Forget about SexyTwitPics. Washington has its own crop of would-be sexy females on the loose. And an unusual trend is developing among campaign and White House reporters of the XX persuasion. They’re using provocative, sometimes sexy photographs of themselves for their Twitter accounts.

While Bloomberg is among the few outlets with strict tweeting policies (hardly any reporters are truly allowed to let loose on the medium) this is largely unexplored territory for most news organizations who tend to use the vague, unenforced “common sense” rule more than anything else.

We spoke with Brad Phillips, president of Phillips Media Relations and author of the Mr. Media Training Blog, about the matter. He’s a former journalist with ABC News and CNN. While he said none of the pictures we showed him struck him as particularly “bad” or necessarily overly “sexually suggestive”, he does see potential pitfalls. “The bigger issue, from my perspective, is whether those images (and others like them) represent their brands as well as possible,” Phillips said. “News organizations will have to decide whether having star reporters making silly faces on camera, posing artistically, or wearing skin-bearing dresses is congruent with their brand image. In some cases, that answer is yes – younger, hipper news organizations can push the envelope more. But I’d maintain that news organizations should consider issuing social media guidelines regarding appropriate avatars to try to maintain brand consistency and prevent embarrassing incidents.”

He reasoned, “I think it’s okay for reporters to be playful — as a profile picture it does strike me as odd that that is the image they want the world to see, especially when they are writing for stodgier publications.” Then he brought up a subject some find contentious: gender scrutiny. “More often, women have to fight to be taken seriously,” he said. “I think it’s unfair that women are judged on this. But my concern is, are they doing anything to undermine their credibility? For anyone in the reputation management business, that would be a great concern.”

We also checked in with Washingtonian‘s intrepid advice columnist and longtime media scribe Harry Jaffe on the question of these provocative pictures. He had another take on it, which was simply, why not? “Foxy Fox babes, yes,” Jaffe remarked. “That’s what they have going for them. How sexy? Cleavage? Kate Upton sexy? Seriously…. unless it’s truly x-rated, I think it’s within bounds to strike a cute, perhaps sexy, pose. It sells.”

Here is an initial sampling. If you spot any more, please send to FishbowlDC@mediabistro.com.

In this first crop, we have NYT‘s Ashley Parker, LAT‘s Maeve Reston and The Hill’s Amie Parnes.

In a tweet earlier today, Fox News’ Chief White House Correspondent Ed Henry critiqued White House visitors who ran into first lady Michelle Obama. And while we really hate to be all Amie Parnes here about it, “Mrs. Obama” can wear whatever the hell she wants even if it is the White House — but so can guests who visit the White House.

“I realize these folks didn’t realize Mrs. Obama would greet them, but seriously — you wear sweats and a T-shirt — this is the White House!” — FNC’s Ed Henry

Note to Readers: We wrongly interpreted FNC Ed Henry’s tweet a little while ago and have altered the item to reflect it.

Quotes of the Day

A word to the wise: When pointing out another person’s stupid errors, don’t make one yourself (at least not in that moment). “Of course, is [sic] anybody actually edited @andrewbreitbart sites this kind of hilarity wouldn’t occur so regularly.” — Media Matters’ Eric Boehlert. Read what he links to here.

Sounds just like Howie…

“Just got email asking me to post pics of a model wearing a dress made of 1000+ condoms. At least this PR pitch is well protected.” — The Hill‘s Howeesha (a.k.a. Judy Kurtz).

Awful…just awful

“All I can promise you is that I believe she will be quite happy tomorrow night. … But I’m not going to — no more details.” — GOP hopeful Newt Gingrich on celebrating V-Day with Callista. More on this later as we delve into what we think the night entailed…

Valentine’s ‘hard’ mix up

Where President Obama and first lady Michelle Obama spent Valentine’s Day: Vermillion in Alexandria. The White House Pooler, Christian Science Monitor‘s David Cook, initially got it wrong when he reported that the Pool was holding at Hard Rock Cafe. Cook soon corrected the report — he was actually holding at Hard Times.

New media maven can’t sleep on Ambien

“Can’t sleep on Ambien. So I’m now on Twitter with zombie slow reactions. No good.” — Elizabeth, a.k.a. DCGOPGirl who describes herself like this: “NC girl making it as a DC politico. Former Cap Hill Press Secy turned new media maven. Crazy about GOP politics, Jr League & all things pink, green & pearls.”

Peter Ogburn contributed to this report.

