The sisters Sanchez, observed

In Sunday's New York Times Style section, Rep. Linda Sánchez recounts leaking the news of her unmarried pregnancy to the LAT's Patt Morrison — "I thought, we need to sort of announce this." The piece goes on to describe Sánchez and her sister, Rep. Loretta Sanchez (no accent) as "the first and only sisters in Congress, a pair of Democrats from Southern California who are famous for their bold personalities, their affinity for spike heels and their ability to stand out amid a sea of gray in the House of Representatives."

The pregnancy announcement is the latest in years of back-and-forth headlines about the sisters, who came to office in 1997 (Loretta) and 2003 (Linda).

Among the more colorful examples: Loretta organized a Democratic fund-raiser to be held at the Playboy Mansion in 2000, until party officials pressured her to change its location, or lose a speaking slot at the national convention in Los Angeles. She moved the fund-raiser to a hotel, but refused to speak at the convention.

Linda, who won the “Funniest Celebrity in Washington” contest in 2006, is known for telling the kind of jokes that are usually not told to legislators. She recently tried one out in front of a fellow congresswoman, who did not find it at all funny....

“There are a lot of misconceptions about us,” Loretta Sanchez said during a separate interview in her office, which is a flight of stairs away from her sister’s. “Like that I’m the one that goes out and parties and stuff. And I’m actually the one that, like, goes home and sleeps and gets up in the morning and goes to the gym.”

Here's the holiday card that Loretta sent this year with her astride a motorcycle beside her cat Gretzky.

Photo of Linda T. Sánchez, left, and Loretta Sanchez by Adrees Latif/Reuters