Still, Mr. Obama eased his tone noticeably from his feisty news conference last week, in which he compared the work habits of lawmakers unfavorably with those of his daughters, Malia and Sasha.
The industry's campaign-style push for Mr. Dodd, part of a larger effort to highlight the work of certain lawmakers around the country, portray him as a defender of ordinary citizens in brochures sent to more than 100,000 homes in Connecticut and in a 30-second television spot that ran for three weeks.
North Carolina House Legislative Partners featured state House Speaker Thom Tillis in two ads promoting the work of state lawmakers before he officially announced his Senate candidacy.
And while his Tuesday night remarks did not address the question of how to provide the nation's 11 million illegal immigrants a pathway to citizenship, Mr. Rubio told ABC that he remained committed to the "bipartisan principles for citizenship" laid out by a working group of lawmakers.
A week that had started out with at least a glint of hope for progress on a state budget -- working groups of lawmakers said they were making progress behind the scenes -- rapidly devolved into sniping over blame for the budget crisis, a serious reprimand from two credit agencies and more sniping over who's to blame for the state's deteriorating credit rating.
But it has reached fever pitch in the past two weeks, since Mike Rogers, a gay activist in Washington, began posting on the Internet the names of gays who work for lawmakers supporting the amendment.
And, while some say that with a closely divided Congress, only gridlock will result, others say there will still be plenty of work for lawmakers-turned-lobbyists.
One of the witnesses Democrats have invited to testify at both hearings is Suzanne E. Spaulding, who has worked for lawmakers of both parties as a former top staffer on the House and Senate Intelligence committees.
In the coming weeks, #cut50 looks forward to highlighting the work of activists, advocates, lawmakers and civil rights leaders bringing about much needed reform to a practice that traps some of our most vulnerable citizens in a vicious cycle of poverty and incarceration.
