White House Correspondents Weekend Insider

Ted Johnson, Variety’s man on elections and politics, and the creative voice and force behind WilshireandWashington.com sizes up this year’s White House Correspondents Weekend power and prestige.

“D.C. Dinner Mingles Elite and Offbeat
Weekend juxtaposes Pols, Celebs and, yes, even Journos

Hollywood and Washington will mix again at the annual White House Correspondents Assn. dinner on Saturday, and the influx of stars, media types and politicos is certain to create its own share of surreal moments. The purpose of the dinner is to honor White House correspondents in a relaxed atmosphere, but the event has long outgrown the focus on scribes on the beat to become a promotional platform for media outlets and, as such, a spectacle of status, stature and, occasionally, the superficial.

Perhaps no moment captured that facet better than last year when Obama threw out zingers at an ever-so-serious Donald Trump, who appeared none-too-pleased at his table amid what turned out to be the peak of GOP presidential speculation. The irony was made all the more apparent the next day, when U.S. Special Forces killed Osama bin Laden.

Organizers said that this year some 2,700 people are expected at the Washington Hilton for the event, which has sold out for the 20th year in a row. Jimmy Kimmel is the headliner entertainment and President Obama will again deliver a monologue of his own.

A big tradition is for media outlets to draw celebrities and administration officials to their table, and interest in the event has not waned this year. A sampling:

•George Clooney and girlfriend Stacy Keibler, and Steven Spielberg and Kate Capshaw, are among those who will be at Time’s table, along with Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta.

•The ABC News table will include members of the cast of “Modern Family” and “Cougar Town,” Elizabeth Banks from “Hunger Games,” New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, National Security adviser Tom Donilon, former White House senior adviser David Axelrod and Gen. Ray Odiero.

•The CBS News contingent will include Claire Danes, U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice, Capt. “Sully” Sullenberger III, Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.) Christine Baranski, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Daniel Dae Kim and HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan.

•Newsweek and The Daily Beast will host Reese Witherspoon, Viola Davis and JR Martinez along with California Gov. Jerry Brown, CIA director David Petraeus, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer.

•Others reportedly on tap include Uggie, the dog from “The Artist” (a guest of the Washington Times); Sandra Fluke (a guest of the Huffington Post) and a smattering of young actors hitting their moment, including Josh Hutcherson (a guest of People).

The events preceding the actual dinner start much earlier. On Thursday, Elle magazine, the Creative Coaltion and Lanmark technology host a leading Women in media party. On Friday, The New Yorker hosts a party on the rooftop of the W Hotel, in view of the White House: People and Time host a reception at the St. Regis Hotel; and the National Journal, the Atlantic, Funny or Die and the Impact Film Fund host their annual First Amendment party. Reflecting its growing influence in Washington, including a victory in sidelining SOPA, Google is hosting a WHCA-eve party with The Hollywood Reporter.

One of the longest-lasting traditions is the Saturday garden brunch, which started at the home of producer Tammy Haddad but has grown to the historic Beall Washington House. The event is co-hosted by Haddad, Hilary Rosen, David Adler, Mark Ein and a number of others, and will honor Steve and Jean Case and Susan Axelrod. It is a benefit for CURE Epilepsy and the White Ribbon Alliance.

After the dinner, MSNBC is hosting an after-party at the Embassy of Italy; and Bloomberg and Vanity Fair are hosting an event at the French Ambassador’s residence. ” CLICK for the rest http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118053064

One of the most famous White House moments without a president was Jackie Kennedy’s tour of the White House 50 years ago. She saw the potential for connecting with the American people and television network news divisions have been trying to replicate the upclose personal feel for the people who inhabit the White House eve rsince. Merrill Knox of FISHBOWL tells the story an interviews the CBS producer, “This week marks the 50th anniversary of Jackie Kennedy’s famous televised tour of a newly-restored White House, which was broadcast on three networks and drew 50 million viewers. The broadcast was produced by CBS producer Perry Wolff, who is now 90 years old. Scott Pelley caught up with Wolff last night on “Evening News”:

http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/cbs-news-marks-50th-anniversary-of-jackie-kennedys-televised-white-house-tour_b112628

Go to Gretawire.com and congratulate Greta Van Susteren on ten years of “On The Record” on Fox News Channel.  Greta is still the newest talent on the powerhouse Fox prime time schedule, winning her time slot, batting away competitor after competitor. Typical Greta, no big party celebrating the big day.  Instead she is blogging on Greta Wire…

