White House Correspondents Insider

Behind the scenes of the most powerful city in the world — Washington, D.C. — and those who cover it.

Archives for July 2011

Tim Farley to lead SiriusXM P.O.T.U.S. Channel

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Tim Farley won’t have a shortage of stories, that’s for sure!

Farley, the host of SiriusXM’s P.O.T.U.S.’ daily show “The Morning Briefing, has been named Program Director of the non-partisan channel dedicated to the “Politics of the United States.” Broadcasting live, 24/7, from Washington, D.C. and New York, P.O.T.U.S. has everything from news programs to on-air commentary to live coverage of major political events.

Farley was part of the team that put the original “P.O.T.U.S. ‘08” election coverage on the air, bringing his two-decade history of on-air and radio programming work to the channel. He is also a daily contributor on CNN’s “Wake-Up Call with Ali Velshi.”

Farley replaces Joe Mathieu who is now the morning anchor at WBZ NewsRadio in Boston. SiriusXM’s P.O.T.U.S. is in the regular rotation in the White House Press Corps radio pool and can be found on channel 124.

San Francisco Giants' Victory Lap in Washington

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California’s Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom gathered with friends and supporters after a spectacular day in Washington

The President, in between his Congressional negotiations, met with World Series Champions, San Francisco Giants.  Joining them in the East Room were former San Francisco Mayors Willie Brown and Gavin Newsom, as well as current Mayor Ed Lee, and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi.

Baseball legend, Willie Mays, was also in attendance who “was just a 23-year-old out-fielder the last time the Giants won the World Series, back when the team was in New York.”  President Obama said, “even though there have been some great Giant’s teams since them, none of them had brought a championship back to the Bay Area.”  This was a special team indeed, as Obama quoted manager Bruce Bochy, who once called them a bunch of ‘misfits and cast-offs’ and then looks around at the unique team, but then said the “one thing they know, is how to win.”

The President ended his talk with wishing the Giants the best of luck, “unless the White Sox are in the world series, which right now is not a sure thing” and was then presented with a signed bat, custom glove and jersey #44.

Gavin Newsom, was also in town to discuss his upcoming release of California’s Economic Growth and Competitiveness plan–state’s first plan in a decade–meeting with the Center for American Progress, Brookings Institution, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the State Department, and the President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness and stopped by 701 Pennsylvania Avenue with friends such as Eve and Peter O’Toole, Marc Adelman, Reta Jo Lewis, Dan Maldonado, Evan Ryan, Francisco Sanchez, Maria Teresa Kumar, Neil Albert, Patricia Daley and Paul Glenchur.

Check out photos below:

The New York Times Names New Washington Bureau Chief

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David Leonhardt was named the new Washington Bureau chief for The New York Times.  He was appointed by Jill Abramson who calls him “one of our finest writers and most elegant thinkers.” Leonhardt recently won the Pulizter Prize for commentary and is also the paper’s Economic Scene columnist.

Check out the full memo by the New York Times here.

Latest from Iowa in the Final Countdown Before the Iowa Straw Poll

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The Huffington Post‘s Jon Ward reports that Texas Governor, Rick Perry’s likelihood of showing up at Ames is 50/50, according to Craig Schoenfeld who quit the Gingrich campaign earlier in the year to join Americans for Rick Perry.  On August 13th, Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa, will host a straw poll which may determine a frontrunner in the 2012 GOP Presidential race.

Read the whole article here.

Hawaii Gearing Up for APEC 2011 Goody Bags & More!

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Do you have your tickets for Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit (APEC) in Hawaii yet? The State of Hawaii economic development and tourism teams are over the moon about this amazing opportunity and have been aggressively courting all the attending countries.  Look for lots of care and hometown pride from both the President and First Lady.  APEC United States 2011 will be a series of meetings of the 21 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation member economies held around the United States in 2011. It will culminate in the 19th APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting held at the Hawaii Convention Center in Honolulu Hawaii from November 12–13, 2011. The United States last hosted an APEC summit at the 1993 summit. President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama will host the other leaders and spouses.

One of the opportunities is to showcase the products of Hawaii with an incredible “Gift Bag”. Here is the RFP.

The APEC 2011 Hawaii Host Committee is seeking qualified vendors to supply and showcase their products or services for distribution in the form of hospitality gifts to 11,000 government officials, business leaders and global media during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders’ Week events. A Request for Qualifications (RFQ) was issued by the Host Committee on July 12, 2011.

“In addition to showcasing Hawaii as a premier global meetings destination, APEC 2011 will present an opportunity for us to introduce Hawaii products and services to an international audience,” said Peter Ho, Hawaii Host Committee Chair.  “Through this RFQ, the individual products and services supplied will further highlight Hawaii businesses and industries, as well as represent the aloha spirit and hospitality of our islands.”

