By Amy Argetsinger and Roxanne Roberts
Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Cupid to the rescue! Valentine's Day dinners are back on at the Kennedy Center, after some last-minute scrambling yesterday narrowly averted a PR crisis.

Patrons who made plans for a romantic repast Thursday at the Roof Terrace Restaurant got a nasty surprise last week when reservations reps called to cancel -- a bummer on a normal night, but a disaster on V-Day when every decent eatery is booked weeks ahead.

What happened? A glitch in the online booking service, which accepted 23 reservations for Feb. 14 -- a night the Roof Terrace wasn't scheduled to be open, explained Restaurant Associates GM Jeff Wingate, who runs the KenCen catering. (Typically, the restaurant closes if there are no performances in the center's largest theaters, the Opera House or Concert Hall.)

Informed about the brokenhearted diners, Wingate told us he's calling in staff and chilling champagne. "We're now opening up and will make good on all the reservations," he said. Each of the 23 parties who had booked will get a call inviting them back -- and will receive a 50 percent discount on their check.

Ladies and gentlemen -- Bar-wax Obama! On the eve of the Potomac Primary, the folks at Madame Tussauds's newish D.C. wax museum made the surprise move yesterday of unveiling a new statue of the Illinois senator -- in their Oval Office exhibit, no less, flanked by wax dummies of JFK and Jackie, Bill and Hillary Clinton, the only other presidential candidate in the museum until now. Any plans for an equal-time John McCain rendered in tallow? (Or, ahem, a Mike Huckabee? Or a Ron Paul?) Museum officials wouldn't comment. Hmpf! Betcha Mme. Tussauds isn't even eligible to vote in the United States.

"Mystery," a.k.a. Erik von Markovik, that creepy guy from the VH-1 show "The Pick-Up Artist," exercising his charms in the second-floor bar at Madam's Organ Saturday night. The 6-foot-6 swordsman (who also inspired the seduction how-to book "The Game") came in wearing aviator glasses, a full-length fur coat and his hair in a bun; left shortly before closing "with four to six women," said a spy. (Lucky girls.) His wingman, supposedly a VH-1 producer, told folks at the bar they were checking out D.C.'s pick-up potential.

It's unknown what happened yesterday when Paul McCartney and Heather Mills took their divorce battle into a closed London courtroom -- except that the model-turned-land mine activist was reported to be representing herself, having fired her lawyers in her fight for a share of the ex-Beatle's $1.6 billion. Good luck there! The estranged duo are likely to spend all week in court.

Reporters were barred from Karl Rove's speech yesterday at elite prep school Choate Rosemary Hall in Connecticut, by agreement between the ex-Bush adviser and the school. Fine, we weren't interested anyway! Rove was originally supposed to speak at graduation in June but opted for a lower-profile event after students protested.