[snarkytart]

Prize-awarding institutions invite more than 6,000 individuals to propose, or nominate, candidates for the Nobel Prize.

How do you know the congressman was not invited by a Universtiy to Nominate someone?

[lugsoul]

I don't, but in all of the controversy surrounding it he has never said so.

And I do think it is a safe bet that Bilirakis would not be invited to nominate someone for a Nobel Prize in Physiology, since he has no credentials in the field.