Quite a turnout last night at the St. Regis Hotel in Washington, DC, as Bob Schieffer was honored on his 20th anniversary anchoring CBS’s “Face the Nation.”

More than 500 people turned out to honor Schieffer, including the man who’s guested more times than anyone else: “I gotta say one word about the person who has been on ‘Face the Nation’ more than any other person in the history of the broadcast,” said Schieffer. “He’s actually older than me, not by much: John McCain over here.”

CBS News chairman Jeff Fager and president David Rhodes threw the party which was attended by elected officials, including Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), below, and current and former administration reps, including Donald Rumsfeld, below, as well as Schieffer’s CBS colleagues including Jan Crawford, Chip Reid, Lara Logan, Bill Plante, and Nancy Cordes and from other networks, FNC’s Ed Henry, CNN’s Gloria Borger, NBC’s David Gregory and Betsy Fischer and PBS’s Gwen Ifill, Judy Woodruff, and Jim Lehrer. Also on hand Carin Pratt, who helmed the show for 18 years.

“We just love Carin,” said Schieffer. “I really appreciate your coming back and being with us tonight.”

“Mary Hager … is now the [executive] producer. And Senator McCain remembers Mary Hager when the two of us were chasing up and down the halls of Congress. And Mary has actually worked with me, I guess, more than 20 years. And she started very, very young — she asked me to say that.”

(H/T Playbook / Photos for CBS News: Chris Usher)

Politico’s annual “50 Politicos to Watch” list is out, and this year — as the 2012 election cycle looms — it features a slew of Washington, DC-based television folk.

NBC anchor David Gregory, who helms the top-rated “Meet the Press,” is first on the list in the “Television Faces” category. Gregory is joined by former NBC colleague Norah O’Donnell, who recently stepped into a new role as chief White House correspondent for CBS, and Fox News Channel’s Bret Baier, who is the anchor of “Special Report.” The “Television Faces” category is rounded out by two men who are better known for their work behind the cameras: MSNBC president Phil Griffin and CNN Washington bureau chief Sam Feist.

CBS News picked up another nods in the “White House Deans” category, which features veteran White House correspondent Bill Plante.

View the full list here.

The Senate is prepared for a final vote on the START arms reduction treaty with Russia today, which will be followed by a White House news conference later today.

ABC, CBS, and NBC are all prepared to go live with the news conference.

NBC News coverage will be anchored by Brian Williams in New York with Chuck Todd at the White House and David Gregory at NBC News’ Washington bureau. ABC News has planned for George Stephanopoulos to anchor from New York with Jake Tapper and Jon Karl reporting. (Diane Sawyer has her birthday off.) Katie Couric will be anchoring CBS News coverage with reports from Bill Plante and Bob Schieffer from the DC bureau.

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President Barack Obama is set to hold a news conference at 2:20pmET to discuss the deal to extend the Bush tax cuts. Obama will speak shortly after Vice President Joe Biden proposes the tax cuts to Senate Democrats at a caucus meeting on Capitol Hill. And, sorry soaps fans, the broadcasters will be carrying the newser.

• ABC News’ Diane Sawyer will anchor the special report and will be joined by George Stephanopoulos and Jake Tapper at the White House.
• CBS News’ Jeff Glor will anchor with correspondent Bill Plante from the White House.
• NBC News’ Lester Holt will anchor coverage of the news conference with Chuck Todd at the White House.
• FOX has the option of taking the press conference. It’s up to the market whether to take it or not. Mike Emanuel will be the White House correspondent for FOX, and Jon Scott will be the anchor.

> Update: First question goes to Associated Press’ Ben Feller. Second question goes to the second row and Bloomberg’s Julianna Goldman. The third question goes to NBC’s Chuck Todd. Then Scott Horsley of NPR asked the next question. Then Marc Ambinder of the National Journal and CBS News asked the next. The last question went to Jonathan Wesman of The Wall Street Journal.

