From stunning dance moves to prurient Twitter habits, the extracurricular activities of House Majority Leader Eric Cantor's press team have been the special target of FishBowlDC's Betsy Rothstein this week. Earlier today, the DC gossip blogger caught wind of a collection of fabulous photos of Cantor's deputy press secretary sashaying and doing the splits all about the nation's capital. The photos of Cantor flak Megan Whittemore, hosted by Getty Images, were taken by Roll Call photographer Tom Williams for a profile detailing Whittemore's mad dance skills and yoga prowess. "When she’s not at work answering journalists’ questions and prepping the Majority Leader for media talks, Whittemore practices splits, pliés and pirouettes and performs several times each year with modern dance companies based in the D.C. area," reads the profile. (You can check out all her wicked moves here).

Too bad no cartwheels near the Washington Monument.

Moving on, there's Cantor's communications director Brad Dayspring or as The New York Times calls him, "Cantor's Rasputin of retort." In a Monday story, the Times featured him in a piece about the increasingly deft Twitter skills of GOP operatives. Rothstein took the opportunity to breeze through who he follows on Twitter and found an account that stuck out: @SexyTwitPics, an account that retweets "only the HOTTEST Pics DIRECTLY from Sexy Ladies' Twitter Accts! ... Ladies Mention us w your pics! 18+."  By no means a Weinergate-level gaffe (the man's only looking) but an amusing find given that most people would probably clean up their Twitter follows after being the subject of a lengthy The New York Times article. (The account pushes out R-rated photos alongside more innocent photos such as the following.)

When contacted by Rothstein, he justified following the account:

First of all, as my Twitter account notes – it is not an official account – it is my own opinion.  See: Communications Director, Office of the Majority Leader. Opinions are my own unless noted and RT’s aren’t an endorsement, yadda yadda. Second, the reason I follow it is because my friend in San Diego is a model who was featured on the site and suggested that her friends follow it. Third, really? I don’t think this is a productive story for anyone. Are we really going to start looking into the thousands of accounts that people follow?

Unsurprisingly, Dayspring no longer follows @SexyTwitPics. All in all, Cantor's staff appears to be leading a fairly active extracurricular life. Suffice it to say, Whittemore is probably a little more happy with her brush with media exposure.

Want to add to this story? Let us know in comments or send an email to the author at jhudson at theatlantic dot com. You can share ideas for stories on the Open Wire.
John Hudson