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50 Most Beautiful People on Capitol Hill 2008 - 40 More |
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 Melody Gonzales
Age: 28
Hometown: San Diego
Political party: Democrat
Dating status: Single
After graduating from college, Melody Gonzales started her career as a writer and assistant producer at a television station in her hometown.
But she eventually gave in to a desire to be part of the action, not just observe it. She ditched the job and San Diego to attend graduate school at Georgetown, ignoring warnings from friends that D.C. lies just south of the Arctic Circle.
Even in the middle of a steamy summer, Gonzales, an aide to Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Calif.), still shivers at the thought of temperatures that can dip below 40 degrees.
"I went from studying on the sand to studying in the snow," she says, revealing a flair for the dramatic.
Now with a public policy master's degree, Gonzales is in the thick of things in the office of an up-and-coming Democrat. Her topic areas include social security, telecommunications and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.
"This is what I want to do," she says. Gonzales still sounds awestruck that a few words in a bill can have such a broad impact on people's lives.
Helping craft those words has had drawbacks in Gonzales's own life. Like a lot of staffers, she works hard and late, and her hectic congressional schedule has forced her to drop out of a salsa dance troupe. She also used to act in plays back home, but rarely finds time for that now.
Gonzales does have one treasured artistic outlet. One of her favorite issues is helping Becerra, a regent at the Smithsonian Institution, build support for a museum that honors American Latinos.
- By Jim Snyder
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 Mike DuBois
Age: 30
Hometown: St. Louis
Political party: Republican
Dating status: Married
Don't try to turn all French on Mike and pronounce his last name "Doo-bwah."
It's pronounced "Duh-boys."
Not that the 30-year-old senior legislative assistant to Sen. Kit Bond (R-Mo.) pays much attention to the constant butchering of his last name. He's used to both pronunciations, since he grew up hearing the American version from his family and friends but accepted the French version in college when he quickly grew tired of correcting people.
Luckily his wife, whom he met in college as a "Doo-bwah," stuck with him after she found out the romantic-sounding French note to his last name was no more than a Madonna-like affectation.
"My wife gives me grief," he says jokingly. "She says, 'When I first started dating you, you were a "Doo-bwah," and now you're a "Duh-boys."' "
The American pronunciation fits his lifestyle better, anyway. He relishes his yearly trips with his wife to Montana, where they hike and he fly fishes, and looks forward to "cold beer and big steaks ... to get away from the craziness of D.C."
He also does more splashing than gliding when he swims laps as part of his regular exercise regimen. He took up swimming as an adult because a Northern Virginia apartment building where he used to live had a pool.
"I get a workout in 10 minutes when I should in 30 because I'm flopping like a flailing fish," he laughs.
- By Kris Kitto
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 Moira Bagley
Age: 26
Hometown: Lexington, Ky.
Political party: Republican
Dating status: Single
A perfect day in Moira Bagley's life would include taking a trip to the zoo to gaze at baby pandas, sipping a glass of Chardonnay and shooting a gun for target practice at a local range.
The Kentucky native with porcelain skin came to Washington as a journalist but joined the Republican National Committee (RNC) after realizing "I couldn't hide my light under a bushel anymore," she said.
Before becoming an RNC press secretary, Bagley was a copy editor at Roll Call, where she once had a run-in with the IT department for using 80 percent of the office's Internet bandwidth to watch the National Zoo's Web cam of its newborn pandas. She loves baby animals.
She also had one of her worst dates when she was a journalist. It was with a staffer of a prominent GOP member of Congress. When the check came, he paid and said, "You can thank Congressman X for that," she says. "He had expensed the date because I was a journalist, and I was furious," Bagley says.
As a student at the University of Kentucky, Bagley took up shooting for sport. "I had some good ol' boyfriends who really liked to exercise their Second Amendment rights," she said, explaining they would talk about how they would want to go shooting on the weekends. "I was like, 'All right, I'm in.' "
While she likes to drink Chardonnay, which she refers to as "Chard," at the Capitol Lounge, these days you'll most likely find her in her office. She spends so much time at work that she has started a survival desk drawer, with contents ranging from hairspray to Shout wipes. She also does her makeup at her office.
"I could be stuck in here for days and come out looking like a prom queen," she said.
- By Kris Kitto
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 Otto Mucklo
Age: 34
Hometown: Berea, Ohio
Political party: Republican
Dating status: Single
Otto Mucklo is a freedom-loving biker.
On any given day, the 34-year-old legislative assistant for Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) revs to work on one of his two motorcycles, a red and silver Ducati or a silver, black and red Honda.
"One's considered a naked street bike," says Mucklo, explaining that the bike has little protection for the rider. This day he is wearing a gray pinstriped suit and black DKNY glasses. He says he keeps his hair long "to combat helmet head."
Mucklo didn't start off so dangerously. As a 14-year-old, he had two mopeds that he would use to zip through the woods surrounding his suburban Cleveland house and to visit friends.
From then on, he was hooked on the unique sensation of a motorbike.
"It was the freedom," he says. "It was the ability to ride around without supervision at an early age."
Mucklo now admits motorcycles can be appealing to potential love interests.
