"Queen of FEMA"?

On the one hand, it's good to see Jonathan Tilove is enjoying his job. On the other hand, some of the phrases he turns in this Sunday morning feature on Mary Landrieu are more strange than clever.

She also chairs the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security (while also serving on the Homeland Security Committee), making her a "cardinal" of Capitol Hill -- a lawmaker with a key say in spending matters -- and with great sway over much of the nation's disaster-response machinery, something like the queen of FEMA.

"Cardinals of Capitol Hill" is actually a well traded term of art in Washington for the kind of fiscal power broker Mary has become. But I've not heard "Queen of FEMA" before. That one effectively turns what should be perceived as a Landrieu strength into something that sounds unsavory. If I were planning to run a Republican campaign against her, I might hold onto that one.

There's also this paragraph.

Last year, Melancon, running as a pragmatic, deal-making Breaux-Landrieu Democrat, was thumped by incumbent Sen. David Vitter, R-La., scarlet letter and all. Melancon's old seat in Congress went to Republican Jeff Landry, a Cajun conservative from New Iberia who is now among the most caffeinated Tea Partiers in Congress. Louisiana voters, it seems, preferred red meat to the sausage of legislative compromise.

Nevermind the sausage and caffeine. Shouldn't the "scarlet letter" quip be explained a little more thoroughly? Sure we all know what it means but newspapers aren't written in code, right?

Anyway, the biggest news here to me was that Landrieu is planning to run again in 2014.

"I'm planning on running," Landrieu said. "I'm looking forward to serving another term, if not two. I have no reason not to. I'm still relatively young. I mean 55, by Senate standards, is young."

After the 2008 election, we were getting indications she was about to retire. What happened? Are the energy lobbying firms not hiring right now?