of the proper saying, along with the Pledge of Allegiance and its reference to God, in the $621 million structure. But on July 14, the Freedom From Religion Foundation sued in federal court to block those engravings, which it argued would be unconstitutional and discriminatory against those who do not practice religion.

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First, there was POTUS (the abbreviation for "president of the United States" used by White House insiders and the press), then FLOTUS (first lady of the United States). Now there's TOTUS: teleprompter of the United States, a snarky reference to the ubiquitous speech aid President Obama employs.

(SHNS science and health correspondent Lee Bowman contributed to this column. E-mail Lisa Hoffman at hoffmanl(at)shns.com.)

(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, http://www.scrippsnews.com)
Washington Calling