Quote of the day, I: When you get down to it, our system depends on people, and there seem to be some solid ones in the House freshman class

"In the Minnesota state House, no one can give you anything--I was surprised that you can take gifts here up to a certain amount."
--Congressman-elect Keith Ellison (D-Minnesota), to the Washington Post's Lyndsey Layton, during day one of orientation week for this year's newly elected House members

Layton's "Their Grand Tour of Their New House" is a cute piece, and kind of a feel-good one as well. The folks we meet here kind of give off the feeling that maybe this wacky "democracy" thing might be made to work after all. Of course that may be because these sound like real people, as opposed to the infestation of Rahmsludge washed in with last week's election tide.

Layton did feel obliged to include "the first Muslim to be elected to Congress" in her identification of Keith Ellison (DWT readers will recall Isaac Peterson's in-depth report on his Democratic primary race, including extensive interview excerpts, and a number of subsequent DWT reports), and I suppose he can expect to hear this everywhere he goes. Maybe that isn't the worst thing in the world, though. I certainly don't want to suggest that Keith should be "the Muslim representative" in Congress. On the other hand, considering the size of the Muslim population in this country, doesn't it strike you as about time--or well past time, really--that we had at least one Muslim in Congress?

And, after all, Layton doesn't seem to think Keith should be talking about "Muslim issues." Encouragingly, there seems to have been a lot of interest among the congressional freshmen in the morning session's considerable attention to ethics--"a topic," writes Layton, "that dominated many of their campaigns and has motivated new and veteran members to push for reform and tighter regulations."

Finally, here's one story I can't resist passing along:

David Loebsack, 53, a political science professor from Iowa, is another improbable congressman. The Democrat who had never before won public office defeated 15-term Rep. Jim Leach (R). Yesterday, Loebsack was absorbing the notion that he would be making public policy instead of studying it.

"I grew up in poverty with a single mom who had mental illness," Loebsack said. "If anyone had told me I'd grow up to teach at Cornell College with a Ph.D., I would have thought they were crazy. If anyone had told me that I would get elected to Congress, I would have thought they were from another planet. I'm living proof of the American dream."

Welcome to Washington, Dave. It sounds like you and many of your fellow freshmen may be just what the town needs.