There was big news in Washington this week.

Sure, there were a bunch of primaries on Tuesday, and the Palestinian President met with President Obama at the White House to talk about Middle East peace, but that's not it.

Stephen Strasburg made his debut for the Washington Nationals.

With that, here are some other stories you may have missed this week:

1. Former IL Governor Rod Blagojevich was ordered to stop tweeting during his corruption trial.... you can see Blago's last tweet HERE (TIME)

2. Disgraced former lobbyist Jack Abramoff was transferred Tuesday from prison to a Maryland halfway house to serve out the remainder of his sentence (CNN)

3. On his 40th birthday, former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick moved in to a new home... a level-four state prison in Michigan (Detroit News)

4. AZ Senator John McCain and "Snooki" from the 'Jersey Shore' discussed a very important health issue over twitter this week. (Vanity Fair)

5. What do some White House staffers do in their down-time away from work?  You'll have to click HERE to find out. (Famous DC)

Posted by: LKL Producer Hunter Waters
Filed under: John McCain • Politics is King • Rod Blagojevich

The Latest on the Tea Party Express!  Will this growing, mostly conservative movement help or hurt the GOP?

PLUS

John McCain and Sarah Palin – back together again!  Can his ex-running mate help get his campaign back on track?

We want to hear from you!

What do YOU think of the Tea Party movement?

Filed under: John McCain • Politics • Sarah Palin

Senator John McCain on Tuesday expressed support for the plan to send 30,000 troops to Afghanistan, but said he objected to setting a date for an exit strategy to begin as early as 2011.

“Dates for withdrawal are dictated by conditions,” Mr. McCain told reporters on Capitol Hill. “The way that you win wars is to break the enemy’s will, not to announce dates that you are leaving.”

The political difficulty President Obama faces in winning Congressional support for his proposed troop buildup in Afghanistan was evident even before he laid out his strategy.

On the one hand, a bipartisan group of House and Senate members strongly criticized the troop increase plan as a serious mistake. At the same time, senior Senate Republicans raised concerns about the prospect that the president would set a time limit on the American presence in Afghanistan.

Mr. McCain will be the leading Republican voice on the president’s strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan. His concerns about setting a timetable to withdraw troops could well set the tone for Republicans. If he supports Mr. Obama’s plan, chances are that others will follow. If he doesn’t, they might not.

The military strategy appears to be “modeled on the surge in Iraq,” Mr. McCain said, which he added, “I think will succeed.” Mr. McCain said the United States “should have a goal of being out the day after tomorrow – a goal.” But not, he said, a date as specific as July 2011.

Mr. McCain, the ranking Republican on the Armed Services Committee, was among the members of Congress receiving a briefing from the president and vice president on Tuesday afternoon.

(Read more…)

Filed under: John McCain • President Obama

By Maxine Shen via New York Post

Meghan McCain is heading back to "The View."

The divisive daughter of Sen. John McCain - Democrats kind of dig her softer side of the right wing ways; Republicans kind of don't - will return to guest host the chat show for a three-day stint, starting on Sept. 9. She's stepping in for famously conservative Elisabeth Hasselbeck, who is out on maternity leave.

McCain, who has her own blog and is a columnist for Tina Brown's The Daily Beast Web site, first appeared on "The View" as a guest in March, raising eyebrows when she said that conservative radio host Laura Ingraham's comments about her weight - she mocked her as being a plus-size model who couldn't get onto "The Real World" - were "terrible" and made her want to pull a Tyra Banks by saying, "Kiss my fat ass!" to Ingraham.

Her appearance proved to be popular enough that she was invited back in April as a guest host for two days, filling in when Barbara Walters and Hasselback were out. Whoopi Goldberg told the perky blonde that she "can come back and play with us any time."

Filed under: John McCain • Meghan McCain

From CNN Ticker Producer Alexander Mooney

Conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh responded Thursday to recent comments by Roberta McCain, the mother of Republican Sen. John McCain.

(CNN) — Rush Limbaugh responded to Roberta McCain's criticism of his tough radio persona Thursday, joking over the fact "McCain's mother is dumping on me."

"She is absolutely right" in her assessment that that she belongs to a different Republican Party than he does, Limbaugh said during his radio show: "The Republican Party she belongs to gets shellacked election after election after election."

In an appearance on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno Wednesday, the outspoken 97-year-old mother of Sen. John McCain said, to cheers from the audience, that Limbaugh "does not represent the Republican Party that I belong to."

"I belong to the Republican Party," she said. "What he represents of the Republican Party has nothing to do with my side of it. I don't know what the man means, I don't know what he's talking about."

On his show Thursday, Limbaugh made clear he found the criticism quite amusing.

"Sending Sen. McCain's mother out to dump on me?" Limbaugh said, laughing. "I love it."

Filed under: John McCain • Larry King Live • Politics • Rush Limbaugh

In a special midnight edition of "Larry King Live," Sen. John McCain reacts to President Obama's first address to congress.  Then Larry hears from personal finance experts Jean Chatzky, Larry Winget and Don Peebles on what the president's agenda means to you and your bottom line.

WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU!  Let us know your thoughts on President Obama's primetime address.  Watch the address and then CLICK HERE to tell us what you thought.  We just may use your comments on the air tonight in a special edition of "Larry King Live," at midnight, ET.

Please:
1) Stay on topic.
2) Keep it short
3) No curse words
4) Use a name (no initials or screen names)

5) No links

Filed under: John McCain • Larry King Live • President Obama

Sen.  John McCain Tonight!  He took on Barack Obama, now he's working with him! What are the Republican maverick and Democratic president up to?  Does he see a McCain/Palin ticket in 2012?  Find out when Senator John McCain talks to Larry!  Then, Larry talks politics with Dee Dee Myers and Paul Begala.

It's all tonight on Larry King Live, from Washington, D.C.

Filed under: John McCain • Larry King Live

**NOTE: We've got an exclusive interview with Sen. John McCain tonight – and we'll be asking about this recent interview.

In a conversation with her daughter (and blogger) Meghan, Cindy McCain opens up about subjects she couldn’t discuss before: anger at The New York Times, wardrobe malfunctions, and Obama’s inauguration.

While we were on the campaign trail, a lot was said about my mom, Cindy McCain. The media called her a Stepford wife and a Barbie doll. But because my dad was the Republican presidential nominee, she had to be careful about responding to the things being written about her. Today, all that has changed. I blogged during my dad’s campaign (sometimes to the consternation of his staff), and witnessed my mom’s interactions with the public and press firsthand. Now, as she heads to Washington for the inauguration, she opens up to me about that infamous New York Times profile (and the other media battles), being portrayed as a Stepford wife, and how her skin has thickened since the run in 2000.

(Read the interview HERE)

Filed under: John McCain • Larry King Live