O Nerdprom! My Nerdprom! Highlights From WHCD 2010
Haddad has been called a “force of nature” before, and it’s because she is one: How many others could quell the chatter of a sweaty, getting-there-drunk crowd of socially-mobile Washington-and-media-elite-insiders and hangers-on so effectively? And for the record she did it before Matthew Morrison, Joe Mazzella and Chace Crawford even took to the stage. Here they honor the Mother’s Day theme by talking about what their moms did for them. Aw. Matthew Morrison said his mom had given him the gift of Pez. Aw?
With Howard Kurtz, HuffPo contributor Maegan Carberry and CNN social media wunderkind Eric Kuhn. In the background, Jonathan Capeheart talks energetically, as is his custom.
Vanity Fair‘s Michael Hogan gives Guest of a Guest’s Rachelle Hruska advice on her first NerdProm.
At the McLaughlin Brunch: Host John McLaughlin with frequent guest, Chicago Tribune longtime columnist Clarence Page. Dennis Quaid was at that event, too, but I resisted telling him how much I enjoyed The Parent Trap. (Which btw you have to enjoy to sit through, as it is a shockingly long movie. Summer camp, London, the ranch, the camping trip, scuttling the wedding – oy!)
Huffamily: My ever-charming former boss Arianna Huffington with her birthday-girl daughter Christina (speaking of LiLo above, a dead ringer) and Christina’s boyfriend, Ben. They then retreated from the boldfacers to have a delicious lunch of custom-made omelettes in the corner. Actually I’m not sure they had the omelettes, but just in case they didn’t I had two. (That McLaughlin omelette station is a highlight of WHCD weekend for me.)
McLaughlin Omelette Station. It faces the White House, but when I’m hungry, this is my preferred view.
Kiss from a Rose: Kevin Bleyer sports a whimsical, romantic look at the McLaughlin Brunch, with the White House and the perfect backdrop to set off his glorious spring colors.
Joe Lockhart is up there as one of my favorite people to have met this weekend. What a nice, welcoming guy (as in, welcoming us to his “Green” brunch at John Podesta‘s, where the carbon footprint was decidedly less than any other event we attended that weekend). I asked him if he would have advised Obama to skip the Correspondents Dinner and go straight to the Gulf to avoid any nattering about misplaced priorities. He said, eh, they’re gonna say it anyway. And as it turned out, it was clearly the right decision, thanks in no part to the gent on the far left of this photo: Kevin Bleyer, with Mediaite columnist and New Media Strategies crackerjack Nisha Chittal, and Rachelle Hruska. We’re told that Adrien Grenier was there, too, but he left before we arrived, thus saving me from making some sort of outdated Turtle joke.
The Lockhart/Podesta Brunch was the perfect way to end the weekend, filled with cool people and a casual vibe. Here are a few of my favorites: Nisha Chittal again, my Sunday MTP brunch wingwoman, writer Tim Burger (whose band, Suspicious Package, probably spiked in Google hits after the Times Square incident), Adam Hodge who works in communications for the House Oversight Committee, Politico’s Kiki Ryan and CBS News’ Christine Delargy, both absolute dynamos.
After the party is the after-Morning Joe! I didn’t see Mika Brzezinski at the event, but my colleage Nisha Chittal did and informed me that Mika was wearing her night-before dress on Morning Joe. To which I say: Aaaaaaall riiiiiiiight! (And to which I also say, they clearly came right from the WHCD to do the show.) And, it should be noted, to go visit EP Chris Licht in the hospital and to report that he is, thankfully, on the mend.
That’s it. This was a lot of photos. But to be honest, there are still more – so scan our full gallery on the next page if you want to see even more people. Hint: One of them is Bradley Cooper. I’m just sayin’. See you next year, Nerds!
