The arrival of the cherry blossoms means one thing -- folks all around Washington are scrounging for tickets to next month's White House Correspondents' Association dinner, and news organizations are scrambling to get the hottest guests.
Host outfits have until today to turn in guest names to the association for them to be listed in the program, but word is already spreading about some of the boldface names lined up for the capital's version of Oscar night. Movie stars, professional athletes, celebrity chefs and, oh yes, even a White House official or two are all on tap.
As the president of the association and a stalwart in the briefing room through many administrations, Ann Compton and her ABC News compadres naturally snagged some of the best-known faces -- most notably Ben Affleck, who has been in town shooting his movie, "State of Play," and Tim Daly, star of "Wings" and most recently "Private Practice," the network's spinoff of "Grey's Anatomy."
But they won't be the only Hollywood types on hand at the April 26 gala. "Grey's" Eric Dane will be coming as a guest of GQ magazine. Sitting at the Bloomberg table, according to the latest buzz, will be Harvey Keitel, the movie star; Ed Westwick of "Gossip Girl"; Hayden Panettiere of "Heroes"; Joel McHale, host of "The Soup" on E! Entertainment Television; and Lauren Conrad, the reality-show star. Word has it that Marcia Cross, one of those "Desperate Housewives," will be joining People magazine, no doubt empathizing with Laura Bush, who described herself as a "desperate housewife" at the 2005 dinner.
Source: washingtonpost.com - nation, world, technology and Washington area news and headlines
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