Chelsea getting closer to helping Mom

We’ve seen Hillary Clinton all over the campaign trail. And husband Bill has been helping her out, as well. Heck, we’ve even seen such VIPs as Terry McAuliffe and rapper Timbaland lending a hand as Hillary travels the country trying to win hearts and minds (and votes) in her 2008 presidential run.

But there’s one face that still has yet to emerge: Chelsea’s.

The New York Post reported Tuesday that Chelsea appeared with her parents at a Manhattan fundraiser Monday night. Still, the Clinton campaign maintains that Chelsea’s not going to hit the trail quite yet.

Hillary was mum on the subject when asked by USA Today more than a week ago, saying, “We’ll have to see about that.”

Clinton adviser Howard Wolfson told Yeas & Nays on Tuesday, “[Chelsea] has attended fundraisers in New York from time to time but is focused on her professional responsibilities and has no current plans to be out on the campaign trail.”

But we’re hearing that the campaign has begun to seriously discuss when and how to involve the former first daughter. Chelsea, 27, is currently raking in the dough working at the New York-based hedge fund Avenue Capital Group and, under the likeliest scenario, she would take a leave from the firm once she hit the campaign trail.

Chelsea has maintained a high standing in the eyes of the American public (far fewer of those partying pics than the current first daughters ...) and if things go as planned for the campaign, Chelsea’s participation will not only reinforce Hillary’s image as a mom and a family-focused candidate, it’ll also help Hillary shore up her standing with female voters.

Tucker flops on Romney’s flipping

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has been married to his wife, Ann Davies, for almost 40 years, and he’s one of the few front-runners for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008 who hasn’t been divorced.

So it might have confused people when they tuned in to Tucker Carlson’s MSNBC show Monday and heard Carlson explain Romney’s political evolution on the issue of gay marriage.

“Well, he wasn’t just for gay rights, he was more for gay rights than Ted Kennedy,” said Carlson facetiously. “He was basically gay.”

When we asked Carlson on Tuesday to elaborate on his comments, he said, “I forgot I said that, but I definitely think it. How can you be more for gay rights than Ted Kennedy? Not easy.’’

It’s raining female celebrities

A Yeas & Nays spy saw Star Jones braving the lunch rush at the Cosi at 15th and K streets Tuesday. Surrounded by a group of what appeared to be press agents and handlers, she was “eating among the people,” says our source.

In other celebrity news on the horizon:

» Actress Christina Ricci is in town today for an evening reception on the Hill. A guest of the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network, she’s helping the organization mark Sexual Assault Awareness & Prevention Month.

» Actress Jane Seymour will exhibit 76 of her paintings and prints at the P&C Art locations in Georgetown on Friday and Old Town Alexandria on Saturday. P&C Art will donate a portion of the proceeds to the Association of Women’s Heart Programs.

» On the heels of her father Jon Voight’s long stay in our city, Angelina Jolie is back Thursday to launch a new advocacy group. Global Action for Children will encourage policy-makers in the United States and other Group of 8 countries to increase funding for children made vulnerable by disease and poverty.

» Fresh off her swing through D.C. last weekend for the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner, Miss America Lauren Nelson now joins “America’s Most Wanted” host John Walsh and a group of cops as they launch sting operations on would-be sexual predators (using photos of Nelson as a young girl as bait). The episode airs on FOX this Saturday.

‘Street fair of neocons’

No sooner had Robert Joseph, ersatz undersecretary at the State Department, finished giving a speech at the American Enterprise Institute on Tuesday that the building’s fire alarm went off.

Building staff couldn’t stop the noise, so down the stairs everyone went — not only AEI scholars, but their fellow neocon travelers at the Weekly Standard, who happen to work out of the same building.

“It was like a street fair of neocons” on the sidewalk, said one observer, who picked out of the crowd Standard editor Fred Barnes, former Rep. John Kasich, R-Ohio, and AEI’s Michael Ledeen.

Fire trucks arrived, but it turned out to be a false alarm.

“This is the third alarm we’ve had in something like six weeks,” said one source in the building. “I overheard members of the building staff say that ‘it’s the 12th floor again,’” — one of AEI’s floors.

Someone must be leaving the popcorn in the microwave too long.