Now some fresh pickings from the Political Grapevine…

No Regrets

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid says he does not regret accusing then-presidential candidate Mitt Romney of not paying taxes-- a claim that has since been proven-- to be untrue.

Why? -- Because it worked-- Romney lost the election.
The claim was made just three months before Election Day.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

Harry Reid, Senate Minority Leader: The word's out that he hasn't paid any taxes for 10 years. Let him prove that he has paid taxes, because he hasn't.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

Romney produced tax returns-- showing he had-- in fact-- paid his taxes.
Politifact ruled-- pants on fire -- that Reid produced no evidence to back up his contention on the Senate floor.
So does Reid regret the accusation?
No way.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

Reid: Oh I don't regret that at all.

Dana Bash, CNN: So no regrets? About Mitt Romney? About the Koch brothers? Because some people have even called it McCarthy-ite.

Reid: Well they can call it whatever they want, ummm.. Romney didn't win did he?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

Reid's sudden candor follows his announcement-- that he is not running for re-election.

Vested in Interest

A doctor-turned-state lawmaker is trying to repeal a law inspired by the death-- of one of his patients.
Rose's Law requires that women be allowed a 48 hour hospital stay after giving birth-- and 96 hours if she has a C-section.
Alabama lawmakers unanimously passed the bill in 1999-- named for Rose Church, who died from childbirth complications.
She had been sent home 36 hours after giving birth.

Her doctor-- Larry Stutts-- was named in a wrongful death suit filed by her husband.

Stutts is now a Republican state senator.
He has proposed a bill to repeal that law-- saying he wants to keep legislators out of the exam room.

He has enlisted six of his fellow senators as co-sponsors on the bill-- but Alabama media report he failed to tell them of his connection to Rose.

Enraptored

And finally-- New Hampshire just might get an official state raptor after all.
Earlier this month we told you about the fourth graders who drafted a bill to make the red-tailed hawk the official state raptor.

They took a field trip to see it voted into law -- but -- much to their horror-- the bill was torn apart on the state House floor.

One lawmaker invoked an analogy about abortion-- in describing how the hawk catches its prey.
Others mocked the bill as frivolous.

Now a state senator has resurrected the measure -- attaching it to a bill for a state wildcat.

He says he wants to quote-- "right a serious wrong."