Obama Inflation; Clintonites Invade Virginia

1. Obama inflation has hit at least one growing sector of the economy: the charity circuit. In addition to his duties as transition do-chair, John Podesta, the former Clinton White House chief of staff, is a professor at Georgetown Law. Each year, he donates a home-cooked meal to the GU Law chapter of the Equal Justice Foundation, which provides small stipends to students working in public interest law during their summer breaks.  Each year, Podesta's dinner fetches a handsome sum at a live charity auction.... but this year, the home-cooked meal for ten drew Buffett-like interest: students ponied up $3000 for the privilege.

2.  When Hillary Clinton dropped out of the race, two of her youngest and most ardent supporters started a national campaign to convince Democrats to "VoteBoth" and pressure Barack Obama into selecting Clinton as his vice president. That didn't work out. But the political bug hasn't left Adam Parkhomenko.  The 23-year-old is considering a run for the Virginia House of Delegates in the 47th district, which covers Court House, Clarendon, Virginia Square and other parts of Arlington, VA. Parkhomenko was born in DC but grew up in Virginia; he works now at the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and is a member of the Washington, D.C. police reserves. (There is no such program in Arlington.)  If he runs, he'll run on a platform of keeping the community safe -- and safer for children.  Incumbent Al Eisenberg is said to be close to announcing his retirement.  Parkhomenko is close friends with Terry McAuliffe, who is running for governor. He's already learned a thing or two about playing defense: here is what he told a friend who asked about his credentials: "If someone wants to ask why haven't i finished college, I think its fair to say that college degrees haven't exactly got things in Richmond moving, let alone traffic in Northern Virginia."