Just want we wanted, another event to attend on the eve of the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.

But actually, this one sounds promising.

National Journal and The Atlantic are hosting MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WVa.) for “light breakfast and conversation” on the morning of April 27. Steve Clemons, Editor-at-Large for The Atlantic and Quartz, will moderate. The discussion will focus on American military power today and will feature the paperback release of Maddow’s book Drift: The Unmooring of American Military Power.

National Journal’s “The Hotline” is hosting its fifth annual “Political Pursuit” games they call the “ultimate face off” of political trivia. It’s meant to be a kick-off to the White House Correspondents’ Dinner weekend and takes place Thursday night at the Newseum with The Hotline‘s Editor-in-Chief Reid Wilson playing game show host.

As some may recall, two years ago the event blew up (so to speak) when a member of the audience had a bout of extremely loud gas. The individual went outside on a balcony to cool off while attendees attempted to contain their laughter out of politeness to the gaseous victim.

This event is sold out for the general audience, but media may still request passes by contacting Ben Fishel at bfishel@nationaljournal.com. You can also follow along with the Twitter hashtag #PPursuit.

The event is at the Newseum and includes pre-game cocktails.

This year’s participating teams are… Read more

Somewhere, someplace is an archery range with FNC Chief White House Correspondent Ed Henry‘s face as the bull’s-eye.

CQ Roll Call White House Correspondent Steven Dennis let his White House Correspondents’ Association membership lapse. He renewed it, but decisions had been made. The publication isn’t getting all the seats it wants this year. It’s a better deal than some pubs, which got shut out entirely. Still, this year there will be one table for CQ Roll Call. No extra tickets possible. Pretty strange considering CQ Roll Call has purchased tables at the WHCD for the past 20 years. A recent exchange between the publication and Henry, this year’s president of the WHCA and once the HOH writer for Roll Call, made it clear that the answer was no and that the seats had sold out.

We asked CQ Roll Call to comment on the matter.  Read more

This morning The Atlantic‘s Jeffrey Goldberg was scheduled to interview Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel at The Atlantic offices over on New Hampshire Avenue. But due to bad weather (a flash flood warning) coming out of Chicago, the event ain’t happening. The timing of the event was supposed to be 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.

With the White House Correspondents Dinner a little over a week away, most news outlets have made their plans. They’ve invited guests, scored party invites and rented tuxes. One outlet that won’t be representing at the annual nerd prom is Buzzfeed. Despite their application for tables, the WHCD has denied them tables at this year’s event. We have to wonder if WHCD President Ed Henry has turned this into a personal squabble. Buzzfeed’s Michael Hastings wrote about his dislike of Henry in his book. We wrote about that here. Maybe Henry is a little touchy with his tables?

Despite the snub, Buzzfeed is turning WHCD lemons into lemonade. They are throwing their own “BBQ with Buzzfeed” DURING the Correspondents Dinner. It’s a ballsy move that will allow folks without tickets to the actual dinner to party with Buzzfeed. We hear the entire NY based Politics team, including founder Jonah Peretti, is making the trek.

More details. Read more

Leading up to the White House Correspondents’ Weekend, The Creative Coalition’s and Lanmark Technology Inc. will host a dinner Friday, April 26, to promote the continuing support for the arts in America.

All eyes are sure to be on Sharon Stone, who will be attending with the Creative Coalition entourage.

The venue is Neyla in Georgetown. The other hosts and Creative Coalition members: Tracy Morgan, Sam Trammell, Kevin McHale, Giancarlo Esposito, Tim Daly, Patricia Arquette, Leslie David Baker, Josh Radnor and Beth Behrs, among others.

See sponsorship details… Read more

Not that we’re doubting his skills or anything, but next week CBS News Chief White House Correspondent Major Garrett will play in Politico‘s organized soccer event with the U.S. Soccer Foundation at Galludet University. He’s the sole journalist mentioned as a participant. No doubt he’ll be the shirtiest player there.

