NAMES & FACES

Christian rockers Switchfoot, performing at New York's Madison Square Garden last year, won four Dove Awards Wednesday. (Tina Fineberg -- AP)

Jindal: No Quarter

CNNers, White Housers, lawmakers and journos alike all shimmied up to the bar at the International Spy Museum on Wednesday night for a CNN shindig highlighting the "2005 New Guard" -- or the next generation of newsmakers, as they say.

Though it was never clear who the New Guard is, CNN celebrators included new head honcho Jon Klein, D.C. bureau chief DaveBohrman and the on-air gang, Wolf Blitzer, Judy Woodruff, Candy Crowley and John King. (Tidbit: King is yearning to leave his White House beat after almost eight years. His contract is up at the end of the year, and though he's a fill-in anchor, apparently he wants to steer clear of that chair.) Then the congressional types: Reps. Mike Pence (R-Ind.), Bobby Jindal (R-La.), Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.) and Russ Carnahan (D-Mo.).

WMAL prime-time jabber jaw Michael Graham, self-described "right-wing nut job," said he was there "because liberals know how to put on a great spread," which he defined as "free hooch and lots of eats." He sniffed: "Look around the room -- I'm very lonely."

We bumped into newly minted Rep. Jindal, fresh from mingling with newly minted Klein, clearly the man of the hour. "He's very charming," Jindal said.

So how does this fete compare to New Orleans? we asked the Louisiana rep.

"This is a kind of party that high school kids would go to on a weeknight in New Orleans," the fun-loving Jindal told us. "I don't want to be rude to our host, but this isn't a party. This is work!" (You're telling us.) Welcome to Washington, Rep. Jindal.

Wish You Were There

The Christian rock group Switchfoot must be kicking itself now. The band was up for five Dove Awards at the ceremony Wednesday night. (Reminder: Dove Awards are the Grammys of gospel music.) And it turns out the gang scooped up four: artist of the year, best rock or contemporary song, best short-form video and best long-form video. It's just a shame they didn't go to the actual ceremony.

The Crabb Family also won four Dove Awards (Southern gospel recorded song, country recorded song, traditional gospel recorded song and Southern gospel album), while Michael W. Smith, nominated for eight, went home empty-handed.

Noted . . .

First lady Laura Bush will honor the nation's top pops when she keynotes the National Fatherhood Initiative's 2005 Awards Gala on April 19. (Apparently April is a great time to celebrate as the NFI wants to bring more recognition to committed fatherhood during a month that's not about Father's Day.) Among the honored: Pat Williams, vice president of the Orlando Magic, and Fred Barnes, executive editor of the Weekly Standard. . . . SecState Condi Rice is all for the Washington Nationals, as she cheered to Fox News's Sean Hannity yesterday: "I'm going to be a Nationals fan. I'm not as big a baseball fan as I am a football fan, but there's a new team in Washington and I'm going to be right there for them." Then we have Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who remained loyal to his state during his interview yesterday with Chris Matthews, saying (at RFK Stadium, no less) that he'll always prefer the Arizona Diamondbacks.

. . . and Quoted

"I don't think Wisconsin should become known as a state where we shoot cats."

-- Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle (D), explaining why he opposes the proposed law to legalize killing feral cats.

-- Compiled by Anne Schroeder

from staff and wire reports