By Dana Milbank
Tuesday, January 9, 2007; A02

The just-out issue of People magazine, the one that says "Julia Pregnant!" on its cover, has a two-page spread titled "BEACH BABES."

There's Catherine Zeta-Jones in a teeny string bikini, Penelope Cruz in a cleavage shot on a boogie board, Jessica Alba in a skimpy fuchsia bandeau bikini, and hunky Australian actor Hugh Jackman shirtless in Nevis.

Then there's the junior senator from Illinois. Rounding out the Beach Babes spread is a New Year's Day photo of Barack Obama in the Hawaiian surf. We see his well-defined pecs, his perfectly hairless torso, just a bit of padding around the abs and a drawstring dangling from his form-fitting surfer trunks. The aspiring presidential candidate splashes through the water and squints into the distance; he is transformed into Burt Lancaster in "From Here to Eternity."

"I really appreciate you toting that around," Obama said with evident sarcasm yesterday when presented with the image as he left a news conference in the Senate TV gallery on ethics laws. "Thank you very much."

The senator was more appropriately attired, in a navy business suit and pale-blue tie, but he was uncharacteristically flustered as he sought to explain the photo.

"You know, it's uh --," he attempted.

And: "It's embarrassing."

And: "You know, I have no idea what beach it was taken on."

And: "It was, it was, it's uh, it's uh, paparazzi!"

Obama noticed that Jay Newton-Small of Bloomberg News was studying the image. "Stop looking at it!" he mock-scolded, and hustled away.

Newton-Small offered her critique. "He does look slimmer in his work suits," the young woman judged, but she allowed that he "looks good for his age."

Such candid photos -- the People shot of Obama was, as the senator suspected, done by a paparazzi agency that People identified as Fame Pictures -- can be damaging to a politician. Few can forget, try though they might, the Agence France-Presse photo nine years ago of a fleshy Bill and Hillary Clinton dancing on the beach in bathing suits. And the shots of John Kerry windsurfing in his skintight wetsuit proved poisonous to his presidential aspirations.

The Obama shot caused more buzz than it otherwise might have because the newly formed Senate was off to a slow start yesterday. Plans to debate the ethics package on the Senate floor were postponed in favor of a long series of quorum calls. The Senate held its first roll-call vote of the session -- a resolution remembering Gerald Ford -- but a dozen senators failed to show up for the vote; one, freshman Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), dashed into the chamber five minutes after the vote closed.

But in truth, Obama did not seem entirely displeased by the Beach Babes shot. Perhaps that's because he has spent a lot of time working out at Chicago's East Bank Club, as the Chicago Sun-Times has documented. Asked what Obama was planning to do yesterday afternoon, the senator's communications director, Robert Gibbs, replied: "Photo shoot on South Beach."

Actually, Obama was going to New York for an event with Jesse Jackson. But as the 2008 presidential campaign gets off to an early start, a potential candidate's every move is aimed at one constituency or another. Just last month, Obama appeared on "Monday Night Football." At the B. Dalton in Union Station yesterday, his campaign book, "The Audacity of Hope," was prominently displayed on the same rack with Hillary Clinton's "It Takes a Village," 10th-anniversary edition.

Would other candidates concede the beachcomber vote to Obama, or would they, too, don swimsuits in People magazine? A spokeswoman for Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) laughed at the notion but provided no substantive answer.

"Are you asking me to pose in a bathing suit?" asked Clinton spokesman Philippe Reines, deflecting. "Can it be 1920s-style?"

On the other hand, Obama doesn't need to get undressed to attract the paparazzi these days. Introducing him at the news conference yesterday, Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.), who opted against a presidential run himself, announced: "I'd like to turn to Senator Obama, who has been working on this issue for many years but can't seem to get any attention from the press in general."

Each of the 12 Democratic senators took a turn at the microphone, but it quickly became apparent that most of the cameras were pointed at Obama, even when he wasn't talking. And though Feingold started out as the event's MC, Obama quickly assumed that role when the questions began.

"Senator Obama," CNN's Dana Bash hollered from the back row, "on the issue of Iraq . . ."

"I'm sorry," the senator demurred. "Let's get the ethics questions out, and then I'll be happy to stick around."

The next question was also directed at Obama, and the one after that. Inch by inch, Obama edged Feingold away from the lectern; the man from Wisconsin was reduced to nodding and wiping his forehead.

"Are we done with the ethics?" Obama finally asked. His colleagues departed. Obama took five more questions about Iraq and then was chased from the room by reporters and camera crews until an aide pleaded for his release. It was quite a swell, but this Beach Babe didn't mind swimming in it.