During the House Budget panel's mark-up of the budget resolution last week, presidential politics were the backdrop for some frivolity and hijinks. Rep. Rodney Alexander (R-IA) displayed a surprsing degree of pessimism regarding his party's prospects for the presidential elections in the fall, offering amendments to include in the resolution's deficits projections the costs of the health care plans of candidates Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama. Alexander was alone among the panel's 22 Democrats and 17 Republicans in voting in favor of his amendments. Still, in a moment mixing mirth and rancor, Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-TX) commented that if Democrats wanted to emulate Alexander's antics based on Sen. John McCain, they could have proposed including in the deficit projections the costs of the war in Iraq ... for the next 100 years.