Quotes of the Day

Mediabistro hosted a party at Science Club Tuesday night. Reporters, PR types, freelancers and more showed up and packed the bar. Discussion centered on the usual meet, greet and what’s your day job kind of banter. But a certain male of Germanic roots was overheard asking what a jock strap was. A lengthy (amusing) explanation from a friend followed with an even longer explanation of what the friend did for a living — something pertaining to eBay, perfume and advertising. Spotted mingling in the crowd were Drake Lundell, Assoc. Editor of The Kiplinger Letter, Federal News Radio Producer Jamie Blanco and Laureate’s Randy Serrano. American Enterprise Institute’s Stu James was there serving as a spy and Mediaite White House Correspondent’s Tommy Christopher‘s bodyguard should one be needed. He was sitting in a booth dressed in flannel. The above trio (from L to R): Veronica Santa, Maryam Sabbagh and Alfonso Pernia.

Photograph in Statuary Hall by Cox Radio’s Jamie Dupree: “PLEASE STAND BY: Back in a little while from the State of the Union Mosh Pit in Statuary Hall.” 

Jake and Luke to tie the knot?

“With all these media types in stat hall now might be the time to poll em on what to give @jakesherman and @lukerussert for their wedding” — the Henry Clay Statue, of the U.S. Capitol, during last night’s State of the Union. He (we assume it’s a “he”) was referring to fast friends NBC’s Luke Russert and Politico‘s Jake Sherman. Clay also got feisty with ABC News White House Correspondent Jake Tapper, who remarked, “Statuary Hall/ Next to Brigham Young statue/ State of my Union #SOTUHaiku.” Clay cracked, “Ooooh, you’re too good for me are you?” But it turns out Clay might be trouble. He also remarked, “True story, at last year’s #SOTU I caught [FNC's] Chad Pergram eating mushrooms behind the Andrew Jackson statue. Tripped his ass off.” He also remarked, menacingly, “I’m watching you [USA Today's] Jackie Kucinich!”

SOTU Observer

“Huge, drawn-out yawn from the gentle lady sitting in the third row center of the chamber. #sotu” — Yahoo! News’s Chris Moody.

Insight is…

“DC has been a relatively quiet place in recent weeks but it feels like all eyes are on Washington for the SOTU tonight.” — The Hill‘s White House Correspondent Amie Parnes.

Peter Ogburn contributed to this report.

And then there was one.

Politico‘s Karin Tanabe has left CLICK, rumored to take a job elsewhere. Her Facebook page is filled with wishes of “good luck” from colleagues.

So that just leaves Caitlin McDevitt (pictured at right) holding down the fort. People who have left under Caitlin’s tenure: Kiki Ryan, Amie Parnes, Patrick Gavin, Natasha Lennard, and now Karin. Not the most impressive managerial resume. Before CLICK, McDevitt worked at Slate’s spinoff The Big Money. She also interned at Washingtonpost.com and Newsweek. She graduated from Georgetown.

We attempted to reach Tanabe, but her email address no longer works.

Take a hint, Jim & John?

WaPo recently launched a new blog called “She The People” headed up by Melinda Henneberger with the tagline “The world as women see it.” God, I hope not.

I realize men have no idea how women think, but vaginas can’t make this much of a difference between what happens in the mind of the opposite sex. If they do, women don’t think about the economy or jobs, but about the questions no one else does, like “Would we love Tim Tebow if he were Muslim?” and almost obsessively about Republican Presidential candidates…and not much else.

Do women care that deeply about candidate’s spouses and ex-spouses? “She The People” bloggers do since they write about them more than the National Enquirer.

They do take a slight break from time to time to kiss up to first lady Michelle Obama almost as much as The Hill‘s Amie Parnes, so there’s that.

Aside from staying lock-step with the Post’s predominately liberal blog bias (sure, there’s exceptions), this is a painful blog to read. I hope women think about things beyond this. To steal a catch phrase, you’ve come a long way, baby, but this blog ain’t helping the cause.

Politico‘s front page has gotten a minor face lift. Think of it more like a deep cleansing facial with a few extractions. They’ve gotten rid of the “hot topics” links. A red strip has been placed under the top verticals bar. Sub-headers (“Politico Opinion,” “Politico Blogs,” etc.) down the right column have been further distinguished with black boxes.

But most conspicuous is that CLICK, the publication’s D.C gossip blog that has struggled to have a real sense of direction, has been removed from the top verticals bar altogether. The tab that once said “CLICK” has been replaced with “Blogs,” which when hovered over, displays the site’s political blogs, including CLICK.

It’s not exactly Earth-shattering, but CLICK went through a series of changes this year that have transformed it from a glitzy spinoff of Politico to a minor afterthought. Now it’s even less noticeable.

What’s striking is that even its own reporters don’t clamor to be a part of it. Back in May, one of CLICK’s most prolific reporters, Patrick Gavin, left to join Politico’s homepage. Even Amie Parnes left to quasi cover the White House (er, squishy stories about Michelle Obama) and only rarely contributed to the blog. The next month, CLICK was downgraded from its visually-appealing, full sister-site status into a simple top-to-bottom blog. Less color. Less flavor. More vanilla.

