Some Democrats Are Worried That One of Their Own Could Cost Them Their Jobs

Now some fresh pickings from the Political Grapevine:

Jumping Ship

The Politico newspaper reports some New York Democratic lawmakers are worried embattled House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel could hurt their re-election campaigns. Rangel is at the center of a drawn-out House ethics investigation. And some vulnerable junior Democrats are growing impatient with its slow pace. One says: "The past month it's escalated." Another says: "I love Charlie. But this can't go on forever."

Last week, Bill Owens, a Democratic candidate from western New York, essentially endorsed a Republican effort to oust Rangel from his chairmanship, saying: "Elected officials should be held to the highest possible standard. Rangel should voluntarily step down as chairman of the committee."

Climate Countdown

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown says climate negotiators have 50 days to save the world from global warming. He is forecasting doom if world leaders fail to take action by December's United Nations conference in Copenhagen: "We should never allow ourselves to lose sight of the catastrophe we face if present warming trends continue."

Brown forecasts global warming could be more costly than both World Wars and the Great Depression combined. Last week we reported the climate correspondent for BBC News had a story titled "What Happened to Global Warming?" in which he noted that the 11 straight years without an increase in global temperatures has skeptics gloating.

Prime Minister Brown will no doubt shudder at this prediction from Rajendra Pachuri, head of the U.N.'s Climate Change panel, about hopes for firm action at the December meeting: "The prospects that states will actually agree on anything in Copenhagen are starting to look worse and worse."

Artistic License

Earlier this month the White House announced the Obamas had chosen 45 new pieces of art borrowed from Washington museums to decorate the White House residence.

But it seems one piece by California artist Ed Ruscha is garnering the most attention. It's called, "I think I'll," and deals with the subject of indecision. The words "maybe...yes...maybe....no..." and "on second thought..." cross the painting.

Conservative blogger Michelle Malkin wonders if: "Next, we'll find out that Obama has one of those Magic 8 balls on his Oval Office desk." The conservative think tank American Enterprise Institute's blog simply reads: "Indecision and Obama. You don't say."

Jerry Saltz, the art critic for New York Magazine, writes: "Predictably, a clueless anti-Obama Web site groused that the painting was 'celebrating indecision.' And just as inevitably, art insiders were disappointed in the choices."

Harry Cooper, one of the curators at the National Gallery of Art which loaned more than half the pieces, says: "All the works are terrific. They have a lot of wall power — they are often very colorful."

— Fox News Channel's Zachary Kenworthy contributed to this report.