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Duke-Stir, Cont.

Sure, now it’s called the “Duke-Stir.” But the 42-foot Carver boat — yeah, the one that was raided by federal agents on Friday, a fact first reported by Roll Call — had a different name when Rep. Duke Cunningham (R-Calif.) became its unofficial helmsman. The yacht used to be called “Bouy Toy,” so named by its former owners, a gay couple, according to sources at the Capitol Yacht Club. [IMGCAP(1)]

Apparently, the fellas down at the marina kind of razzed ol’ Duke, a former “top gun” fighter pilot, about the gay-themed name. And apparently, Cunningham couldn’t take it. He changed the boat’s name from the sweet-and-saucy Bouy Toy to the mucho macho Duke-Stir in December 2004, according to Coast Guard records.

867-5309. If cutie slacker Eli Pariser’s phone is ringing off the hook, it isn’t because Tommy Tutone got his number off a wall. It’s

because Washington insiders got it off the cover of the National Journal magazine.

Pariser, the 24-year-old executive director of the PAC for the liberal advocacy group MoveOn, graced the cover of the National Journal’s July 2 issue. The bird’s-eye-view photo shows Pariser sitting in front of his computer, where his personal telephone number was written neatly — by him — on a white piece of paper, prominently propped up on his computer keyboard.

Hmmm. Is the hotshot partisan looking for dates, observers wondered?

“Is he telling ladies that he’s available?” asked one regular HOH informant. “I guess that’s one way to try and land a date.”

But Pariser said he was not pulling a subliminal dating scam.

“I had just changed numbers,” he said, and wrote his new number down and put it in front of him so he could remember it.

But please, HOH fans, try not to harass the poor chap.

“It just will be a pain-in-the neck if I have to change it,” Pariser said. Instead, try calling Jenny, at 867-5309.

Sandy Baby. Moments after Sandra Day O’Connor took this town by surprise (and delayed a few July Fourth vacations), the Supreme Court justice zipped over to Reagan National Airport and took off on a Northwest flight for Minneapolis. From there we don’t know where the glass-ceiling breaker went, but we do know that she had a nice chat at the gate with a longtime admirer, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska).

O’Connor, the first woman to sit on the Supreme Court, and Murkowski, the first female Senator from Alaska, were on the same flight to Minneapolis, where the Senator switched planes to head back to Alaska for the week-long recess. Murkowski was stunned to see O’Connor at the airport just after hearing the big news about her retirement.

“Senator Murkowski personally thanked her for her remarkable service to the country. She also thanked her for her trailblazing as the country’s first female Supreme Court Justice,” Murkowski communications director Kristin Pugh told HOH in an e-mail.

The Senator was so excited about her chit-chat with O’Connor that she wrote a BlackBerry message to her communications director saying, “an amazing conversation that I will not forget. She was the woman who first encouraged me to push the limits and do whatever I wanted. She had been a role model to me as young woman, personally encouraging me to always aim high. It was a great honor to be able to thank her for her service in person.”

Murkowski did not feel a whim to tell the esteemed justice to “loosen up, Sandy Baby.” That we leave to ex-Redskin John Riggins.

Sandy, II. And congratulations to Don Stewart on winning the race to put out the first press release following O’Connor’s retirement announcement. Stewart, the spokesman for Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), whipped off a statement like nobody’s business within minutes of O’Connor’s statement. Cornyn, chairman of the Senate Judiciary subcommittee on immigration, border security and citizenship, praised O’Connor for her service and reverence for the law and all that good stuff and, of course, he took the opportunity to warn Democrats against blocking the president’s nominee to succeed her.

Stewart, upon hearing that he was the winner of HOH’s Fastest Flak award said, “Eight years working in the Senate, and the first award I win is for being able to click the ‘send’ button quickly.”

Please send your hot tips, juicy gossip or comments to hoh@rollcall.com.

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