By Amy Argetsinger and Roxanne Roberts
Monday, October 22, 2007

Dalai at the deli? Dalai on the Metro? Readers were thrilled to tell us about stumbling across the Dalai Lama at some modest haunts during his visit last week: Dining at a Thai restaurant in Ballston, breakfasting at a Van Ness deli . . .

Alas, turns out that instead of the Dalai Lama they probably spotted one of the two dozen senior Tibetan lamas who traveled from around the world for the ceremony -- gentlemen who also favor shaved heads, robes and a serene glow. "Some spiritual leaders are reputed to be able to be in two places at once," the International Campaign for Tibet's Kate Saunders told us. "As far as we know, this doesn't apply to the Dalai Lama's visit to Washington." The Congressional Gold Medal recipient had a busy schedule and a large security detail, she said. Also: not so crazy about Thai food.

But he did take some surprising detours in D.C. Saunders described waiting for His Holiness to join an important meeting in a hotel suite. After a long delay, they found him in the hall talking to the woman cleaning the room next door. "You don't have a lot of world leaders who'll stop to talk to the maid," she said.

First prize: a day in Iowa with Sen. Chris Dodd! (What's second prize -- two days in Iowa with Chris Dodd?!)

The seemed-like-a-good-idea-at-the-time award goes to Dodd's presidential campaign, who had what they thought was an inspired fundraising ploy: a raffle for two seats next to the Connecticut Democrat at this past Saturday's Red Sox game (or Game 2 of the World Series). In the event that Boston didn't make it that far, the winner would spend a day with Dodd in Iowa or New Hampshire. More than 600 people donated $20.04 (the last year the Red Sox were world champs) in just 30 hours.

But the offer was yanked when Major League Baseball objected, saying playoff tickets (unlike regular season) are owned by the league and have strict rules for promotional use. So some lucky stiff still gets to go on the campaign trail? Alas, no -- Dodd's camp intended to give away the campaign day, but spokeswoman Colleen Flanagan said it was too difficult to separate donors who wanted refunds from those willing to stay in the raffle, so the entire contest was canceled.

* Sean Penn lurking in the corridors of the E Street Cinema downtown Saturday night before ducking into a VIP screening (Dan Snyder, Chris Hitchens, Chris and Kathleen Matthews, etc.) of his "Into the Wild." The actor-turned-director wore a dark blazer, white shirt open at the neck, and that fantastic thick shock of hair that gives him an extra inch or two of height.

* Chaka Khan cheering the Corvettes in the Howard homecoming parade Saturday as they revved their engines for her. The R&B star, doing grand mistress duties at the event, was mobbed by photo-op-seekers. She still has her fantastic thick shock of hair as well.

* Britney Spears, who lost the right to see her toddler sons last week, has regained the right to visit with them, People magazine reported. Paparazzi promptly caught up with her driving the kids around Studio City, Calif., on Saturday, a court-appointed monitor riding shotgun.

* Former world surfing champion Kelly Slater was detained by Israeli police after allegedly shoving a cameraman who tried to photograph him leaving a Tel Aviv hotel with Leo DiCaprio's supermodel ex-girlfriend Bar Rafaeli -- thereby drawing international attention to the fact he was at a hotel with Leo DiCaprio's supermodel ex-girlfriend. Slater was in town to help unite Israelis and Palestinians through a Surfing for Peace program. Dude!

* Bill Maher helped security guards wrangle a rowdy protester out of the TV studio after the shouting man, holding a "9/11 is a cover up fraud" sign, disrupted Maher's live weekly HBO broadcast. The incident was all captured on TV. The liberal comic commentator later told his audience he's weary of debating 9/11 conspiracy kooks: "It's the only time I defend Bush."