See Obama on all of the networks after the jump…
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CBS News has announced their guest list for Saturday’s White House Correspondents Association dinner. In addition to anchors/correspondents Katie Couric, Harry Smith, Dave Price, Lara Logan, Chip Reid, Bill Plante and execs Sean McManus, Paul Friedman, Rick Kaplan, David Friedman, and Chris Isham here are CBS’s special guests:

Morgan Freeman
Julianna Margulies
Betty White (one week before her SNL hosting gig)
Chelsea Handler
Ayla Brown, daughter of Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA)
Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel
Attorney General Eric Holder
HHS Secy. Kathleen Sebelius
Energy Secy. Steven Chu
Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA)
D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty
Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN)

• TVNewser will be in D.C. for the weekend. We’ll be attending the annual Saturday garden party at Chez Haddad, the Dinner parties — pre- and post- and Sunday morning’s brunch and tour of the new “Meet the Press” studio. Check back with FisbowlDC and TVNewser all weekend for coverage.

Politicians and journalists descended upon the Washington Convention Center last night for the 2010 Radio and TV Correspondent’s Association dinner.

We spoke to CNN’s Candy Crowley who was looking forward to sharing the table with Kathy Griffin, but thought the crowd noise might be a problem. She told us, “I’m worried I won’t be able to hear her… Oh wait, what am I saying?”

CNN’s main table had Griffin, Crowley, John King, and Dana Bash as well as King’s invited guest: Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA). TVNewser, was a guest of CNN and at the table next to us, we spotted the Fox Newsers Brit Hume and Bret Baier, fresh from his interview with the president. Also, RNC Chair Michael Steele, and former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. Meanwhile, former DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff and the Rev. Jesse Jackson brushed past each other nearby. Miss America was even there.

Pres. Obama sent a funny taped message apologizing to the crowd of media industry pros who he characterized as “following me incessantly and waiting for me to screw up.”

Vice President Joe Biden appeared in place of the president and delivered a handful of hit-or-miss zingers. He told the story of St. Patrick who chased the snakes from Ireland, and said, “There were no snakes. He made that up. That’s why he’s the patron saint of Fox News.” Biden joked that “the only media outlet that ever gave me a fair shake in this town was Amtrak Magazine.”

CBS News’ Bill Plante presented the Joan S. Barone award to NPR. While BBC News correspondent Lyse Doucet was presented the David Bloom Award for her reporting in Afghanistan.

Comedian Joe Wong was the evening’s entertainment and made some new fans in the crowd. Afterward, TVNewser stopped by the “BBC World News America” party where everyone from David Shuster to Wolf Blitzer to a stylin’ Roland Martin were enjoying themselves.

FishbowlDC’s Betsy Rothstein was invited to the Fox News pre-party and has the full scoop on that bash.

In between bites we pulled out the FlipCam. See how many newsers you can spot:

• More photos after the jump….

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Page Six reports that Joe Scarborough is “under intense pressure to perform” now that Don Imus‘ FBN simulcast has debuted and competes head to head with his “Morning Joe.” Page Six’s source said:

“Those higher up at MSNBC are unnerved by Imus’ move to Fox Business Network and fear his show could push Scarborough down. They’re putting a lot of pressure on Joe to keep the ratings up. To make things worse, there are multiple scores to be settled.”

Tom Bowman, Imus’ EP, worked at NBC and MSNBC for several years. He was at the helm of Imus’ show when it aired on MSNBC.

An MSNBC insider tells TVNewser, “The only thing accurate about the Page Six story is that Imus is not on our radar.”

Ratings wise, while Imus edged out his business channel competition in his first week, he has some ground to cover before he contends with MSNBC. Says out insider, “His TV launch has had absolutely no impact on ‘Morning Joe’ – in fact, ‘Morning Joe’ showed growth in both total viewers and the demo week-to-week with Imus as a competitor. In all honesty — we wish him well. But not a factor.”

Meanwhile, not so positive news for Scarborough’s radio show. WMAL in Washington D.C., announced this week it is removing the show. Chris Plante, son of CBS News White House correspondent Bill Plante will take the slot beginning Monday.

