By Amy Argetsinger and Roxanne Roberts
Monday, October 15, 2007

Of all the historians who are already conducting interviews and scouring the records for insight into the presidency of George W. Bush, probably only one will be able to say that he truly stared into the cold depths of the man's . . . refrigerator.

"This is the stuff that didn't end up in history books," said Barry Landau, a presidential memorabilia collector who snapped a picture of the White House fridge two years ago. Here you see the main kitchen's Hobart refrigerator, which is reserved for the president and first lady's food. (They've got another fridge upstairs in the private residence.)

Look closer: POTUS's goodies are on the left, Laura Bush's on the right, with the kind of labels you'd find in some totally uptight group house. On George's side: a chunk of cheese, some bacon, raspberries, a whole turkey, chicken, romaine lettuce and papaya. On Laura's: A slice of apple pie, an empty pie crust, melon, grapes, a salad (greens, hearts of palm, and avocado), more raspberries, watermelon, and pumpernickel bread.

"She has the sweet tooth, for sure," mused Landau. "They're both trying to be healthy, with the berries. She's trying to watch her girlish figure with the greens. He's not worrying about his boyish figure."

The amateur historian owns more than 26,000 presidential objects and has consulted with eight administrations on White House tradition and protocol. Now he's putting it all into three books; the first, "The President's Table: 200 Years of Dining and Diplomacy," comes out at the end of the month. Seems that Chester Arthur was the pickiest presidential eater, Rutherford B. Hayes the most sophisticated, and Dubya "more traditional."

After four years in France, former Maryland congresswoman Connie Morella is back on home turf. The longtime Republican darling of left-leaning Montgomery County lost her seat in 2002 after 16 years in Congress but gained a berth in Paris, where she served as the president's rep to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development -- a gig with the title of ambassador and a sweet crash pad in the City of Lights.

We ran into Morella -- still unpacking after just two weeks back -- at last week's Children's Inn gala. What was her favorite thing about Paris? "Are you talking foie gras and champagne? Or the good things we did at the OECD?" she laughed. Morella and husband Tony picked up "passable" French and practiced what she called "transformational diplomacy -- that just means you get along with others and show them Americans care." Sounds exhausting.

So, thinking about running again? "No!" she yelped. "Been there, done that. I plan to be an energetic observer."

Born: A 6-pound, 19 1/2 -inch boy Saturday to Kuwaiti Ambassador Salem al-Sabah and wife Rima, whose mid-40s pregnancy was toasted by no fewer than four Washington A-list baby showers (hostesses included Barbara Harrison and Esther Coopersmith; guests included Laura Bush). Nasser, named for a great-uncle, joins three teenage brothers. Says Dad: "I've never seen them so excited."

"I'm not going to answer that cellphone."

-- Rudy Giuliani, as an errant phone went off during his speech at a $1,000-a-plate fundraiser at Cafe Milano Saturday morning. The GOP frontrunner, who last month weirded out a gathering of NRA members when he took a call from his wife mid-speech, professed to be "a little technically challenged. I just learned to text-message."