From halibut and hot dogs to unlikely friendships: This is what happens inside the Senate lunch room

Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Get our free Inside Washington email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. He told an especially instructive story about when he returned to the Senate as vice president and went into the Senate dining hall, where a central dining room table used to stand. “It’s hard to really dislike an individual that you strongly disagree with when you find out his wife is dying of breast cancer or he just lost a child or he’s having serious physical problems himself,” Biden continued, as he reminisced about the days when Democratic and Republican senators were forced by location to converse with each other every day. Meanwhile, Senator Mitt Romney of Utah — who, despite his clean-living Mormon lifestyle, has a soft spot for hot dogs — told me that his favorite food to bring to the caucus luncheon is J Dawgs, which is a hot dog company based in his own home state. Republicans typically bring food from their home state during caucus lunch Early in my career, I covered an event with former senator Chris Dodd, a liberal Democrat from Connecticut, who lamented this problem.