California voters in the 47th district recently opened their mailboxes to find a sexy fragrance ad featuring Rep. Loretta Sanchez.

Even though the California Democrat has sent out mailings in the past ‘ we wait every year for her always-over-the-top Christmas card ‘ this one isn’t from the Congresswoman. Another difference: It’s a scratch and sniff.

The scented (or foul, depending on whom you ask) mailer was funded by Sanchez’s opponents at Van Tran for Congress and features the Congresswoman in a red dress next to the headline: ‘Loretta, the Scent of Washington.’

The inside of the mailer pokes fun at the seven-term Congresswoman, reading: ‘Something smells rotten about Loretta, it’s the stench of Washington.’

Sanchez’s campaign turned its nose up at the ad.

‘Talk about bad taste,’ said Caroline Hogan, Sanchez’s campaign press secretary.

HOH wasn’t able to obtain a physical copy of the scratch-and-sniff ad, but a tipster tells us that it is ‘ a combination of five or six of the worst possible scents you can imagine.’

A spokesman for the Tran campaign called the scent ‘trash.’

Continuing to Split Hairs

With Sen. Barbara Boxer and her Republican opponent, Carly Fiorina, running neck and neck, the California Democrat is using everything at her disposal to rally supporters ‘ including that ‘so yesterday’ hairdo atop her head.

At a fundraising event last week, Boxer recalled that infamous incident from June when Fiorina was unwittingly caught on a live microphone making fun of the Senator’s coiffure to someone off camera. ‘God, what is that hair? It’s so yesterday,’ Fiorina joked.

Since then, Boxer has used the do-dissing incident as a rallying cry, including at a fundraiser last week attended by President Barack Obama.

‘I know some of you heard my opponent say something about my hairdo. Remember that? The fact is my opponent said my hair is ‘so yesterday,” Boxer said, according to a White House pool report. ‘Well I’m here to tell you, maybe my hair is yesterday. But my ideas are for today, for tomorrow and for these children, and her ideas are ‘so yesterday.”’

No word on whether those ideas require any new styling product.

Answering the Call to Vote

Campaign robocalls can be really annoying ‘ but if you knew Willie Nelson was on the end of the line, would you pick up the phone?

Nelson is joining the Grateful Dead’s Bob Weir, Questlove of the Roots, Matt Berninger of the National, Yim Yames of My Morning Jacket and other prominent musicians in randomly phoning young voters to remind them to vote in the midterm elections.

The get-out-the-vote effort is sponsored by HeadCount, a nonpartisan, nonprofit group that works to register voters. More than 25,000 people have signed HeadCount’s ‘Pledge to Vote,’ promising to hit the polls Nov. 2. In doing so, the signers also requested a favorite musician to call them to remind them to vote.

Most of the reminder calls will be robocalls, but some will be live calls from the musicians. ‘Rather than get a call from a politician saying, ‘Vote for me,’ we’re going to be … saying, ‘Vote for you,” Weir says.

Republicans Say Democrats Are All Play, No Work

HOH spies spotted a couple of high-profile Democrats out and about last week ‘ and because our tipsters were of the conservative variety, they used the sightings to do a little politicking.

A House GOP aide eyed Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman leaving the Barracks Row restaurant Ted’s Bulletin during lunchtime Thursday. The aide wondered whether the California Democrat should be in D.C. so close to the midterm elections, saying, ‘Shouldn’t he be raising money from movie stars with swimming pools for his colleagues who aren’t lucky enough to represent Beverly Hills?’

A Waxman spokeswoman didn’t return our request for comment by press time.

Another Republican spotted White House adviser David Axelrod at the Source by Wolfgang Puck about 6 p.m. Thursday. This GOPer also wondered whether it was appropriate for Axelrod to be seen at a fancy D.C. restaurant less than two weeks before the elections. Axelrod dined with another gentleman and had the chinois chicken salad, HOH hears.

Not every recent sighting has been political. Bill Nye the Science Guy dined at Tallula Restaurant in Arlington, Va., on Sunday night. After eating fettuccine and goat, Nye visited with staff and snapped photos with the line cooks, we hear.

Overheard on the Hill

‘Beautiful morning, first snow of the year. Yet another reason I love being a Utahn.’

‘ Sen. Orrin Hatch in a Monday afternoon tweet. The Utah Republican also tweeted a photo of the snow-capped mountains in his home state.

Jennifer Bendery contributed to today’s HOH.

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