WP’s Allen is from the O.C.!

The Hotline today (subscription only) interviewed Washington Post Capitol Hill reporter Mike Allen, who recently abandoned the White House beat when he found out that he could no longer sit between Jeff Gannon and Helen Thomas.

Overall it turns out that he’s pretty warm and fuzzy-cares about his family, misses his dad, and reads books like “The Purpose Driven Life.” He also likes covering hot dogs, grew up in the O.C., and isn’t a huge fan of August vacations at the press holding pen in Crawford. Our favorite exchange from the interview:

Q: What’s your most embarrassing on-the-job moment? (Or as embarrassing as you’d like to reveal?)

Allen: Nothing will stack up to the night in college when I learned that if you are calling a girl’s school that uses hall phones and you go through the switchboard, check to make sure the second person you call for a date to a fraternity party is not on the same hall. This was a lesson in the speed with which news can be disseminated.

How often do you think he runs into that problem these days on the Hill? Note to self: Don’t ask out interns in the same office.

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