Sen. Harry Reid Came Out With his Dukes Up, Now He's Lowering Them

Now some fresh pickings from the Political Grapevine:

Never Again

Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid says he didn't do anything wrong, but he won't do it again. He's talking, of course, about accepting free tickets to boxing matches from the Nevada Athletic Commission, which at the time was trying to influence his action on legislation.

A spokesman says Reid has no regrets about taking the tickets, but merely "wants to err on the side of caution... to avoid even the faintest appearance of impropriety," adding, "In light of questions that have been raised about the practice, Senator Reid will not accept these kinds of credentials in the future."

For the record, Reid took a position against what the state athletic commission wanted.

Strong Support

Despite the constitutional howls from Capitol Hill, Americans seem to have no problem with FBI raids on congressional offices. Eighty-six percent of respondents — including 78 percent of Democrats and 94 percent of Republicans — tell ABC News that the FBI should be allowed to search a congress member's office if it has a warrant.

The poll comes as top House leaders have proclaimed the federal raid on Louisiana Democrat William Jefferson's office a gross violation of constitutional separation of powers. In the same poll, just 27 percent of Americans rate the legislature as ethical and honest and while 54 percent believe their own congressman is ethical, that number is down from 69 percent in a similar survey in 1989.

No Information Sharing

The head of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services says a loophole in the Senate immigration bill could allow criminals to stay in the country, much like the 1986 bill providing amnesty to illegal immigrants.

Emilio Gonzalez, who would be in charge of any guest worker program, says the current bill would prevent the agency from sharing information on potentially dangerous applicants with law enforcement officials, making it difficult to remove criminals and national security threats from the country, even if they're rejected from the program.

Off With the Heads

Protesters are calling for the heads of the National Hurricane Center and National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration to resign launching a 37-hour vigil outside the Maryland headquarters of the NOAA. The reason?

Protesters say both agencies have conspired to cover up of the "scientific link" between last year's brutal storms and global warming. The NOAA and NHC have dismissed the recent spike in violent storms as part of a natural cycle, unrelated to global warming.

But the U.S. Climate Emergency council, which organized the protest, says their statements "are part of an obvious political campaign orchestrated by the White House ... on behalf of Exxon Mobile and other major oil corporations."

—FOX News Channel's Aaron Bruns contributed to this report.