Campbell staffer shines as Cherry Blossom Princess
 
Mary MacLean, an aide to Rep. John Campbell (R-Calif.), last week represented the state of California in the Cherry Blossom Princess Program as part of the 2006 Cherry Blossom Festival.

The California State Society selected MacLean, a 2005 graduate of Vanguard University in Costa Mesa, Calif., for the honor. She moved to Washington after Campbell was elected to Congress in December.

What qualities made her Cherry Blossom Princess? Look no further than the accolades Campbell bestowed on her in a release: “Mary is a driven young woman with a wonderful personality. Her background, abilities and grace make her the perfect representative for California. It is exciting to see her honored in a program that recognizes the accomplishments of talented young women,” he said.

MacLean, 23, is Campbell’s executive assistant. “It’s always nice to be a part of something that awards women on achievement rather than beauty,” MacLean says. She previously worked on the congressman’s congressional campaign and spent three years interning for him while he was a member of the California Legislature.

She graduated with a degree in history and political science. While at Vanguard, MacLean had an impressive academic record and was a member of several honor societies.

Some of the highlights of MacLean’s cherry-blossom week included visiting a school for deaf children, lunch with first lady Laura Bush, the annual Cherry Blossom Parade and the Cherry Blossom Ball, where all the women will wear white gowns. ‘

In with the new, out with the old, as they say.

“Commander in Chief,” the ABC drama starring Geena Davis as president of the United States, is back on the air on a new night and time — Thursdays at 10 p.m. — beginning tomorrow.

It also has a new, female writer, Dee Johnson, after having let go of two male producers, including “The Contender” writer and producer Rob Lurie and Steven Bochco, creator of NYPD Blue.

“I don’t know what it tells us, said Marie Wilson, president of the White House Project, a group that promotes electing a female president. “We’re excited to be able to tell people” that the show “is not dead.”

The White House Project created an all-female focus group in January that now has more than 300 women. Over e-mail, the women, who come from all political parties, answer tough questions about the show. To sign up to be a member of the focus group, go to www.thewhitehouseproject.org.

“We want to know how people react to a woman having power,” Wilson said.

Rep. Danny Davis (D-Ill.) is coping with back pain after an incident on a flight to Chicago last month.

While lifting his suitcase into the overhead compartment, he somehow twisted his back in an odd direction.

“I guess he just moved the wrong way,” said Davis spokesman Ira Cohen. “The results are still with him.”

Because he couldn’t sit very well, Davis couldn’t fly. Therefore, he missed votes the week of March 13.

The lawmaker has been spotted around the Capitol using a cane. “He’s not 100 percent yet,” Cohen said, explaining that the staff set up a podium for Davis in his Chicago office so that he could work standing up, a more comfortable position for him.

In Washington, Davis does not work by podium, but he does spend more time standing than sitting, Cohen said, adding that Davis had an MRI and that doctors are continuing to diagnose the problem.

Rep. Susan Davis (D-Calif.) spent two nights at George Washington University Hospital last month after bruising her hip from a bad fall. She slipped on some stairs in her house, explains Davis spokesman Aaron Hunter.

“There were no broken bones or anything, just a really intense bruise on her hip, just a really deep bruise.”

Thankfully, Davis is “pretty much back up to full speed,” Hunter said last week. “I was having a hard time keeping up with her yesterday. She’s a fast walker.”

Low-key Hill radio reporter wins prestigious award

Chad Pergram, chief Washington correspondent for Capitol News Connection (CNC), recently won the Joan S. Barone Award, an annual accolade that pays tribute to Joan Shorenstein Barone, former executive producer of CBS’s “Face the Nation.” Pergram won the award at the recent Radio-Television Correspondents’ Association dinner.

Previous winners include Tim Russert, Bob Schieffer, Nina Totenberg, Jackie Judd and Roger Mudd.

Pergram said he was shocked that he won. At announcement time, he was gabbing at a back table at the Hilton Washington with Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Va.), pretty oblivious to the award announcement — until his name was called.

“I was only about half listening,” he admits, explaining that he was “shell-shocked” when he got on stage to deliver his acceptance speech.

Pergram began covering Capitol Hill in the fall of 1993 as a Senate producer for C-SPAN. He then worked for National Public Radio and came to CNC in the spring of 2003.