Washington Whispers
Secret to Smoking Like a President
It was election night 1992, and the popular Georgetown Tobacco shop was busy with political aides looking for one stogie brand: Paul Garmirian, a fave of former Presidents Bush and Clinton. "The Democrats were buying them to celebrate," recalls Garmirian, "and the Republicans for consolation." Never heard of "P.G.'s"? Count yourself lucky: We're letting you in on a secret that Washington and Hollywood big shots have kept for 16 years. Aficionados consider P.G.'s vintage Dominican cigars better than Cuba's storied Cohibas.
"Muy bueno," says former CIA Director George Tenet, who used to chew the P.G. Churchill. Garmirian, a regal Lebanese native who literally wrote the book on cigars (The Gourmet Guide to Cigars), tells how a client once offered Clinton a P.G. in a greeting line but Bubba walked past. That is, until he heard, "but it's a P.G." The current prez is a fan, as are California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and David Letterman. "It's a nonpartisan cigar," says Garmirian, who offers cigars, chat, and espresso at his McLean, Va., store. His string of presidential smokers might continue in 2008: Republican Rudy Giuliani likes to chat Armenian affairs with Garmirian over P.G.'s, and Democratic Gov. Bill Richardson recalls talking cigars with the maker at Georgetown Tobacco. "Paul is a master cigar maker," he says, "but an even better raconteur."
Charming the Grouchy CIA
By most accounts, the CIA's new boss, Gen. Michael Hayden, inherited a grumpy agency beaten up in the aftermath of 9/11. Now insiders tell us that morale is edging up. And they credit Hayden's charm offensive for the change. His technique: Hayden sends out regular E-mails to staff boasting about their good work and revealing secrets he hears from top politicians. What's more, he sometimes stops by offices to buck them up. "He pulls people aside to say nice things. It works," says an insider. Hayden's got a solid public-relations record: When he ran the National Security Agency, we're told, he used to video his interaction with workers to show he didn't work in an ivory tower. "You could write a management book off his techniques," says one official.
A President's Day Nominee in 2008
The rushed 2008 presidential race, already pedal to the metal earlier than ever before, is starting to look as though it could produce likely nominees as early as mid-February 2008. That's more than six months before the actual nominating conventions. The reason: Big states, like Florida and California, are tired of being overshadowed by New Hampshire and Iowa and want to play a larger role in picking the nominee. But now lots of states are following suit and plan primaries and caucuses by mid-February. Seeing it coming, the political parties are already making plans to have their headquarters invaded by the probable nominee's aides. The Republican National Committee, for example, has set aside 15 offices and cubicles for them. The Dems also have space "so we'll be ready to accommodate our nominee whenever (s)he arrives," an insider E-mails us.
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