The scope of work desired for this procurement is as follows:

Qualified and reliable suppliers must be able to supply goods or services in tangible product form in the following categories, including, but not limited to:

  • Coffee;
  • Chocolates/macadamia nut products;
  • Hawaii snacks;
  • Beverages;
  • Soaps, lotions, oils and other bath products;
  • Arts and crafts;
  • Sports and/or beach items;
  • Music;
  • City guides (containing no third party advertising); and
  • Gift certificates for goods or services ($50 minimum retail value amount, with no purchase required).

Product Specifications:

  • Packaged goods must bear no loose-leaf collateral;
  • No promotional trial size items; and
  • Items are to be no larger than 22”L x 18”H x 3”D (Size of Hospitality Gift Bag).
  • The selection of suppliers will be based on overall bids received and how each item contributes to the aggregate of products to be inserted into hospitality gift bags. Suppliers must be able to supply a minimum quantity of 500 items to be considered.

Interested suppliers can obtain a copy of the RFQ by emailing the APEC 2011 Hawaii Host Committee at rfq@apec2011hawaii.com. Please indicate the company name, contact name, contact phone, facsimile, address and email address. The deadline for RFQ submissions is July 29, 2011 at 4:00 p.m., with supplier selections being announced on August 15, 2011.

[Read more…]

Gibraltar's McCormick Feted

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An intimate group of media friends and pr colleagues raised their glasses to Kelley McCormick in celebration of her new role as partner and chief operating officer at Gibraltar Associates. Tammy Haddad and Betsy Fischer co-hosted the summer luncheon at the Jefferson Hotel.

Eric Bovim, GA’s CEO and co-founder, said McCormick’s tenacity and spirit were the perfect fit for taking the GA team to the next level. McCormick, who comes to GA from Qorvis Communications, welcomed everyone in the room by saying they represented the different aspects of her life thus far. Guests included: Mike Allen, Adam Sharp, Kimball Stroud, Tracy Sefl, Michael Clements, Emily Lenzner, Kate Bennett, ThinkFoodGroup’s Ann McCarthy, Karen Sommer-Shalett, Janet Donovan, Nikki Schwab, Susannah Shakow, Kiki Ryan, Matt Dornic, Holly Page, Marc Adelman, Maura Corbett, Amy Argetsinger, Halle Mayes, Tiffany Cross, Gretel Truong, David MacKay, Sarah Schaffer, Sophie Gilbert, Alicia Jennings, Ha Chan, Christina Wilkie, Elizabeth Thorp, Jennifer Nycz-Conner, Kate Ocyzypok, and Revamp.com’s Daniel Swartz.

White House Corespondents Brunch: CURE and White Ribbon Alliance Summer Hits

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The 2011 WHC Garden Brunch featured two great organizations, CURE Epilepsy and the White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood. Our honorary co-chairs Susan Axelrod and Wendi Murdoch led the push for advocacy and results.

2011 White House Correspondents’ Garden Brunch from whcinsider on Vimeo.

Thanks to your generous donations, CURE Epilepsy is having a record-breaking year in raising funds to find a cure. Your dollars are making a difference. Recently, a CURE-Funded Project had a major breakthrough. UC Irvine and French researchers identified a central switch responsible for the transformation of healthy brain cells into epileptic ones, opening the way to both treat and prevent temporal lobe epilepsy. Epilepsy affects 1 to 2 percent of the world’s population, and TLE is the most common form of the disorder in adults. Among adult neurologic conditions, only migraine headaches are more prevalent. TLE is resistant to treatment in 30 percent of cases.

“We’re quite excited about this discovery,” UCI neurologist and neuroscientist Dr. Tallie Z. Baram said. “Understanding how previous brain infections, seizures or injuries can interact with the cellular machinery to cause epilepsy is a crucial step toward designing drugs to prevent the process. We don’t want to just treat people with epilepsy. We hope to develop medicines that will prevent epilepsy from occurring – and influence the lives of millions of people around the globe.”

The White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood is using the month of July to encourage leaders to recognize the importance of health workers. There is a shortage of more than 3.5 million health workers across the globe and millions of existing health workers lack the support, equipment, and training they need to provide quality care. These nurses, doctors, midwives and community health workers are vital for progress on global health and development and for ensuring the millennium development goals are met.

In September, decision-makers will convene at the United Nations General Assembly to review progress on the Millennium Development Goals. It will be an opportunity for governments to announce substantial and specific commitments to support and invest in health workers. By sharing your voice on these issues, together change can be made.

Here is our photo gallery including David and Susan Axelrod, Rupert and Wendi Murdoch, Sarah and Todd Palin, Matthew Morrison, Jeremy Piven, Bill and Bernie Daley, Tina Tchen, Eric Podwall, Chelsea Handler, T. Boone Pickens and many other notables.

We are proud to support the work of CURE Epilepsy and the White Ribbon Alliance, and encourage you to do the same by clicking on the links below.