Gridiron Grumble

• By Emily Heil and Anna Palmer
• Roll Call Staff
• March 12, 2008, Midnight

Republicans took a big hit on Saturday, when a Democrat won the seat that had once belonged to former Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), in a special election. And as if there wasn’t enough for GOPers to grumble about, now some are grousing that Karen Hanretty, the new communications guru for the National Republican Congressional Committee, was out mixing and mingling with Washington’s glitterati at the annual Gridiron dinner on Saturday, while her staff was back at NRCC headquarters working the phones.