After Gavin made the move to the site’s homepage, Editor-in-Chief John Harris told us CLICK would remain a part of Politico. “Click is staying put,” he said. But this is looking more and more like nails in a coffin.

While most were prepping the bird on Thanksgiving morning, we discovered a true holiday miracle.  A new piece from Politico’s Amie Parnes!  Okay, so..  It’s KIND of a piece.  It’s really more of a transcription of the President’s Thanksgiving Radio Address.

The excitement of the new piece got us to thinking, though…  When was the last time we heard from her?  A quick check on Politico’s website shows that the last piece she wrote was on October 22. See here.  We had a mixture of emotion when we realized it’s been a month since she’s written a piece.  Confusion. Frustration.  Betrayal.  Considering no one at Politico gets away with writing less than a story a week, MUCH LESS a month, we were mostly panicky.  Could she be – gasp! – leaving us??

Well, earlier today we received word that she will be replacing Sam Youngman as White House reporter for The Hill.  Good for her.  Apparently, things at Politico are going so well that they can just keep a reporter on staff for over a month while she hangs loose. What on earth could she have been doing for a month?  Maybe she took that pottery class she’s been promising herself she’d take.  Or finally backpacked through Europe the way she’d always wanted to?  Or maybe… she was just hunting down a new job. On that front we hear Parnes wasn’t fired but was told things weren’t going well. Management didn’t quite know what to do with her. She covered campaigns, Congress, Politico‘s 44 page (a diary of President Obama‘s presidency), CLICK and then shifted into a pseudo White House beat that involving writing favorable, flowery pieces on first lady Michelle Obama. At one point during her 44 coverage, Editor-in-Chief John Harris disallowed her from physically being at the White House, but she was permitted to do drive-bys. Like some others who have left, she never quite lived up to expectations. Effectively she wasn’t encouraged to stay.

That all said, who leaves Politico for The Hill anyway? Could times be a-changin?

– PETER OGBURN

In a shocking twist, Amie Parnes is leaving Politico for a job at The Hill covering the White House beat. She replaces Sam Youngman, who recently left the publication for Reuters. Amie will write the weekly political column that Sam wrote.

But the real question is: Will she continue to smooch the White House and first lady Michelle Obama? We soon shall see.

Congratulations to Parnes.

See Editor Hugo Gurdon‘s memo after the jump…

Read more

Quotes of the Day

Funky headline from NPR News: “Crash Leaves 5,000 Chickens On Northern Calif. Highway”

Overheard… at the Newseum’s Cartoons & Cocktails event Thursday night as Politico‘s Ken Vogel was up on the dais serving as an auctioneer: “Does he have to file four times while he’s up there?” cracked a member of the audience.

How all the great friendships start…

“Anyway, I checked out your blog. You’re good, and smart. So stop picking dumb fights. There’s an enemy, but I’m not it.” — WaPo‘s Gene Weingarten to a Twitter follower named “DaisyDeadhead.” One of the many notes Daisy sent to Gene went something like this: “Maybe you’ll be the next person to lose your job; flea bitten couches won’t be so funny then, you arrogant anti-poor bigot.” Weingarten replied, “I respect the poor. Do you? Rotting porches, gun nuts don’t say ‘poor’ to me. I don’t think poor live trashy and paranoid.” Hmmm…maybe Daisy needs to be told he’s a humor columnist?

Sometimes people call her ‘Arnie’

Bio of the Day: Amie Parnes: “Reporter at POLITICO. Native Miamian on a treadmill between Dupont Circle, the White House and Rosslyn. Sometimes people call me Arnie.”

Washington’s new fashion consultant

“Craziest Joseph A Bank sale yet? Buy 1 suit, get 2 suits and 3 silk ties for free. Now through Sunday.” — HuffPost‘s Sam Stein.

Er, Words of Wisdom?

“It’s easy to mistakenly conclude certain people are of very low character, but sometimes their actions eliminate all doubt.” — The Daily Caller Executive Editor David Martosko on Thursday morning after this story came out. It’s unclear what he meant by it. The tweet has since been deleted and cannot be found on his Twitter feed.

The Media Critic

“Dear Washington Post: Thank you for making me waste some time this morning on a stupid, bureaucratic procedure.” — Politico‘s Patrick Gavin. He links to a prompt to choose and confirm his local alerts.

Qadaffi/Kadafi/Gaddafi

“Did we ever settle on a spelling of Qadaffi?” — The Albuquerque Journal‘s Washington Bureau Chief Michael Coleman.

Unnecessary Tweet of the Day

“I’ll say this about the pumpkin bagels at O’Hare: better than blueberry.” — NPR’s Scott Simon.