Women are curious, he says, telling him they've "always wanted to" ride a motorcycle, "I've never had the opportunity," "Sounds like fun," or "Sounds dangerous."
"Some girls prefer longs walks on the beach," he says. "I prefer the kind of girl that likes a motorcycle ride."
One female he hasn't yet convinced to ride with him is his 15-year-old daughter. But this is a case of "Do as I say, not as I do," as Mucklo says he's just fine with her staying away from motorcycles.
- By Kris Kitto
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 Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.)
Age: 38
Hometown: Janesville, Wis.
Political party: Republican
Dating status: Married, three children
Let's face it, the reform of entitlements like Social Security is an important topic for members of Congress to debate. But listening to lawmakers speak about it on the floor does not exactly cause the heart to race. Unless, that is, the speech is being delivered by the tall, handsome and fiscally conservative Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.).
The Republican budget whiz has been dubbed a rising GOP star since he was elected in 1998 and is often among the names listed when pundits talk about future White House appointments.
On the Hill, his music choice is often the topic of speculation since he is frequently seen walking briskly from meeting to meeting listening to his iPod.
"He listens to nothing but Gregorian chant," said spokesman Conor Sweeney. When pressed, Sweeney disclosed that his boss has a slightly more eclectic music collection than most. Led Zeppelin, Metallica, Beethoven and Hank Williams Jr. are all on his playlist.
However, if you are looking for someone with whom to take long strolls through the Rayburn House Office Building, Ryan is not your guy. The father of three heads back to Wisconsin as soon as the last vote is cast to spend time with his children and his wife, Janna.
- By Jackie Kucinich
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 Rana Abtar
Age: 29
Hometown: Baalbek, Lebanon
Political party: None
Dating status: Single
Rana Abtar, Capitol Hill correspondent for Alhurra, once got a marriage proposal over e-mail. A man who saw her on television wrote her that he wanted to "build a family."
Abtar turned him down. "I try to ignore these kinds of things," she said.
The 29-year-old Abtar is the lone Arabic-language correspondent covering Congress full time. In her four years with Alhurra, the U.S.-funded news station, Abtar's looks and professionalism have turned heads throughout the Middle East and in Washington.
A native of Lebanon, Abtar said she's often mistaken for being Latina when she walks the halls of Congress. Interview subjects often ask where she's from and how she spells her name.
"I have to correct the way they say it," she said. "I always get 'Ray-na.' In my language, we say it as 'Rah-na.'"
Abtar studied to become a translator - she's fluent in Arabic, English and French - but later became a writer and reporter for a local news station in Lebanon. Now she's a staple at high-profile Armed Services and Foreign Relations committee hearings, reporting live for Alhurra's news bulletins.
"I wasn't a big fan of politics in the beginning, but now I cannot get through a day without reading the newspaper, even when I'm off," she said. "Now it's more like a passion for me."
When she's not working, she spends her time doing yoga or taking boot camp-like gym classes. She also enjoys Lebanese food and shisha, flavored tobacco. A Gemini, she said that she can be moody, feeling happy at one moment but "pissed" the next.
Abtar, who is single, said she doesn't mix her personal life with work. But when asked what she looks for in a date, Abtar sounded as if she's learned at least one thing from covering politicians.
"I don't like to answer this question a lot," she said.
- By Walter Alarkon
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 Rich Guerard
Age: 23
Hometown: Chatham, N.J.
Political party: Independent
Dating status: Single
Some Hill staffers moonlight as cocktail servers or bartenders. Rich Guerard has tried his hand at modeling.
Considering his past experience on the fashion runway, a svelte body carved from years of competitive swimming and a five- or six-day workout regimen, the 6-foot-3, 23-year-old dirty blonde likely has a shot at modeling again.
Guerard, a staffer for Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), did his first catwalk as a teenager for a high school fashion show. Someone in the crowd noticed him, and he began getting booked for professional shows, modeling clothes for a jeans company and up-and-coming designers.
He did commercial modeling in college, appearing in clothing ads in print, but abandoned the hobby once his involvement in the Johns Hopkins University swim team became all-consuming.
"It was sort of one of those things I did just because it was fun," he says in a way so unassuming that it suggests that, with a little pluck, anyone could work a runway or pose for the camera.
That same modesty allows Guerard to get away with calling his dating life "definitely successful" without coming across as too sure. He does have one rule, though.
"I don't like dating friends of friends," he says, cringing at the awkwardness that can ensue when two incompatible people with shared friends continue to run into each other. "That always ends up being a debacle for me."
Guerard has a rugged side, too. As you read this, he is likely rock climbing and enjoying the Alaskan wilderness while visiting his parents, who live in Anchorage. He says he's just "alright" at the outdoors sport and is "probably pretty rusty right now," after having not climbed since college. But like his modeling prospects, there's little doubt that Guerard will pick up right where he left off.
- By Kris Kitto
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 Sean Patrick Linnehan
Age: 33
Hometown: Newton, Mass.
Political party: Republican
Dating status: Single
Sean Patrick Linnehan is neat - all six-foot-three of him. From his perfectly cropped and styled black hair to his custom-made suit fitting perfectly on his athletic figure, Linnehan is always well put together.
