The New Neighbors Sure Like Black SUVs

By Al Kamen
Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Never too early to begin transition planning. So there were Vice President Cheney and spouse Lynne out in McLean on Sunday afternoon, strolling about the house they're building in that tony suburb.

A Loop Fan spotted the veep -- attracted by three black SUVs, a limo and a marked Secret Service car all parked discreetly along the road outside the property -- taking the tour of what he described as a "large home under construction."

The "in-town home" -- as opposed to the Chesapeake Bay house -- is on a small lot (just under an acre) that the Cheneys bought for $1.35 million on Jan. 12, 2000, months before his selection as George W. Bush's vice presidential candidate, according to property records.

Cheney tore down the previous house, we were told, but left the lot vacant -- much to the consternation of the exceptionally well-heeled neighbors -- when he moved into public housing at the Naval Observatory off Massachusetts Avenue NW.

The area is close enough to the CIA that Cheney could easily wander over from time to time to make sure they're getting the real intelligence on Iran, North Korea and various nuclear wannabes. (We agreed to a request from Cheney's office not to provide an exact location for the new manse.)

Unclear when the 12,765-square-foot bungalow will be finished, but it's not a Halliburton project, so it should be done by Inauguration Day '09. The estimated cost of construction is only $1.5 million.

The four-bedroom, nine-bath (including a couple of powders) house includes his and hers bathrooms off the master bedroom on the first floor and his and hers libraries, each with a fireplace, according to a review of the plans by our colleague Michael Laris.

Two more bedrooms are on the second floor, along with a sitting room, an exercise room and three baths. There's a playroom in the basement for the grandkids. A spot above the attached two-car garage has a bedroom, bathroom and bar. The house has the usual elevator that runs from the basement to the second floor.

There don't appear to be fine hunting opportunities in the vicinity, but neighbors should take appropriate precautions.

Zalmay Was Where?

Famous diplomatic freelancer Zalmay Khalilzad, now our man at the United Nations and a rumored Afghan presidential contender, is said to be in the administration doghouse once again these days. He showed up on a panel last week at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, with none other than Iran's foreign minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, and Mojtaba Samareh Hashemi, a top adviser to Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

"His appearance on the same stage was neither authorized, nor did he seek prior approval," a senior State Department official told our colleague Robin Wright. Washington is in the process of brokering a new U.N. resolution to impose punitive measures on Iran.

But Khalilzad spokesman Richard Grenell told our colleague Colum Lynch that "there was no separate meeting or separate conversation or handshake with the Iranian foreign minister, just a multilateral conversation with the moderator."

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.

AID does not "endorse" candidates, he noted, adding that "this was a private event," to which "the public wasn't invited." The public, of course, was paying the audience's salaries.

Also, "I wasn't there," Snider said, "so anything I told you would be hearsay." Now, hearsay, being generally inadmissible in a court of law, would hardly be appropriate for Loop Fans.

But a week later, Snider graciously offered an audiotape of the event. We apologize for the delay.

"Hearsay"?

Moving On

Speaking of leaving office, Lou Ann Linehan, longtime chief of staff and campaign guru for outgoing GOP Sen. Chuck Hagel (Neb.), is leaving to take an unpaid "leave of absence" with no specific future job in mind, Hagel's office announced.

This naturally touched off speculation that she might be off to work on a Hagel vice presidential campaign should New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg throw his hat in the ring as an independent. Hagel has oft been mentioned as a likely partner for Bloomberg.

We were told there is "no chance" that that is going to happen. (If we had a buck for every time . . . ) Hagel communications director Mike Buttry moves up to take the chief-of-staff slot.