The man on the catwalk

Amidst all the firsts surrounding Nancy Pelosi’s election as the first female speaker of the House, her husband Paul has had a few firsts of his own.

Witness last week’s annual First Lady’s Luncheon at the Washington Hilton, held by the Congressional Club, the nearly 100-year-old organization of congressional spouses.

Part of the event’s tradition is the “runway,” or “catwalk,” as Laura Bush referred to it, which runs down the center of the room. One club member explained that the “much-dreaded” ritual enables all the guests to see the first lady, spouses of the Cabinet, Supreme Court, leaders in Congress and the leaders of the club as they promenade toward the head table while being introduced over the loudspeaker. Typically, male military escorts walk arm in arm with the wives down the catwalk.

Well, for the first time ever, a speaker’s husband walked the walk. He had a female military escort, and “a huge grin on his face, obviously enjoying himself immensely,” one attendee said. Perhaps it was the 2,000 guests — mostly women — giving him a raucous round of applause as he made his way forward and took his seat in the chair Jean Hastert occupied for years.

The theme of this year’s luncheon, hosted by Linda Bachus, wife of Rep. Spencer Bachus, R-Ala., was “Soul of the South.” Ruben Studdard, 2003 winner of “American Idol” and an Alabama native, provided the entertainment to Bush and the assembled guests.

The luncheon marked another first for the club as well. Vivian Bishop, wife of Georgia Democrat Sanford Bishop and the club’s new president, became the first African American to preside at the luncheon. Other black women have served on the board during the club’s history, including the wives of Thurgood Marshall, Melvin Watt and Charlie Rangel. Next year’s chairwoman for the luncheon will be another African-American: Alfredia Scott, wife of David Scott, also a Democrat from Georgia.

On eve of band battle, Schieffer weighs in on Snow

Tonight’s the big Battle of the Bands showdown between CBS’s Bob Schieffer and White House Press Secretary Tony Snow at the National Press Club. Schieffer performs with the band Honky Tonk Confidential, and Snow rocks out with Beats Workin’. The two will take to the stage and see who wins the Club’s first ever “Crawlin’ Kingsnake Trophy.”

Snow’s even bringing in a ringer: Jeff “Skunk” Baxter (of Steely Dan & Doobie Brothers fame) will join Beats Workin’, and the band has tweaked some of its arrangements in order to give Baxter maximum guitar shredding time.

Schieffer will unveil a brand-new song, called “A Dark and Stormy Night,” and we recently asked him a few questions about his competition and music in general.

“On stage, Tony Snow most resembles ...”

Pat Boone or Alice Cooper

“Tony Snow was really born to play ...”

A cowbell

“The song I was really destined to sing is ...”

“I’m an OLD Cowhand”

“My favorite rock ‘n’ roll movie is ...”

“Walk The Line”

“If I could sing a duet with President Bush, it’d be ...”

Not possible, he can’t sing like I can.

The Battle of the Bands is all in good fun, of course, and look for a big jam at the end of the evening with both bands.

Three Kings (one real) think steak

Don King took the VIP prizefight at The Palm last week.

On Thursday night, The Palm’s big names were Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., and NBC’s Tim Russert. Russert may have won that VIP Battle, as it was Nelson who motioned Russert over to his table to mingle with Nelson’s dining companions. So impressed with Russert were Nelson’s mates that they interrupted their dinner to snap pictures with the “Meet the Press” host.

But both Russert and Nelson were eclipsed when famed boxing promoter King entered the restaurant in large fashion, waving and shaking a little American flag and leading his entourage to a back table.

And, this time, it was King who was asked to pose for photos with various Palm patrons.

Time for a smoked and cured candidate?

A group of Prince William County activists have pork on the mind, but it has nothing to do with wasteful spending. Rather, some conservative bloggers are touting the candidacy of a ham sandwich to take the place of Commonwealth Attorney Paul Ebert, a Democrat who has held the post for nearly 40 years.

The Web site www.votehamsandwich.com promises that “Hamilton ‘Ham’ Sandwich, Esq.,” as the sandwich is formally known, “possesses every bit the same skills and qualities as” Ebert.

According to Greg Letiecq, who runs the Black Velvet Bruce Li blog, the idea that a ham sandwich could do a better job than Ebert had been circulating among some local bloggers. He said Jim Riley, who writes the Virginia Virtucon blog, “came up with the graphic of the ham sandwich, and everybody was just dying. So it kind of ballooned from there.”

Letiecq said there may be a formal campaign kickoff at a local deli, and there is talk of establishing a PAC and distributing yard signs.

“It is possible that there will be thousands of yard signs encouraging people to write in a ham sandwich,” he said.

Letiecq said it’s a case of “feel-good viral marketing” in an attempt to affect the November election. But the effort isn’t totally tongue in cheek: If the campaign caught on, he asked, then “would [Ebert] run in a special election after he lost to a ham sandwich? Probably not.”

Ebert did not respond to a voicemail seeking comment.

Straight outta Finland

Finnish Ambassador Pekka Lintu on Thursday afternoon became the first official customer of Marimekko in downtown Silver Spring before the doors opened for its grand opening party.

Lintu bought a child’s shirt from the Finnish retailer’s first D.C. location, refusing to accept it as a gift from the stunned and nervous staff.

What does one do when the ambassador just happens to drop by? “Run, get champagne as quickly as you can find it and figure out how to work the cash register,” owner Marni Frankel said.