DC paper Roll Call (subscription only) brings us this great tidbit:

GOP staffers are aware of just how tough a job market it is out there, but an e-mail that circulated around the Hill last week seemed to strike new fears about their career prospects. Chuck Knapp, communications director for Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-Kan.), sent out a "farewell" e-mail common among job-switchers. In the message, he did the requisite thanking of colleagues and gushing over the job he was leaving. But it was a mention of Knapp's new gig that had GOP staffers worried: Knapp announced that he was pursuing an exciting new opportunity ... as the manager of the Holiday Inn Express in Andover, Kan.

"I knew times were tough for Republicans on the Hill but looks like things might be sinking to a whole new level if these are the only options we have left," said one GOP Congressional staffer.

Knapp isn't just a young, straight out of college political staffer. He's worked for Todd for seven years and been a political staffer for 17. Job prospects must be looking pretty bleak for right-wing staffers.

Saturday's media-hyped straw poll in Iowa didn't reveal anything we don't already know:

(1) Not even Republicans like the Republican presidential candidates

(2) Even if you spend all of your time gallavanting around Iowa, shirking your duty as a Kansas Senator won't help you win anything - not even a straw poll where three of the four top candidates don't bother to show up.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney may have won the Iowa Republican straw poll here Saturday, but his victory was a bit hollow. There are signs he may not be the prohibitive front-runner in Iowa after all.

Only 14,302 people voted in the poll, far fewer than the 23,685 who cast ballots in the last big straw poll in 1999.

That's a sign Republicans are not happy with their choices. At least they aren't excited enough to brave the summer heat to vote for them...Why go to Ames on a hot day if you're cool toward the candidates? A recent ABC/Washington Post poll of likely GOP caucusgoers showed only 19 percent were enthusiastic about their options.

If Republicans in Iowa are looking for somewhere to throw their support, the Buffalo would like to make this recommendation.