Bob Schieffer is sitting on a scoop he needs to share with the world, unless his rules for ‘off-the-record’ are the same as the late Tim Russert: everything is always off-the-record unless the newsmaker specifically grants ‘permission to use.’

Nico Pitney gets the ball rolling:

“Not long ago,” Schieffer added, “a staffer for a congressional leader actually asked if we could provide a private waiting room for his boss who was appearing on Face the Nation because the boss didn’t want to share a waiting room with someone from the other party.”

So — who is it, Bob? And why can’t you say?

Pitney started the research at the Face the Nation guest list website:

So which congressional leader was he talking about? A review of recent Face the Nation guests shows the most recent program with guests that fit the description took place on March 21, when three congressional leaders were featured on the show:

– Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C. Majority Whip;
– Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Minority Leader
– Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., Assistant Majority Leader

Except I think that’s an incomplete list. First of all, ‘not long ago’ is a general phrase and Schieffer could use it to apply to visits in the recent past. Personally, I wouldn’t use that phrase to apply to the most recent guest list it applies to, as Nico Pitney does. Secondly, these three congressional leaders all appeared on the same show, which would be noteworthy and perhaps mentioned by Schieffer. He didn’t say the congressional leader refused to share the green room with another leader — it was a member of the opposite party. Doesn’t that imply it wasn’t another leader, since that would be even more newsworthy?

Which opens up the possibilities, as follows:

March 14, 2010
Guests: White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs; Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn.; Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla.; and Karen Ignagni, President, America’s Health Insurance Plans

Both Alexander and Wasserman-Schultz are ‘congressional leaders,’ and certainly March 14 was ‘not long ago.’

But also:

March 7, 2010
Guests: Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind.; Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.; Dan Balz, The Washington Post; and Jim VandeHei, Executive Editor of Politico

Lindsey Graham is a congressional leader, and Evan Bayh’s relentless centrism and Blue-Dogginess may have convinced Bob Schieffer that he is too.

Also:

February 28, 2010
Guests: House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md.; Sen Tom Coburn, R-Okla.; Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D.; and Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn.

Could you stand to be in a room with Coburn and Blackburn? My sympathies to Hoyer here. I too would make the demand for my own green room, if only to preserve my IQ.

Back a ways, but still this year:

January 24, 2010
Guests: Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.; Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill.; CBS News Congressional correspondent Nancy Cordes; and CBS News chief legal correspondent Jan Crawford

The Blackburn/Coburn IQ rule applies here, too.

And, finally:

January 10, 2010
Guests: Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.; Rep. Peter Hoekstra, R-Mich.; Peter Baker, New York Times White House Correspondent; and CBS News chief legal correspondent Jan Crawford

Given Hoekstra’s unpatriotic leakage of intelligence matters and grandstanding every time terror is in the news, if I were Dianne Feinstein, I would ask for my own room too. Plus it’s the kind of story Schieffer would tell, in his charmingly old-school way. Additionally, there is a suspicious lack of pronoun use in Schieffer’s statement:

a staffer for a congressional leader actually asked if we could provide a private waiting room for his boss who was appearing on Face the Nation because the boss didn’t want to share a waiting room with someone from the other party

So, I will repeat Nico Pitney’s question, but with a deeper pool from which you can choose: who do you think it was?