Watch Your Back, Mitch

The latest from the Political Grapevine:

Lawyer Sans License

A nominee for the federal appeals court in Washington has spent four years as General Counsel at Brigham Young University in Utah without ever obtaining a law license in that state, the Washington Post reports.

Thomas Griffith practiced law for three years in Washington with an expired license, a lapse that prevented him from receiving his license in Utah without taking the state bar exam. Griffith has declined to comment on the gaffe, but is expected to face questions on the matter during Senate hearings next week.

Inflammatory Comparison

A judge on the 2nd Circuit Court of appeals has compared President Bush's rise to power to the those of fascist dictators Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini. Speaking to the annual convention of the American Constitution Society, Manhattan Judge Guido Calabresi said that the Supreme Court, not the electorate, -- "put somebody in power...[which] is exactly what happened when Mussolini was put in by the king of Italy."

Calabresi went on to say that while Bush is not another Hitler, -- "like Mussolini, he has exercised extraordinary power. He has...claimed power for himself," - a remark which brought audible gasps from the audience of liberal lawyers.

Watch Your Back, Mitch

If former White House budget director Mitch Daniels thought backbiting was bad inside the beltway, he's quickly learning a more literal definition of the term as he campaigns for governor in the nation's heartland. While on the stump at a hog farm in Frankfurt, Indiana last week, the Republican candidate was bitten on the backside by a pesky pig.

Daniels confirmed to the Indianapolis Star that one of the hogs gave his rear end a -- "exploratory gumming," but said the bite never broke the skin. Daniels was quick to forgive the offending swine, explaining -- "If I were headed where he's headed, I'd be grouchy too."

— FOX News' Michael Levine contributed to this report