Although plenty of televisions will be tuned to the Academy Awards ceremony Sunday night, HOH plans to keep at least one eye on the Food Network, as Capitol Hill’s resident chef Spike Mendelsohn challenges Iron Chef Michael Symon in Kitchen Stadium.

[IMGCAP(1)]Mendelsohn, who owns the Pennsylvania Avenue burger joint Good Stuff Eatery, is scheduled to appear on Sunday’s episode of “Iron Chef America.”

The secret ingredient for the culinary cook-off show hasn’t yet been revealed, but HOH guesses the competition will be fierce — and maybe even a little personal. Symon just won the “top burger” honor during the Burger Bash event at the South Beach Wine and Food Festival in Miami — a contest that Mendelsohn earned top marks in last year.

Prayers for Bunning. The prayer warriors are back, this time thanking God that Sen. Jim Bunning (R-Ky.) “did not have his way” and lobbying President Barack Obama to “invite God” into the health care debate.

Members of the “Pray at the Pump” movement are planning to hold a gathering outside the White House this afternoon to ask Obama to use prayer to help bring Democrats and Republicans together to pass meaningful health care legislation. But the group also will offer “special prayers” for Bunning, who earlier this week single-handedly blocked legislation extending unemployment benefits.

“Obviously, he and members of his family have not experienced the hardship that over 10% (AND PROBABLY EVEN HIGHER) of the American population is plagued with during this horrific recession,” movement founder Rocky Twyman wrote in an e-mail, later adding: “Since he is a Bible toting Christian, we urge him to read the passages in the Bible that call for compassion for our brothers and sisters who are suffering.”

Twyman and other locals started their politically themed prayer crusade a few years back to bring gas prices down. After gas prices dropped, the group has continued its prayer efforts, weighing in on nearly every political topic du jour.

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