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[May 26th, 2004] * Among those joining John Kerry last week at Higgins was Pink Martini chanteuse China Forbes, a distant cousin of the Democrats' champion. Higgins wasn't the only restaurant getting the VIP treatment. While Kerry was settling in on Southwest Broadway, Howard Dean was shuttling between there and Northwest 13th Avenue, where local political matchmaker Terry Bean had reserved a table at Bluehour for 10 Monday night. Owner Bruce Carey, a John Edwards fan, was out at the coast and thought about racing back, but instead just comped everyone's meals. "I thought Edwards was charming and presidential," he says, "but I'm pretty excited about Kerry."

* There were also plenty of political luminaries at Rise, the Bus Project's big bash held at Machineworks Saturday night, but U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer was especially lit up. Not only was he wearing a white tux jacket (a bold move before Memorial Day), but a flashing yellow bike light attached to his black ballcap made him look like he was mining for gold--not just votes.

* The hot rumor in real-estate circles: Nicolas Cage is eyeing a condo in a half-finished building in the Pearl District. Don't get too excited, word is that he's looking for a place for his mom, choreographer Joy Vogelsang.

* Speaking of hot real-estate deals.... Portland's most visible--and some say most maligned--cop has landed on his feet after getting booted out of the bureau. C.W. Jensen is now selling real estate in the Pearl District, working out of the office of his pal developer Bob Ball, a longtime reserve police officer.

* Not like the Portland Co-Ed Adult Dodgeball League lacks for attention. CNN did a piece on this quasi-violent amusement, as did The Seattle Times. But Portland's dodgeballers vaulted to a new level of fame on May 19, when pill-popping radio gasbag Rush Limbaugh took time out from serving his dark master Beelzebub to praise the league. "These are people who were denied the chance to play dodgeball in school," quoth Rush, "and they're just trying to recapture some of their lost youth."

* Our hot tip of the week, from a top government official: "The Oregonian is on to this neat story about a land board deal by Goldschmidt. Maybe WW should look into it."

* Did this week's cover image make you think you're seeing double? No, it's not too much caffeine. Rather, unable to decide which photo to use, we decided to use both, so depending on where you pick up your paper, you'll get one or the other. Now, if you see more than two versions of our cover around town, you may have been spending too much time with this week's pullout section.