When Congressman David Cicilline arrived in Washington, his long-shot bid for a post on the powerful Appropriations Committee proved, well, a long shot. His second choice, the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, didn't work out either.

Instead, the freshman wound up on the Small Business and Foreign Affairs committees, which are not exactly plum assignments.

Consumer crusader and Massachusetts Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren has run into trouble for claiming she laid the "intellectual foundation" for the Occupy Wall Street movement.

Occupiers have labeled her arrogant. Republicans are calling her too radical. The following Occupy video, produced before the current controversy, speaks to why she's energized progressives across the country, though, forcing her Democratic rivals to drop out of the Senate race and setting up a compelling battle with GOP Senator Scott Brown.

UPDATE: I checked in with Langevin's spokesman Jonathan Dworkin to get the Congressman's view on the political prospects of a recently promulgated House GOP package of cybersecurity reforms - some plucked from Langevin''s own proposals. Here's the response:

He is cautiously optimistic that we can get something done, though he does not necessarily think it will be the comprehensive legislation that he would prefer, despite that being the preference of leading Senators from both parties on the issue.

The Occupy Providence folk are planning Occu-Stock, a "masquerade music festival," Friday-Sunday in India Point Park. There will be plenty of music - Brown electronica phenom Nico Jaar is among the scheduled performers. And Big Nazo will bring its big puppets.

Admission for the event, 4-11 pm each day, is free. But attendees will be asked to donate to Occupy Providence.

UPDATE: Looks like the Dems are responding a bit better to the bi-partisan push than Republicans. Congressman Cicilline's office provided the following list of the 11 Congressmen who attended Common Ground's inaugural event: Democrats Cicilline, Jason Altmire, Kathy Hochul, Hank Johnson, William Keating, John Larson, David Loebsack, and Peter Welch and Republicans Nan Hayworth, Renee Elmers, and Kevin Yoder.

Well, it ain't "60 Minutes." But news site GoLocalProv gets some points for ambition, if nothing else, with the launch of GoLocalProv TV, a four-week-old television-over-the-Internet newscast.

The production, starring youthful anchors Greg Berman and Laura Marchetti, has a lo-fi feel to it. A brick backdrop - no studio set, here.

Congressmen James Langevin and David Cicilline will host a March 4 fundraiser in Rhode Island for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, though not confirmed, is expected to be in attendance.

Pelosi has appeared at Rhode Island fundraisers in the past, including Jamestown events in both 2009 and 2010.

Yesterday, I wrote about the various political forces bearing down on members of the General Assembly as they decide how to vote on Treasurer Gina Raimondo and Governor Lincoln Chafee's tough pension reform package.

Among the factors they must consider: public employee unions have demonstrated they are willing and able to pick off Democrats, in primaries, who cross them.

Move over, Steven Slater

The Providence Journal's new website, providencejournal.com, is up and running. And if the aim is to drive people back to the more profitable print product, well, it just might succeed.

As expected, the site offers brief versions of basic news events, some video, reader polls, and other do-dads for free. Full versions of the paper's stories will be available via an e-edition of the Journal, which is free for the moment but will soon reside behind a paywall, available only to those who subscribe to the print product or pay a separate fee for the e-edition.

Occupy Providence is getting the ink, but the Rhode Island Tea Party keeps plugging along. The latest: the group is sponsoring a boot camp for potential candidates next month that will bring in trainers from the non-profit American Majority.

The group, based in Purcellville, Virginia, is the brainchild of twin brothers Ned and Drew Ryun, sons of former Congressman Jim Ryun, a Kansas Republican.

In this week's Phoenix, I've got a cover story on Brown University's Political Theory Project, which is right in the thick of an intriguing effort to bring a balanced political debate to one of the nation's most liberal campuses.

The institute caught my eye when I stumbled upon an online reference to one of its funders: Charles G.