“Today is the exact day we launched…..February 4, 2002.  Incidentally, right before Feb. 4, 2002, I had just had the bags under my eyes fixed and because I was still swollen, I did still look a bit like the Pillsbury Doughboy, didn’t I?     I got so much media attention for being open about plastic surgery that ON THE RECORD at 10pm got a huge media launch.  Everyone one was talking about it.  It was incredible – even the cover of People Magazine!  Although it was certainly not planned to be a marketing ploy, it ended up being a phenomenal to launch a show.  Even when the critics had something to say about me they mentioned our new show…and mentioning the new show – regardless of what was said – was big for our launch!  It is buzz!  It didn’t matter what they were saying – it mattered that they were saying it and paying attention and telling everyone else about the new show.  Buzz gets everyone paying attention.   No other cable news show has ever gotten a media launch like that and the funny thing?  It did not cost Fox a dime.  It was total luck.  At the time I thought – if only I were smart enough to have planned it to work out this way…but it was just plain luck.

Besides working with great people, and having great friends, I have had lots of luck.  I was extraordinarily lucky to have been chosen by Roger Ailes to anchor the new Fox cable show at 10p.   Frankly, he could have picked a lot of people – there are a lot of good people out there – but he picked me.

I also know and have told ALL OF YOU many times here on GretaWire, you are a GIANT part of the success of ON THE RECORD at 10pm for 10 years straight.  Without you, we would not be successful – and we sure would not be #1 for 10 straight years without you.

And, of course, with GretaWire, I feel like I know many of you and that you are my friends – even on those occasions when you are clobbering me for something I said or did  (and yes, many times I may deserve it.)  But, what is fun is that even when we get into the occasional dust up with each other we all get over it and move on.  I love good strong debate.”

Vivek Kundra was America’s first Chief Information Officer assigned by President Obama to help the White House look forward and integrate new technologies for government. He reviewed government agencies and saved billions of dollars for the government and now he is taking all that knowledge to work globally at Salesforce.  Here is what the New York Times Quentin Hardy wrote:

Jonathan Fickies/Bloomberg News

Salesforce.com, best know for its sales, customer service and collaboration software for business, is raising its ambitions by aiming at the international businesses and sales to foreign governments that have been the mainstays of companies like I.B.M.

On Monday, the company named Vivek Kundra its executive vice president of emerging markets. Mr. Kundra was the country’s first chief information officer from March 2009 until August 2011. His job was to move the government’s computer infrastructure spending — $80 billion a year — toward cloud computing. Mr. Kundra has extensive experience in technology at several levels of government, and has been a frequent visitor to the technology industry’s conferences.

Mr. Kundra said in an interview that his work would consist of showing “how Salesforce can close the technology gap” between traditional business and the faster-moving industry typified by consumer applications like Facebook andTwitter. Governments, and many overseas businesses, he said, “are still focused on the old model.”

At present, nearly 68 percent of Salesforce’s revenue is from the United States and Canada. Another 18 percent is from Europe and the remaining 14 percent is from the Asia-Pacific region. Africa and the Middle East are not broken out as separate regions. I.B.M., by comparison, has selected Africa as one of its top growth markets.

Though his title indicates he will oversee development and sales in places Salesforce barely reaches, Mr. Kundra indicated he would use his experience and connections to reach out to governments everywhere.

“The developed nations are all facing challenges in terms of their financial health,” Mr. Kundra said. “They can look at their operating expenses and see Salesforce as a disruptor.” He said that Salesforce would present itself to developing nations as a provider of “new services,” like health care delivered over mobile networks. The overall strategy will be developed over the next few months, he said.

The main benefit of Mr. Kundra’s experience may be in cost savings, as well as project implementation. “When I was in the public sector, $26 billion of that $80 billion was in projects years behind schedule or not working,” Mr. Kundra said. “The cloud can save money. I’ve seen it first hand, whether in D.C. or in the federal government.”

Given his relatively short tenure in the federal government, the cost savings produced during his time there was not clear. Mr. Kundra has also worked in similar jobs for the State of Virginia and the District of Columbia, where the installation ofGoogle Apps, instead of traditional office productivity software, was said to have saved about 87 percent.

Mr. Kundra has also been an outspoken advocate of sharing government data with the public as a means of creating low-cost information and business software applications.