Jeff Dufour and Patrick Gavin, The Examiner
2007-03-22 07:00:00.0
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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 .

The Hill & Bill show comes to Woodley Park

It makes total sense that Sen. Hillary Clinton decided to hold Tuesday’s fundraiser at the Marriott Wardman hotel in Woodley Park: The place loves her!

Their gift shop sells campaign buttons for all of the 2008 presidential candidates, but an employee told Yeas & Nays that Hillary buttons are easily outselling the rest (Barack Obama is second).

And, when asked what he likes about Hillary, one bartender at the event had one simple answer: “Everything.” And Bill? “He can do no wrong, in my eyes.” By this bartender’s guess, most everyone on the staff was a big fan of Hillary’s as well.

Other tidbits from Tuesday’s 1,000 person-plus bash, which raised $2.7 million:

» Hillary: “My husband walks around the house with a box of fluorescent bulbs.”

» “Funds are tight, for those of you wondering why we aren’t feeding you,” Hillary said. (Actually, there were finger foods, but no sit-down service).

» Punctuality has never been the Clintons’ strong suit. True to form, the event started an hour late.

» Political love is in the air: The Clintons have been spending lots of time together lately (this was the second time in three days that Bill has helped raise funds for Hillary). Could it be because, as Bill told the crowd, “We met and had our first date 36 years ago this month”?

‘WE’ looking for a few good women

Monday night’s casting call at IndeBleu for a new reality show on the WE television network may have been a washout (The Washington Post reported it drew no women), but the network may have made up for it on Tuesday, as WE recruiters hit up a women’s networking event at Lounge 201.

Heather Dawn Thompson of the National Congress of American Indians, who hosts the “Good Ol’ Girls” networking happy hours two to three times per year, said the event drew about 50 ladies, including administration appointees, Hill staffers, lobbyists, media types and even a former Miss Indian World.

Several women who were interested in the show — said to be a “Bachelorette”-type endeavor — later relocated to the Helix Hotel, where they were interviewed on camera. We look forward to their debut.

Boswell’s Web launch was one hot ticket

The place to be for D.C.’s under-30 social set Tuesday night was Play Lounge, where Bobby Boswell, DC United’s 24-year-old soccer phenomenon, celebrated the launch of his official Web site, BobbyBoswell.com.

And maybe soccer is catching on after all: Even though the club holds little more than 200, organizers said they closed the list after receiving 450 RSVPs.

Or maybe it was just Boswell (he was one of Cosmopolitan magazine’s 50 top bachelors last year). Or maybe it was the open bar for ladies from 10 to midnight.

In any event, the party drew DC United’s Clyde Simms, Jamil Walker and Rod Dyachenko, Sen. Barbara Boxer’s daughter Nicole, and the one and only Jeff Gannon.

Boswell, the MLS Defender of the Year, said he’ll be blogging on the site, posting photos and the occasional video, and promoting charities with which he works.

Wolfowitz, Riza call it quits

Yeas & Nays has learned that the multiyear romantic relationship between World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz and Middle East expert Shaha Riza has ended.

The relationship caused controversy back in 2005 when Wolfowitz was deputy defense secretary and Riza was a communications adviser at the World Bank. Her neighbors in Northwest Washington complained in the media about the round-the-clock security his presence brought to their quiet neighborhood. The pair found headlines again later that year, when Wolfowitz was tapped to head the Bank. Then, some anonymous staffers objected in the media that their relationship ran afoul of the Bank’s ethics requirements.

In keeping with their tight lips about their relationship in the past, neither responded to a request for comment.

Friedman a rich man

New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman might think “The World Is Flat,” but his world is particularly rich: His best-selling book has remained on The New York Times Best-seller List for 100 weeks, and the author recently celebrated the milestone with a private party at his Bethesda home with his wife and a few close friends. Ice cream cake and champagne helped usher in the occasion. Here’s hoping that at least the champagne wasn’t flat. ...

By the numbers

7: New members of Congress who turned up at the Library of Congress’ new members’ reception on Tuesday

1 billion: Amount, in dollars, of Mitt Romney’s net worth, according to a new profile in 02138 magazine

Pamela Sorensen (www.pamelaspunch.com) contributed to this page.