Hotline Sort: Keystone Countdown
Welcome back to Hotline Sort. McMorris Rogers wins the GOP conference chair race, Corbett is above water but only sports a 40 percent approval rating, Harry Reid goes after Scott Brown, and Gohmert nominates Gingrich for speaker.
8) Here's the latest on Interior Secretary Ken Salazar punching a Colorado Springs Gazette reporter: He has apologized, both verbally and in a letter.
7) Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, nominated former House Speaker Newt Gingrich to serve as speaker. His nomination wasn't seconded.
Gohmert told the Daily Caller he did it because, "I just figured it was not time for business as usual."
6) Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., D-Ill., is still being treated for bipolar disorder, although he's no longer a patient at Minnesota's Mayo Clinic, according to a statement from the hospital.
5) More Ashley Judd for Senate talk: EMILY's List president Stephanie Schriock said she didn't know if Judd would challenge Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, but that she did a panel with them at the Democratic National Convention and "wowed the crowd" and has a "great desire for public service."
4) Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, not mincing words on Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass: "I saw during the campaign his plea for bipartisanship. That is a big joke. It's a travesty," Reidtold reporters Wednesday. "He was one of the most partisan people that's ever served here."
Reid expressed confidence that, if Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., was nominated for a cabinet position, a Democrat could beat Brown in a special election.
3) More Pennsylvanians now approve than disapprove of Gov. Tom Corbett's job performance, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released Thursday, but his still-lukewarm support suggests the Republican is vulnerable to a challenge when he seeks reelection in 2014.
Forty percent of registered voters in Pennsylvania approve of Corbett, the poll found, and 38 percent disapprove. Independents are split, at 37 percent, but moderates hold a negative view of tenure in office, 43 percent to 36 percent.
2) House Republicans on Wednesday chose Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington to serve as conference chair. Members selected her over Rep. Tom Price of Georgia, who was backed by Paul Ryan.
1) Hotline editor-in-chief Reid Wilson reports from the Republican Governors Association meeting in Las Vegas, where much blame was pinned on Mitt Romney.
"We need to have a brutally honest assessment of what we did," said Haley Barbour, the former Mississippi governor. His party's political operation, Barbour said, needs "a very serious proctology exam."
And Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal strongly disagreed with Romney's comments attributing his loss to "gifts" President Obama gave to various groups.
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