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• WARSAW, Poland (AP) -- Poland's first transsexual lawmaker has lost her chance to become a deputy speaker in Parliament after lawmakers voted to keep the incumbent in place.
• Anna Grodzka attracted huge attention when she was elected in 2011. She garnered even more in recent days when she became a potential candidate for the post.
• Even though the job appears out of reach for now, the 58-year-old Grodzka has already had a huge impact on the political scene, becoming perhaps the most prominent symbol of liberal change in a traditionally conservative and largely Roman Catholic country.
• Grodzka became a candidate for a deputy speaker post after the lawmaker currently holding the post for her party, Wanda Nowicka, drew the ire of its founder and leader, Janusz Palikot, for accepting a bonus of 40,000 zlotys ($13,000) for her work as a leader in the legislature last year.
• The bonuses have been controversial because they come as Poland's economy faces a slowdown and the government raises taxes and forces other austerity measures on the public.
• ___

• SEA BRIGHT, N.J. (AP) -- Chris Christie began the workweek doughnut in hand, playfully embracing fat jokes on David Letterman's couch.
• The New Jersey governor was soon describing himself as the "the healthiest fat guy you've ever seen in your life" and sharing private details about his cholesterol and blood sugar with Letterman. And in a flash, the Republican was countering a former White House doctor's suggestion that his weight would present serious health risks if he were elected president.
• By design or not, the 50-year-old ended up outlining a personal and political plan for dealing with his weight -- in a more concentrated fashion, perhaps, than ever before, and in a matter of days. And he addressed a political vulnerability in his indisputable quest to emerge as a key leader in the Republican Party, if not become

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