Strange bedfellows

If you shared a house with Sen. Chuck Schumer, would you figure him to be the Oscar Madison or the Felix Unger? If you pegged New York’s senior senator as a neat freak, you’d be wrong.

The New York Times had a good article yesterday about Schumer and his housemates. When in Washington he shares a house with Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, Rep. Bill Delahunt of Massachusetts and Rep. George Miller or California. That’s four grown men sharing a two-bedroom house in Washington, D.C.

Miller has owned the place since 1977 and rents space to fellow lawmakers (they’re all Democrats—they say that to their knowledge no Republican has ever set foot in the place).

The group has some pet peeves when it comes to Schumer. It seems he has a habit of eating all the cereal without doing his share of the grocery shopping.

Then there’s his bed. Schumer sleeps on a bed in the living room that is often left unmade.

That’s not to say Schumer doesn’t pull his weight in other ways. He told the reporter…

“I once had to pick up a mouse by the tail that Durbin refused to pick up.”

This screams to be a reality show! Or does it? You be the judge…

“Everybody in the world says they’re going to do a television series based on us,” said Mr. Durbin, who was collapsed on the couch on a recent Monday night. Still in a tie, he sipped ice water from a massive Chicago Cubs cup while waiting for the Chinese food to arrive.

“But then they realize that the story of four middle-aged men, with no sex and violence, is not going to last two weeks,” he said. The prevailing topics of their discussions are grandchildren and Metamucil, he added.

“Hey, speak for yourself, Durbin,” Mr. Delahunt said, protesting the claim of no sex and violence.