Speakeasy

Published September 20, 2007 4:00am ET



Slow. I’m happy to break six minutes — downhill with the wind at my back.”

– Legendary mile runner and former Kansas Republican Rep. Jim Ryun, when we asked him his current time in the mile. The three-time Olympian is running to reclaim his old seat.

“It’s like trying to break-dance around nitroglycerin.”

– House Republican Conference Chairman Adam Putnam, asked whether his party could score political points

by forcing a government shutdown