The New Neighbors Sure Like Black SUVs

As for Khalilzad's purported presidential bid, the latest is Grenell's comment Monday to the British newspaper the Guardian that this was "an old rumor that has been proved erroneous." Apparently debunked by some less-than-door-closing statements talking about Khalilzad having no plans or intentions to run.

The President Will Delay You Now

The Cardinal, Amtrak's Chicago-to-New York passenger train, was a tad late getting into D.C. on Friday afternoon. Seems there was a delay in White Sulphur Springs, W.Va., because President Bush was lunching with House Republicans at their retreat at the Greenbrier Resort.

On instructions from the Secret Service, which stopped all traffic on the CSX freight line, Amtrak says it held the train -- and its 74 passengers -- not just while Bush's motorcade went by the sprawling resort's entrance, which is near the station, but also throughout his visit. That would be two hours and 10 minutes in all.

The station, according to hotel folks, is 339 yards from the hotel's front desk.

Protect the Nation, Get a Tan

Mitt Romney fell short in Florida yesterday despite his superb response to a questionnaire from the Cuban American National Foundation, the hard-line anti-Castroites.

Romney laid out a "four-pillar" action plan to topple the nearly 50-year-old Castro government. "The final pillar is military strength," he said, in a note spotted by the Center for Democracy in the Americas, an anti-embargo operation.

"America must always be ready in the event of any military incursion by Castro or [Venezuelan President Hugo] Ch¿vez against the people of America," Romney wrote. "We must always be prepared so that the leaders of those countries understand that America will not ever be intimidated."

Probably need a couple of battalions, one on Key West, another on Sanibel Island.

A Little Campaign Music

Politics is not permitted in federal buildings, but there are unforeseen moments. Take the awkwardness at the Agency for International Development during the Morgan State University choir's performance at a Martin Luther King commemoration on Jan. 17.

After the first song, "Hold On (Change Is Coming)," choir music director Eric Conway repeated the title and sparked loud applause from the several hundred AID folks when he said, "and his name is Barack Obama." AID chief Henrietta Fore, a Bush appointee, and other officials looked stricken.

We asked AID press office director J. David Snider to verify details. He told us late the next day he didn't think he could be helpful.