Players (yes, some will just be watching): Reps. Mike Doyle (D-Pa.); Joe Kennedy (D-Mass.); Daniel Lipinski (D-Ill.); Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.); Mike McIntyre (D-N.C.); Luke Messer (R-Ind.); Jim McDermott (D-Wash.); Dave Reichert (R-Wash.); Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.) (she’ll watch; an aide will be designated for a penalty kick); Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.); Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and Todd Young (R-Ind.).

Also participating: Jürgen Klinsmann, U.S. men’s national soccer coach; former U.S. national team players John Harkes, Cobi Jones, Eddie Pope, Claudio Reyna, Tiffany Roberts Sahaydak, Juergen Sommer; and members of D.C. United.

Speakers: According to a release from Politico, U.S. Soccer Foundation President & CEO Ed Foster-Simeon; Co-Chair of the Congressional Soccer Caucus, Rep. Chris Van Hollen; Politico Exec. Editor Jim VandeHei; Chief White House Correspondent Mike Allen; Johnson & Johnson’s Roberto Marques and Gallaudet University Provost Stephen Weiner. WTOP Radio’s Dave Johnson, who is also D.C. United’s television play-by-play voice, will emcee the event.

The event benefits Soccer for Success, the U.S. Soccer Foundation’s free soccer-based after-school program that uses soccer “as a tool to combat childhood obesity and promote healthy lifestyles for children in under-resourced urban communities.”

If you’re interested in playing or signing up your children for a clinic, visit here.

UPDATE: We’ll be updating the members of Congress who are actually playing soccer next week. The release was confusing and we’re getting clarity. For instance, as we added above, Slaughter will be watching only.

UPDATE 2: And now, a moment of clarity. Lawmakers who will actually play in the game are: Joe Kennedy (D-Mass.)’s wife; Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.); Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.); and Todd Young (R-Ind.). Rep. Adam Smith intended to play but now cannot make the event. We’ve changed the above to reflect that.

All others will participate in penalty kicks or designate a staffer to kick for them.

Here’s the thing about bigwigs who come to Washington to do important things — you don’t actually have to know who they are to know how important they sound.

On April 25, The Atlantic and National Journal are hosting their first annual “Summit on the State of the Middle Class.” Along with a keynote interview with National Economic Council Director Gene Sperling by National Journal’s Ron Brownstein, the line-up of speakers is as follows:  Noel Anderson National Director of Program YearUp, Carol Thompson Cole, President and CEO Venture Philanthropy Partners, Paula Dwyer, Editor, Bloomberg View, David Madland, Director of the American Worker Project Center for American Progress, Mark Perry a Scholar from American Enterprise Institute and Tom Touchet, CEO of 24×7.

Capitol File‘s after party invitation has arrived.

Presented by the Bipartisan Policy Center, the party is taking place at the Carnegie Library right after the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on April 27.

Martini glass rating (system based on 1-4 martini glasses, 1 for easy to get into, 4 for impossible): 3 glasses. It’s far easier to slip into parties at the Hilton than it is to get into specific venues like the Carnegie Library. Though the invitation does allow for a guest, so start weaseling invites from your friends, that sometimes works.

America is just now at the apex of the same-sex marriage debate and the Library of Congress is already moving on. In fact, they’re bringing law professor John Witte Jr. of Emory University to talk about polygamy and why the Western world has been so opposed to it. In fact, he’s opposed to it and the Library apparently doesn’t see fit to present both sides of the issue and bring in anyone who’s for it.

A release is misleading in that it attempts a neutral outlook. “Though polygamy remains criminal in every Western nation, and in every American state, there is growing cultural and constitutional pressure to remove these criminal prohibitions, according to Witte,” it says. “In his lecture, he will discuss the modern arguments for polygamy, explain the two millennia of Western arguments against polygamy, and then weigh whether the classical arguments remain cogent enough today to maintain the Western criminal prohibitions.”

The lecture, “The Western Case for Monogamy over Polygamy,” takes place at… Read more