Jeff Dufour and Patrick Gavin, The Examiner
2007-02-21 08:00:00.0
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WASHINGTON -

Jeff Dufour and Patrick Gavin cover people, power and politics in the beltway each weekday. Email them at yan@dcexaminer.com .

Snow puts journos in the hot seat for one night

Tony Snow is used to heat. He gets it every day in the briefing room from the White House press corps. Just three days ago, he got an extra weekend dose of it from Tim Russert on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

But Tuesday night, at an event sponsored by the National Press Club and the White House Correspondents’ Association, the roles were reversed.

For more than an hour, Snow got to be the interlocutor, pressing the questions to his nemesis, NBC’s David Gregory, as well as Terry Hunt of The Associated Press, Mark Knoller of CBS Radio, April Ryan of American Urban Radio, Sheryl Stolberg of The New York Times and Richard Wolffe of Newsweek (the Snow-Gregory bout got started early as they bumped into each other in the National Press Club’s lobby and had no choice but to share the same elevator together all the way up to the 13th floor).

CBS’s Bob Schieffer, as he often does these days, served as host.

Snow began with one simple question for Gregory: “Have you ever gone home, looked in the mirror and said, ‘If I could do it over again, I’d have been nicer to that poor press secretary.’ ’’

Gregory poked right back at Snow, responding to Snow’s question by stealing one of Snow’s more common question-dodging techniques. “When I [have] something to announce, I’ll announce it.’’

In a more serious moment, Snow also announced the launch of a very generous general scholarship in honor of Deborah Orin, a New York Post correspondent who died last month. An anonymous donor funded the effort through the WHCA. Two $5,000 tuition grants will be awarded to graduate journalism students entering the Medill School at Northwestern, Orin’s alma mater, and officials say it eventually will be an endowed scholarship.

Two side notes: Snow played coy when he asked about the possibility of Helen Thomas losing her front-row seat in the renovated White House briefing room when it reopens later this year. “I have no opinion on that,” Snow told Yeas & Nays. Riiight ... we can read between the lines on that one, Tony.

And ssssh! Don’t tell anyone but both Snow and Gregory admit that they secretly like each other.

Going fast before the fast

Nobody flips a pancake better than the Rev. Howard Anderson. That’s what we took away from the National Cathedral’s annual Shrove Tuesday Pancake Races.

The tradition dates back to 15th-century England, when Christians cooked pancakes or doughnuts as a way to consume eggs and dairy, which were forbidden during the Lenten fast, which begins today (Ash Wednesday).

The Cathedral’s races began in 1999, when Cathedral Verger Stephen Lott, inspired by a photo in the Times of London, challenged Vicar Frank Hannon II to a race.

More than 100 people showed up Tuesday in the main aisle of the church (ice precluded running the races outside, as usual) to hear the Rev. Carol Wade kick off the races “in solidarity without British cousins who are probably racing as we speak.”

The object: Flip your pancake in its skillet at least three times as you run down the aisle and back. The fastest — in our estimation — had to be Anderson, the 59-year-old warden of the church, who took home the Golden Butterworth trophy for winning the Loaded Canons race, run among clergymen.

The technique: “Make sure the wrist is exactly right” throughout, according to Anderson.

Va. candidate wants it to be couple vs. couple

Chap Petersen thinks he’s being ganged up on.

The former Fairfax City Council member and Virginia delegate, who is running against State Sen. Jeannemarie Devolites Davis, R-Fairfax, this fall, lamented in his blog that not only his opponent, but also her husband, U.S. Rep. Tom Davis, “are being quoted in articles about our impending race.”

Arguing that it’s “two on one,” he wrote, “From now on, I request that my wife, Sharon Kim Petersen, be quoted in any article that features a quote from Congressman Davis about the ’07 race.

“For those of you that don’t know her ... Sharon is an Ivy League grad, a licensed attorney and a great mother. … She’s also gorgeous. Why shouldn’t she get to comment?” He adds that the offer precludes “questions about my grooming habits, willingness to change diapers, or tendency to watch ‘SportsCenter’ while infant children are crying.”

Devolites Davis told us that she’s going to focus her campaign on “issues that are important to my constituents,” rather than on personal issues.

Some congressman slept here

Apparently, it’s now a selling point for real estate agents that the previous tenant of a prospective rental house was a congressman.

That’s the conclusion we draw from a posting on craigslist.org Tuesday that advertises a “Congressman’s 1895 Victorian, w/3 Full Bath & Nice 2-car garage.”

Neither the owner nor the agent could be reached for comment, so we couldn’t verify who the (probably recently deposed) representative was, but we do know that the white-and-blue house at North Capitol and R streets Northwest was assessed for $547,730 for 2008.

Frankly, we’re more surprised that congressmen live in such “transitional” neighborhoods as Eckington.

GOP: No ‘Substitute’ for cold hard cash

When Roger Daltrey belts out the inevitable question “Who Are You!?” at Verizon Center on March 8, the response he might get back is “Republicans!”

At least four GOP members of Congress are hosting skybox fundraisers for the latest reunion tour by The Who, and if you thought that the face value of the tickets — $55 to $205, thank you very much — was expensive, just wait.

Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., is charging $1,500 each or $2,500 a pair. Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., offers the same deal, only he’s putting up a “catered dinner” beforehand if you’re hungry.

To support Rep. Kay Granger, R-Texas, you can snap up four seats for $5,000.

Ditto for Rep. Mary Bono, R-Calif., but she advertises that her party is in the “owner’s box.”

With that kind of dough rolling in, Republicans must be hoping they won’t get fooled again in 2008.

The Senate grows older

Sens. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass.; Olympia Snowe, R-Maine; and Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., celebrate milestone birthdays this week. McConnell turned 65 Tuesday and Snowe turns 60 today. Last, but never least, the senior senator from Massachusetts turns the big 75 Thursday.