White House Correspondents' Dinner: Who's coming?

Every year around this time, Washington puts up with jokes about how it is “Hollywood for ugly people,” and this year is no exception. That’s because the annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner is Saturday night, and the list of “beautiful people” on the guest list keeps growing.

The latest entry is reality TV goddess Kim Kardashian, coming as a guest of Fox. More important, she’s also thinking of getting into politics. OK, Ms. Kardashian recently floated the idea of running for mayor of Glendale, Calif., which actually isn’t an office one can run for, as Monitor colleague Gloria Goodale points out. But let’s go with it. Here in Washington, ever-mindful that we have a bad rap in the looks department, we’re hopeful that a run for Congress can’t be far behind.  

Kardashian’s date is her “momager,” Kris Jenner.  

Actress Lindsay Lohan is also on the Fox News guest list. We’re not sure Ms. Lohan qualifies as beautiful, given her personal problems, but we appreciate the gesture by Fox anchor Greta Van Susteren, who invited her.

"I love comebacks, and I'd like her to succeed," Ms. Van Susteren told the celebrity website TMZ.

Time Inc. scored actor George Clooney, who in some ways qualifies as both Hollywood and Washington (or maybe we’re flattering ourselves). After all, Mr. Clooney is deeply political, as is his father, who lives here and teaches journalism at American University. Just last month, both Clooneys got themselves arrested for protesting at the Embassy of Sudan over the actions of the country’s strongman president, Omar al-Bashir.

Before we reveal who else is coming, a quick reminder that the 98-year-old dinner accomplishes more than just star-gazing – and a chance to see the president and a top-flight comedian (this year, Jimmy Kimmel) deliver some one-liners. It also raises funds for scholarships to aspiring young journalists. Since 1991, the White House Correspondents’ Association has awarded nearly $600,000 in scholarships. This year’s recipients are three students from Howard University in Washington, D.C.

Now, back to the red carpet. According to the New York Daily News, here’s a list of bold-face names:

• Actress Zooey Deschanel, guest of Bloomberg News.

• The stars of TV’s “Modern Family,” including Sofia Vergara, Julie Bowen, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, and Eric Stonestreet, guests of ABC News.

• Elizabeth Banks, who played Effie Trinket in “The Hunger Games,” and Paul Rudd, also guests of ABC News.

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