Cooter Comes to Town, With 'Redneck' Tales to Tell and Sell

The long-awaited Cooter endorsement is here: McCain for president.

No, no . . . not the GOP candidate -- his 96-year-old mother. "I'd support Roberta for president," said former congressman Ben Jones, who spent most of Friday night flirting with the white-haired matriarch. "I have a crush on her. We're crazy about each other."

The Democrat, who represented Georgia's 4th District from 1989 to 1993, made a rare foray into Washington to plug his new memoir, "Redneck Boy in the Promised Land." Best known for playing Cooter Davenport in the early-'80s TV hit "The Dukes of Hazzard," he's turned the goofy character into a one-man franchise: Cooter stores in Nashville and near Dollywood; a country-rock band (played the Grand Ole Opry last year) and an annual celebration for "Dukes" fans.

More than 200 friends attended the backyard party at the Northwest home of pals Ginny Grenham and Paul Zevnik: Rep. John Dingell, Gordon Peterson and Bob Barnett rocked to Cooter's music and joked about the good ol' days. Now living in Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains, Jones said he doesn't miss politics one bit -- but he's supporting Mark Warner's Senate bid and is thrilled with Sen. Jim Webb's ascending star. "He's a redneck Renaissance man," said Jones. "And the toughest guy in America."

UPDATE

Ah, the fist bump -- that instantly iconic gesture shared between Barack and Michelle Obama as he claimed the Democratic nomination, analyzed and celebrated and debated as a symbol of generational change, a harbinger of post-racial politics, blah blah. . . Yeah, well, that was last week. By Sunday, Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D) and Kay Bailey Hutchison (R) were giving each other dap as they ended a round of punditry on CNN. (Spontaneously! Though Wolf Blitzer made them do it again.) It's totally dead now.

HEY, ISN'T THAT . . . ?

· Harrison Ford breakfasting yesterday in one of the glass-enclosed booths at the Park Hyatt. After his meal, the "Indiana Jones" star (blue oxford shirt, black slacks) typed feverishly into a laptop while his dining companion (the CEO of Conservation International; Ford's a board member) quietly read the paper. Was in D.C. for a zoo event promoting efforts to save wild tigers.

· Cyndi Lauper mingling at a Human Rights Campaign party at Halo in Logan Circle on Saturday after her Constitution Hall show. Wicked-cool black eye makeup, big silver hoops.

LOVE, ETC.

· Born: A baby girl, Honor Marie Warren, to starlet Jessica Alba and her husband of three weeks, Cash Warren. The baby arrived Saturday in Los Angeles. Cash? Honor? There's got to be a joke in here someplace.

* * *

"Lies are the new facts."

-- Gina Gershon on "Live With Regis and Kelly" yesterday, decrying the state of journalism, e.g., a Vanity Fair article that she says implies she had an affair with Bill Clinton: a "crazy, outrageous lie," said the "Showgirls" star. VF doesn't out-and-out claim an affair, just that his "aides have winced" at "recent high-end Hollywood dinner-party gossip" that the ex-prez "has been seen visiting with the actress."