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U.S. Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski is taking back lipstick from all the hockey moms out there and putting it on a bunch of feminists.

During a recent event, Mikulski of Baltimore discussed her fight to secure pay equity for women — particularly her role in the passage of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009.

When describing a rallying cry she made to female senators, Mikulski took out a tube of lipstick and applied some.

"I said, ‘Let's suit up,'" Mikulski said of her appeal to female lawmakers. "Ladies, square your shoulders and put your lipstick on."

"There was a lady at a convention that talked about lipstick," Mikulski added, referring to former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's speech in which she accepted the vice presidential nomination during the 2008 Republican National Convention.

Mikulski made her remarks Sunday at the 30th annual Women's Legislative Briefing, held at the Universities at Shady Grove in Gaithersburg.

Mikulski said she was wearing the same red jacket Sunday that she had on Jan. 29, 2009 — the day President Barack Obama signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act into law.

"See this red jacket," she said. "I wore it at the White House. I wore it on the Senate floor when were fighting to get to the White House, and I wanted you to know it still fits.

"And for those in the audience that have my kind of geometry, as much as I love Chris and long and lanky Donna ... you get my meaning," Mikulski said, referring to U.S. Rep. Christopher Van Hollen Jr. of Kensington and U.S. Rep. Donna F. Edwards of Fort Washington, who both attended the event.

In addition to her jacket, Mikulski also hung onto another item she had the day the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act was signed: the pen Obama used to sign his first bill into law.

— Erin Cunningham

Gals over gents?

In Capitol Hill's gender wars, the bragging rights go to congresswomen.

So says a 2009 Stanford University study that shows female representatives outperform their male colleagues in sponsoring more legislation and securing more money for their districts.

MoCo Council Prez Nancy Floreen crowed about the report during the Women's Legislative Briefing, held Sunday in Gaithersburg before a crowd that included her Dem pals of the opposite gender, Van Hollen and Ike Leggett.

"If you want anything said, ask a man," she said, turning to her male mates to offer apologies before continuing. "If you want anything done, ask a woman."

— Erin Cunningham

Take that!

Grammy Awards were handed out Sunday night. Oscar nominations were announced Tuesday.

In that spirit, here's a shout-out to the folks at the Red Maryland blog for the most clever use of pop culture in response to Martin O'Malley's State of the State on Tuesday.

The rebuttal is a 27-second clip from "Billy Madison," the 1995 comedy starring Adam Sandler as an immature slacker who must repeat grades one through 12 to inherit his father's hotel empire.

The iconic scene shows the fictional Knibb High School principal, played by actor James Downey, responding to Madison's nonsensical trivia answer as part of a competition between him and the film's elite antagonist, played by Bradley Whitford.

The passage actually makes for a pretty entertaining GOP critique of the governor's address, and something neither Tony O'Donnell nor Allan Kittleman could have said any better:

"What you've just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul."

— Alan Brody

Thanks to Martin,

the cat's out of the bag

Obama might be reaching into Maryland once again to fill a federal vacancy.

O'Malley let it slip at a meeting last week that Obama will pluck one of the state Department of Natural Resources' top talents. But before he could continue, John Griffin stopped him from divulging a name.

O'Malley scanned the room and saw a reporter standing in the back. Keep that on the down low, the guv asked, to no avail.

Although O'Malley didn't let the cat totally out of the bag, rumor has it that the appointee in question is DNR Deputy Secretary Eric Schwaab, who will be tapped to lead the National Marine Fisheries Service, part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

"If there was going to be any kind of appointment, we wouldn't be the ones to confirm or deny it, and we wouldn't be the ones to announce it, either," said DNR spokesman Josh Davidsburg.

— Alan Brody