Jeff Dufour and Patrick Gavin, The Examiner
2007-01-25 08:00:00.0
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Jeff DuFour and Patrick Gavin cover people, power and politics in the beltway each weekday. Email them at yan@dcexaminer.com .

Seen and heard at the State of the Union

» What was former Florida Rep. Katherine Harris, R-Fla., doing at the State of the Union address? Handing out business cards, that’s what. We spotted her doling out her new card to at least 15 congressmen and senators as she mingled on the House floor before the president’s address. Harris might have thought she was filling in for Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., who defeated her this fall. Nelson was home sick.

» Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., may be having a hard time getting his presidential candidacy off the ground, so where can he turn for advice? To President Bush, of course! Following the president’s SOTU address, Bush and Biden bumped into each other in a stairwell off the House floor and the president leaned in to Biden to give him a bit of advice on his ’08 run: “Don’t peak too soon!” As Bush giggled away, Biden called out that he’s got some of his own advice for Bush, “And you know what I’m talking about!” When Yeas & Nays asked Biden for the details, he wouldn’t dish the dirt, but conceded that while the president may not heed his advice, “he does take it good-naturedly.”

» It’s official: Barack leads Hillary! Well, not really, if you read the polls, but if you simply looked at the seating, it was hard not to notice that there was Sen. Obama, seated right in front of Sen. Clinton.

Nevertheless, maybe Sen. Clinton is hoping that a bit of that Kennedy mystique will rub off on her presidential campaign. After all, why else did she make her entrance into the chamber with Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I., by her side?

Speaking of Clinton, it only made sense that for her post-SOTU breakfast on Wednesday, she headed to Poste, located in the Hotel Monaco.

» Curious: The fact that President Bush gave props to lots of VIPs in attendance except for perhaps the most recognizable person there — Michael J. Fox, who sat in the gallery waiting for a stem cell policy mention that never came.

» Red, that ever-powerful color, is still tops among congressional women on State of the Union night. By our count, at least 19 women sported red on the House floor, making it yet again the most popular color. Purple was a surprise second, with eight, followed by teal (three), yellow (three), green (three, including Nancy Pelosi) and blue and white, with two each.

» That was former House Speaker Jim Wright, D-Texas, getting well-wishes from Biden and other veteran members just after the speech concluded. Wright, looking frail at 84, hasn’t been seen much in the Capitol in recent years. He was forced to resign as speaker in 1989 after Newt Gingrich brought up ethics charges against him.

Sarandon can’t take it anymore

Susan Sarandon came to the Hill Wednesday with Iraq war veterans, and, as usual, the actress didn’t keep her opinions to herself.

“My whole take on the State of the Union was that [the president sounded like] he just got elected,” she said. “Like he just thought of all this for the first time. So I got bored and left.”

“I think he is ignorant in a lot of ways,” she added. “Except with making money, he seems to be doing fine with that.”

Sarandon said she believes Sean Penn is coming to D.C. soon to lobby on the issue, and she encourages her other Hollywood brethren to get involved — “especially those who supported the war to begin with.”

Along with soldiers who appeared in the film “The Ground Truth,” Sarandon held court in the morning in the office of Rep. Lynn Woolsey, D-Calif., before heading to a discussion about the film with director Patricia Foulkrod and other members of Congress. The film looks at the plight of soldiers returning home from Iraq.

“I was ignorant as most Americans were in terms of what faces our veterans when they come home,” Sarandon said.

801 Pennsylvania still drawing the rich and powerful

Jack Abramoff’s old haunt — redesigned, reconceptualized and renamed from Signatures to D’Acqua under its new ownership — held its official grand opening Tuesday night, while that most political of events, the State of the Union address, was going on only eight blocks up Pennsylvania Avenue.

Should we read anything into that? Not at all, said a restaurant spokeswoman, who called the timing “purely coincidental.”

Several members of Congress, including all the Italian-American members, were invited, but most were busy reacting to the president’s speech.

Guests included sports super-agent David Falk; German Ambassador Klaus Scharioth; former Rep. Jim Stanton, D-Ohio, and other friends of chef-owner Francesco Ricchi and the restaurant’s new investors; and HGTV’s Yvette Piaggio, who designed the restaurant’s interior.

C-SPAN: Don’t sell us short, Mr. President

When President Bush addressed earmarks Tuesday night, he noted that these “special interest items are often slipped into bills at the last hour — when not even C-SPAN is watching.”

The line drew laughs from the crowd assembled — but not from C-SPAN. Jennifer Moire, a spokeswoman for the cable network, said in an e-mail to Yeas & Nays, “We appreciate the plug, Mr. President, but when C-SPAN promises gavel-to-gavel coverage, we even mean 3 a.m., dead-of-night earmarks.”

McAuliffe parties in NYC

It’s been a busy week for former DNC Chairman Terry McAuliffe, who’s been painting New York City red as he promotes his new book, “What A Party!”

Following a NYC book party held Monday night for McAuliffe, the “Chairman” and President Clinton headed to the restaurant Nobu Fifty Seven with 20 friends, family members and advisers. And, perhaps not surprisingly, we hear they closed the place down.

Tuesday night was equally impressive, as McAuliffe & Co. (not Clinton) joined recently retired New York Giants running back Tiki Barber for dinner as autograph-seeking fans surrounded the table (no word on whose autograph they wanted first).

Speakeasy

“What up, playa!”

– Former Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele to Stephen Colbert on “The Colbert Report” Tuesday