Inside the Beltway

Tune in

The world will be able to see for itself on Jan. 31 whether this week’s pivotal parliamentary elections in Iraq are a success.

That’s the day President Bush delivers his annual State of the Union on Capitol Hill, and “it is my fondest hope that … maybe in this chamber — in a seat in this chamber — might be a legislative leader or two of the newly elected Iraqi Parliament,” says Rep. Mike Pence, Indiana Republican.

Although actual numbers fluctuate, an amazing 7,000 candidates from no fewer than 325 political parties or organizations are seeking office in Iraq. (And to think that here in the United States, especially in Florida, election officials have a tough time counting the votes for only a handful of politicians.)

Out of order

President Bush has mixed up the sequence of his three major addresses on the Iraq war.

At least that’s the opinion of Ohio Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich, one of the Democratic presidential candidates who challenged Mr. Bush in 2004.

“On May 1 of 2003, the president stood on the deck of an aircraft carrier and gave his ’mission accomplished’ speech. Last week, he gave his ’secret plan for victory’ speech. Yesterday, he gave his ’making progress’ speech,” Mr. Kucinich said last week.

“I think I know the problem here. Whoever has been writing the president’s speeches … badly mixed up the sequence over the last few years. First, he was to give his ’plan for victory’ speech, then he was to give his ’making progress’ speech, then he was to give his ’mission accomplished’ speech.”

Back to the back

“Trashing him along racial lines isn’t just an attack on the Republican Party or on him personally. It’s an attack on everything Rosa Parks stood for — or rather ’sat’ for — on that bus that launched a movement to free African Americans from racial discrimination and intimidation.”

— Washington pundit Cheri Jacobus, a regular contributor to the right-leaning political blog “The Loft,” writing about Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele, a Republican candidate for the Senate who, as she notes, has been portrayed in blackface by a liberal Web site, called an Uncle Tom by a high-ranking Maryland Democrat elected official and had Oreo cookies tossed at him during a debate.

Fair warning

Homeland Security adviser Fran Townsend emerged from a White House “Avian Flu tabletop exercise” this past weekend, which she attended with Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and other Bush Cabinet officials and cautioned that the pandemic flu threat is nothing to sneeze at.

“I’m a mother — I’ve got two small boys — and you can be sure I take this seriously,” she said in the driveway of the White House. She also assures the American public that President Bush, in the event of a pandemic, has made saving lives his No. 1 priority.

Cast meets Joe

Sen. Joe Lieberman, Connecticut Democrat, hosted an intriguing cast of characters on Capitol Hill last week — from the popular musical “Les Miserables,” which opened last week at the National Theatre.

Among the players visiting with the popular senator and later treated to a VIP tour of the U.S. Capitol were a talented pair of 9-year-old girls — Meg Guzulescu and Rachel Schier (the latter from Connecticut) — who take turns playing the role of Young Cosette and Young Eponine, along with 9-year-old Austyn Myers and 8-year-old Anthony Skillman, who share the role of brave Gavroche.

They were accompanied into the hallowed halls of Congress by Eric Briarley (ensemble, also from Connecticut), and the extremely gifted actress and singer Joan Almedilla, who plays Fantine.

It was Miss Almedilla, in the presence of U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and the New York Catholic archbishop, Cardinal Edward Egan, who recently recited poems at the United Nations written by the late Pope John Paul II. Theatergoers will recall that she played Mary in the Broadway national tour of “Jesus Christ Superstar.”

And earlier this year she took time out from her myriad acting and production responsibilities to direct a California benefit for the victims of the tsunami in South Asia.

This is the final Washington engagement of “Les Miserables,” which runs through Jan. 21.

(Columnist’s note for those who like to avoid parking garages: Chef Cesare Lanfranconi of Tosca, steps away from the Washington theater district at 1112 F St. NW, which last Thursday night hosted “Les Miserables’” after-show cast party, offers $5 valet parking and allows patrons to leave their cars for the duration of their dinner and show.)

• John McCaslin, whose column is nationally syndicated, can be reached at 202/636-3284 or jmccaslin@washingtontimes.com.