Our calls to a publicist for the radio program were not returned, but Scarborough did tweet today that he’ll be “picking up some stations in Florida soon.”

Update: WABC President and General Manager Steve Borneman point out that Scarborough “is not being canceled in DC, his time slot is being moved to evenings because that is a better fit for WMAL.” He also told TVNewser, “Joe’s show is gaining stations on a national platform weekly. Joe’s audience has grown 72% from August to September in DC and I believe his numbers will continue to grow.”

At 8:43am this morning the presidents of the U.S and France and the Prime Minister of Great Britain appeared to make a statement about Iran revealing a second uranium enrichment site. Pres. Obama, French President Sarkozy and British Prime Minister Brown are accusing Iran of concealing the plant.

NBC News broke in to the Today show for a special report at 8:37 with Matt Lauer and Meredith Vieira anchoring. Correspondent Savannah Guthrie reported from Pittsburgh, where the leaders are meeting for the G-20 and from Washington, chief foreign affairs correspondent Andrea Mitchell contributed.

CBS was next to interrupt the “Early Show” at 8:40am with Harry Smith anchoring and Bill Plante reporting from Pittsburgh.

ABC seemed least prepared with Robin Roberts mentioning the leaders were about to speak, tossing to Chris Cuomo for a segment on hamburgers, only to be interrupted as Obama approached the mic. “And still talking about Pres. Obama. We’re not going to talk about what he likes to eat. We’re going to go to that right now. Here comes the president…”

Outside at Lincoln Center, prior to the Walter Cronkite memorial service.

At this hour, a veritable who’s who of journalists, political figures, and other newsmakers are either on their way to Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center in New York — or have arrived there by now — for the public memorial service for legendary CBS newsman Walter Cronkite.

TVNewser editors Chris and Kevin are on the scene, and have spotted CBS’s Les Moonves, Bob Schieffer, Morley Safer, Bill Plante, Rick Kaplan, Jeff Greenfield, and Erin Moriarty; former CBS News president Andrew Heyward; NBCers Steve Capus and Brian Williams; ABCers Diane Sawyer, Charlie Gibson, and Barbara Walters; and former The Insider host Pat O’Brien.

Attendees were asked to arrive early for the 10:30amET service “due to security concerns surrounding the appearance of President Obama at this event,” according to a CBS press release.

President Obama has left the White House en route to the service, where he is scheduled to speak, along with former President Bill Clinton, former astronaut Buzz Aldrin, and others.

CBS will stream live coverage of the service on CBSnews.com, CBS.com, TV.com, and other sites as well. Chris and Kevin are providing updates today on Twitter, and will have a full report this afternoon.

Walter Cronkite passed away at the age of 92 on July 17.

> Update: Live streaming has begun at cbsnews.com. Spotted in attendance: Katie Couric, Dan Rather and Andy Rooney. Joanna Simon, who had been Walter Cronkite’s companion in the last few years, is also there.

Van Jones, Pres. Obama’s green jobs czar, resigned late yesterday amid growing criticism about his past comments.

According to the NYTimes, Jones said in a statement released early today, “I cannot in good conscience ask my colleagues to expend precious time and energy defending or explaining my past.”

In recent weeks, Jones, and his past comments, had been the focus of almost daily segments on Glenn Beck‘s Fox News Channel program. Last week, Beck wondered where the other media were in reporting the story: “Hey! ABC, NBC… well I know where NBC is… CBS where the hell are ya? CNN where are ya?”

On Friday, CBS News White House correspondent Bill Plante reported a story for Friday’s Evening News which laid out those past comments and White House press secretary Robert Gibbs’ “let’s see how this all works out” attitude. 24 hours later, in the middle of the Labor Day weekend, Jones resigned.

Beck’s critics complained the talk radio and TV host was only going after Jones because he had co-founded an organization that launched an ad boycott of Beck’s show.

Still, Beck has been talking about Jones since before the boycott began, which was triggered by this comment Beck made on Fox & Friends July 28. Beck first began talking about Jones on his radio show July 16 and on his TV show July 23.