Coming up for air...

It has been quite a day, and it's not over yet. Right now I'm sitting at Union Station where, in about an hour, U.S. Sen. Joseph Lieberman will host his celebration party with friends, family and supporters.

Security at the Capitol today was tight, creating extremely long lines everywhere you went. One of the more interesting moments of the day was around mid-afternoon. I was waiting in a small hallway on the Senate side of the Capitol, just outside the Senate dining room. I was there waiting for U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd. Suddenly, this large contingency of Capitol Police came down the stairs, uniformed and plain clothes. One of the uniformed officers positioned himself directly in front of me as another stream of people rushed down the stairs - followed by more officers. In the midst of the pack, Vice President Dick Cheney. He looked over at me, but was hustled out long before it dawned on me who it was. Never got a chance to yell out, do you have a moment for a couple of questions Mr. Vice President?

The oddest moment of the day - the so-called "private" ceremonial swearing in of House members by Speaker Nancy Pelosi. It was organized chaos at its finest. And there was nothing very private about it with more than four dozen television, newspaper radio reporters and cameramen (and women) crfammed into the room as the assebmly line-like process played out.

I've got three stories to file tonight for tomorrow's paper...so this will likely be the last update for the day. More tomorrow.