“House” actress Lisa Edelstein may think she doesn’t know Washington, but she seems to have the place pinpointed pretty well.
“What’s interesting in D.C. is that these people run the world, but they’re still excited to see somebody on TV. I just find that bizarre,” she told Yeas & Nays. “It’s like a different kind of high school student that goes to D.C. versus that goes to Hollywood, but they are each really ambitiously seeking something out.”
For her inaugural lobbying trip, Edelstein spent Thursday talking to the likes of Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., and Rep. Carol Shea-Porter, D-N.H., for the organization Save the Children. She advocated for a program that trains community medical workers for $150 a pop.
“It took me a lot more than that to put myself through college and end up a fake doctor,” Edelstein said.
She also spent time “not arguing” with former Sen. Bill Frist, who serves as chairman of Save the Children’s “Survive to 5” campaign.
“He really is far more conservative than me, but in a lot of ways we cross paths,” she said. “We talked about the fact that I think we can’t fight AIDS properly in this country until we fight the really idiotic attitudes towards homosexuality,” she said.
How did Frist react?
“He just listened,” Edelstein said.
This may have been Edelstein’s Hill debut, but she’s had memorable moments in Washington before. Since she played an escort on the first season of “The West Wing,” she snagged an invitation to a White House Correspondents dinner.
“When I played the hooker on ‘West Wing’ and we were all invited to the last presidential roast of Clinton’s. I was very popular at that party,” she laughed. “Everybody wanted to talk to the hooker.”
