Entries for May 20, 2007

JOE CIARDIELLO FOR USN&WR

Even nerdy Washington has caught American Idol fever as the show enters its spectacular finale showdown between 17-year-old Jordin Sparks and beat-box guy Blake Lewis. Of course, the first family, who endorsed the show's massive "Idol Gives Back" fundraiser, will check out the Fox show. But that'll be nothing compared with the cheers and jeers coming out of the Spellings household. Yes, Education Secretary Margaret Spellings is an Idol fanatic.

Go ahead and ask: How crazed is she? Spellings is the first in the Bush cabinet to attend a show. It happened earlier this month, and she and daughter Grace even compared notes with judge Simon Cowell. Like Cowell, they loved ousted Melinda Doolittle. "I am shocked over the Melinda situation," says Spellings. "I am confident that she'll have a great career." For finale week, "My pick--Jordin." Another Idol fan, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, also chooses Jordin, but she likes Blake's style, too.

It's not just Idol-atry for Spellings. She's very hip to current media, using them to pitch education. This week she'll be the first cabinet member to be on the Daily Show With Jon Stewart, talking up No Child left Behind. "Secretary Spellings has range and No Child Left Behind has no age limit," crows a pal. "She runs the gamut when it comes to the age of the person she's talking to."

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has a little trick up his sleeve that could spell an end to President Bush's devilish recess appointments of controversial figures like former United Nations Ambassador John Bolton. We hear that over the long August vacation, when those types of summer hires are made, Reid will call the Senate into session just long enough to force the prez to send his nominees who need confirmation to the chamber. The talk is he will hold a quickie "pro forma" session every 10 days, tapping a local senator to run the hall. Senate workers and Republicans are miffed, but Reid is proving that he's the new sheriff in town.

They haven't had their first kiss yet, but the White House is learning that dinner and a drink make it a lot easier to address tough issues with Congress. We're told that after years of giving Congress the cold shoulder, the White House is issuing more invitations to private gatherings. And members from both parties are being wooed in the gatherings, where Bush is displaying the type of bipartisanship he won applause for as the governor of Texas. "I think they are doing more of that at the White House," says Sen. Trent Lott, Mississippi Republican. "I think that's helpful. Anything you do together informally, it makes it easier to talk about substance at other times." A Bushie says the invites include Camp David sleepovers, receptions, and even movie screenings.

Thanks to a $2 million lawsuit, we're getting the first peek ever into the world of Washington's private eyes. These are firms that not only act like mini CIAs but also work with the feds and even rogue nations to dig up secrets and lies. The case features a prominent author and TV pundit on terrorism issues, Neil Livingstone, who recently quit the firm he founded to start another. Now he's being sued by his old investigative outfit, GlobalOptions, which thinks Livingstone is stealing customers for his new gig, ExecutiveAction. He denies the charge. It's a complicated case, and some of the details are eye-popping. Consider the clients the two discuss: a firm owned by the daughter of Uzbekistan's strongman president; one secretively dubbed "Project M"; and the feuding family of Sumner Redstone, chair of Viacom. Then there's the money involved. Livingstone's salary at GlobalOptions was $260,000. And in less than two months this year alone, Livingstone says, he paid his ex-firm $1,415,000 for helping him on some cases. No wonder neither side chose to talk.

It's a long way from the deck of a U.S. Coast Guard cutter to the East Wing, but new White House Usher Stephen Rochon, a retired Coast Guard rear admiral, is finding great similarities in keeping both shipshape. "My background made me suited for this," says Rochon, who started in March as only the eighth chief White House usher ever. It's a big job: His team does everything, including washing the president's clothes, preparing quesadillas for the first family, keeping up the old house, and even walking the first pets. "I'm still pinching myself," he tells us. As for the dog chores, Rochon says he gets a kick out of petting them in the morning. "It's not a dog's life here. They are taken care of very well."

For two straight years, Dennis Tran has been Domino Pizza's speed king, and the Washington area pie tosser is giving the White House a little credit. Tran used to run the store closest to the White House, a big customer (the Bush crowd likes pepperoni). Speed was the theme when those orders came in, which is possibly why Tran was crowned the World's Fastest Pizza Maker with a record time of 49.1 seconds for three large pies. With his kind of speed, he tells us, "an order from the White House even during the dinner rush didn't hurt us."

Rep. Xavier Becerra, a California Democrat, had the perfect excuse for "accidentally" whacking reporters: He called a press briefing to stage a shooting to demonstrate new bullet-stamping technology. But instead of holding it in a committee room, he chose the U.S. Capitol Police range in the Rayburn House Office Building. "We just had to do it at the firing range," he says. "I don't think the chairmen of the hearings would be pleased we were firing a weapon in their room." Or reporters and staff: "It's hard to do a press conference if you're going to take a chance the bullet will hit a person."

"As the Sopranos would say, I would not travel to Chicago for the purpose of teaching people how to butcher hogs."

"We've had a Congress that's spent money like John Edwards at a beauty shop."

"I think Oprah is far more powerful than a vice president."

"I won't sing it in public. UNLESS I WIN!"

Sources: Washington Post, Washington Examiner, MSNBC Live, HillaryClinton.com