Linnehan, a military legislative assistant to Rep. Roscoe Bartlett (R-Md.), is a self-proclaimed neat freak. He can't leave work without cleaning his desk with a thorough Clorox-wipe action.
Despite his clean-cut, dark Irish-American look, Linnehan has a full, manly laughter that gives way to boyish dimples.
A fairly private person with a tongue-in-cheek sense of humor, Linnehan was educated in all-boys schools, including The Citadel. After that, he joined the Navy for five years as a surface warfare commander.
Despite his austere schooling, Linnehan loves the finer things in life. His passion is traveling and he has visited 31 countries so far. His favorite place so far is Hong Kong, where he loves to stay at the famous Peninsula hotel. But he also enjoys a good adrenaline rush and skydiving usually fits the bill.
The turning point in his life was volunteering in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. There he learned about the strength of the human spirit and the importance of hope. "Without hope, you don't have anything," he said.
Linnehan says he has been too busy to date. And despite his propensity for elegance, he is not into fancy dates. He could spend a whole day sitting on a sidewalk if he has good chemistry with someone. "It is not about where you are, it's who you are with," he said.
— Roxana Tiron
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 Stacie Walters
Age: 36
Hometown: Little Rock, Ark.
Political party: Democrat
Dating status: Married
Stacie Walters loves her job so much that she got married at 9:30 a.m. and returned to work in the afternoon.
The 36-year-old lobbyist for the Livingston Group is living proof that Paula Abdul once spoke the truth with her song "Opposites Attract." A 5-foot-10 African-American extrovert, Walters found true love in an introverted Japanese psychotherapist, who, though he's tallest in his family, only measures up to her lips.
Growing up in Little Rock, she lived a typical girl's life, fishing with her father every Saturday, catching grasshoppers and lightning bugs in the summer, and paging for then-Gov. Bill Clinton.
Walters helped put herself through school by waiting tables. She was so good she could easily handle 10 tables at once, with no complaints or spills.
She began to develop regular customers, including one law professor to whom she expressed her desire to go to law school. There was only one impediment, she said - the prep course for the LSAT exam was too expensive.
When she went to pick up his tab at the end of the meal, there was a check for $1,000 waiting for her.
"He said somebody had done the same for him and he was just paying it forward," Walters said.
Walters, a beautiful woman with wild hair, is the spitting image of a Benetton model. Turns out, she was one. She said her worst date was when she decided to meet a guy at Cosi for a blind date. After a cordial introduction, they sat down and she decided to break the ice slowly.
"So, have you always lived in Washington D.C.?" she asked.
His response:
"Boy you ask a lot of questions."
Awkward.
- By Jordy Yager
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 Steve Ellis
Age: 38
Hometown: Fairfax County, Va.
Dating status: Married
What TV show does a lobbyist for Taxpayers for Common Sense watch on a regular basis?
It's TLC's "What Not to Wear," a show that teaches badly dressed women what to wear.
He concedes, "That's embarrassing for a guy."
Born in Honolulu at a pink Army hospital on a hill, Ellis was raised as a Navy brat and spent much of his childhood in Northern Virginia near Mount Vernon.
Around here, he used to live in Adams Morgan, but he said he was tired of waking up at 3 a.m. to vomiting drunks. Now he lives with his wife, a doctor, in Woodley Park.
Apart from his TV choices, Ellis is blond, blue-eyed and masculine. He was an officer in the Coast Guard after graduating from the Coast Guard Academy. He sailed across the ocean twice on the Eagle, a three-masted sailing ship. In training he once flew a helicopter and on another occasion had to be tear-gassed to show he could handle it (he could). "It felt awful," he says.
Among those he admires most is Alexander Hamilton. He also watches a lot of hockey.
Cooking is a hobby. He is the chef at home, but wouldn't call himself "a chef." He says, "I follow instructions. I don't bake."
- By Betsy Rothstein
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 Rep. Vito Fossella (N.Y.)
Age: 43
Hometown: New York
Political party: Republican
Dating status: Married, with children
There's something eye-catching about the sheen of Rep. Vito Fossella's (R-N.Y.) dark brown hair. Looks-wise, he is the tough guy on the block - a sort of Joey-from-"Friends"-meets-"The Sopranos" - with a shy smile.
Fossella hails from a political family. His great-grandfather was James O'Leary, a New Deal congressman who served between 1935 and 1944. His father, Vito Fossella Sr., chaired the city's Board of Standards under Mayor Ed Koch. His uncle, Frank Fossella, served on the City Council until 1985, when Susan Molinari beat him.
Fossella came to Congress in 1997, after Molinari resigned. In 1995, after his son was born, he dropped his support for abortion rights.
Earlier this year, he caused a splash in the New York tabloids when it was revealed he had fathered a child with a woman he had an affair with. The news, which surfaced after Fossella was arrested for driving while intoxicated, shocked even his closest colleagues.
He had been mentioned as a possible 2009 New York mayoral candidate; after the scandal broke, such suggestions have disappeared.
Fossella will be leaving Congress in January. It's not clear what he'll do next.
- By Mike Soraghan
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