Sen. Coleman’s Imus wish

Looks like Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.) won’t get his wish to appear on the popular “Imus in the Morning” program, even if his cousin is one of Don Imus’s sidekicks.

Coleman, a native of Brooklyn, was hoping his cousin, Sid Rosenberg, who is the program’s sports announcer, could persuade the politically astute shock jock to invite him on his national syndicated radio and TV program.

But Imus recently told Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.), one of the many political figures who are regular guests, that there’s no way he would ask Coleman to be on the program.

“Absolutely not,” he said, which is the same answer he gives Rosenberg every time he brings up the subject — perhaps because Imus expresses nothing but open contempt (at least on the air) for Rosenberg, whose role on the show is something of a sociopathic heel.

It’s not hard to figure out why Coleman, who has made no secret of his interest in running for national office some day, wants to subject himself to Imus’s irreverent and sometimes scathing humor.

As Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who is one of Imus’s favorite guests, once explained when asked why he goes on the program, he said, “Because it’s extraordinary coverage, with 10 million people listening. Whatever you’re talking about has impact.”

Bush aides, journos take to streets for marathon

In a blow to cynics everywhere, a group of White House aides, campaign aides, journalists and others found time to train for and run the Marine Corps Marathon for charity on Sunday — only two days before the election.

The High Five Runners team was the brainchild of Deputy National Security Adviser Jim Wilkinson, who recruited 60 runners for Sunday’s event; 19 for the marathon, the rest for the simultaneous 8K. The group’s name comes from its raising money, through pledges and donations, for the specific needs of five different families and individuals, from scholarships to medical care.

Besides Wilkinson, other marathoners included Julie Thomas of the White House Office of Public Liaison, Jimmy Orr of the White House media-affairs office, Abigail Dowd of the Heritage Foundation and CNN correspondent Suzanne Malveaux.

Malveaux told The Hill she had run the marathon last year but wasn’t going to do it this year until Wilkinson asked her to be part of the team. She then in turn recruited her brother, Courtney Malveaux, who is assistant attorney general for the commonwealth of Virginia, and her twin sister, Suzette, of the University of Alabama Law School.

“It’s been brutal,” Suzanne said of her training, much of which she did in “all the battleground states on the campaign trail.”

Election night drinking: Imbibing over the returns

The restaurants and bars of D.C.’s “power alley” are pulling out all the stops tonight to draw more than their usual complement of politically obsessed guests.

Bill Butler, managing partner of the Capital Grille, said all of its TVs in the lounge, including the big-screen plasma, will be tuned to election coverage, with sound.

Monitors will be placed throughout the dining room as well, and the restaurant will be decorated with flags. “We’ve always been a pretty popular place” on election night, he said.

At Signatures, an extra complement of TVs throughout the place will be augmented by special election-night bar fare. The “ballot box” sampler plate comes in four varieties: the Democratic, the Grand Old Party, the Green Party and the Independent.

Similarly, the flat-screen TVs at the bar at Charlie Palmer Steak will be tuned to the election with sound — “probably CNN,” said Executive Chef Bryan Voltaggio.

Additional TVs will be placed in the lounge area. The kitchen will be serving “bipartisan bar plates.” The $12 sampling plates include a lobster corn dog and oyster po’ boy sandwich for John Kerry partisans and a petite burger and Florida rock-shrimp ceviche tacos for fans of the president. Texas and Massachusetts wines will be poured by the glass.

The bar will stay open as long as there’s news, but he joked that if tonight is anything like 2000, “people will still be here on cots.”

Whether you’re out and about or at home with a your map and red and blue markers, the To Be Determined blog (web.ics. purdue.edu/~smith60) suggests an election-night drinking game to bolster your celebrations or ease your sorrows.

Whenever the phrases “too close to call,” “Florida,” “swing state” or “dead heat” are uttered, one drink is required. “Democratic majority” costs your liver two drinks.

The words “mistake,” “error” or “miscalculation” or any mention of percentages for Ralph Nader or any other minor party will cost you three. An announcement that Ohio has gone for Bush, Missouri has gone for Kerry or any announcement that any state has changed from what the network originally projected costs you the remainder of what’s in your glass. And should your network of choice announce that George W. Bush has won reelection, you must drink “whatever’s under the sink.”

Election trumps hormones for many men

Just how passionate are some voters about this year’s election? Very passionate. The results of a poll commissioned by GQ, published in its November issue, reveal that 35 percent of men would give up sex for one year if they could determine the outcome of the presidential election. Somewhat surprisingly, Bush voters were more ardent about it — or perhaps they’re better at keeping their libidos in check: 47 percent of abstainers would do so to re-elect Bush; only 30 percent would do so to elect Kerry.

“Of these men,” the magazine says, “a man who admitted to cheating on his partner was more likely to support Kerry, [but a] man who said he was faithful to his partner was more likely to support Bush.”

The real question is what would happen if these would-be celibates got together with the folks at Votergasm.com, who pledge to sleep with a voter on election night and withhold sex from nonvoters.