Open thread - Joe and I got to meet Arianna last night

Joe and I got to meet Arianna Huffington Tuesday evening at a dinner downtown (the pic above is of Senator Dodd (D-CT) talking, you can't really see him). The woman is stunning in person. Svelt, tall, scary smart and the famous Arianna personality shined through right away. I know, in professional circles you're not supposed to focus on a woman's looks, but I'm sorry, there is something stunning about the lady and it's the first thing you notice (Katherine Harris doesn't hold a candle).

Also got to have a good talk with our fav Dan Froomkin from the Washington Post, who Joe and I have met before. Great guy, he was busy taking notes, expect something possibly about the evening in Froomkin's column tomorrow (or not). He introduced me to the editor of WashingtonPost.com, which considering the controversies of late, was probably a good connection to make.

Otherwise, we also got to meet some lovely folks working for Al-Arabiya TV, which was great because I've been wanting some contacts with the Arab press. Other folks there included some friends from ThinkProgress, Ana Marie Cox (the former Wonkette), some of the boys from Powerline and Captain's Quarters (right wing blogs), and then a good deal of mainstream media, including Sidney Blumenthal (dad to our friend Max, a brave reporter in his own right), the woman from the News Hour, and also John Cochrane. Also sitting at our table was the younger guy who hosts the morning show on C-Span - the dark-haired guy, you know who I mean. Nice guy.

We also had a bit of a funny. At one point we heard TIME's Margaret Carlson behind us introduce someone saying "Oh, this is Viveca Novak." I quickly did a 180 - you'll recall that Ms. Novak was the one who is good friends with Karl Rove's lawyer and gave him the heads up that Karl was in trouble.

Very interesting evening. Unfortunately I didn't get to meet Mike Luckovich, the great editorial cartoonist with the Atlanta-Journal Constitution, he was there but I lost him in the crowd.