Obama Budget Director to Marry ABC Reporter

The New York Times broke the story online yesterday that ABC economics reporter Bianna Golodryga, a regular contributor to Good Morning America, will marry Obama budget chief Peter Orszag next fall.

They broke the happy news on the first half-hour of GMA Tuesday after Golodryga subbed in at the morning news desk and finished the newscast with Bristol Palin's custody suit with her ex-boyfriend and Playgirl model Levi Johnston. She quipped of Orszag: "There was no Playgirl shoot in his portfolio." Jackie Calmes reported the pairing yesterday:

He met Ms. Golodryga, a business and economics correspondent who, at 31, is a decade younger than him, last May at the annual White House Correspondents Dinner, where Mr. Orszag was a guest at ABC’s table. They have dated since, drawing attention in gossip columns for their attendance at several high-profile gala events.

But Mr. Orszag couldn’t get Ms. Golodryga into the Obamas’ recent state dinner — the one that the Salahis ultimately crashed — because he was told that administration staff can only bring a spouse. So he skipped it rather than go without her.

Mr. Orszag said Ms. Golodryga probably suspected that he was going to propose this weekend, when they planned a trip to Vermont. Instead he put a "very nice" ring on the table when they had lunch at Sarabeth’s restaurant near Central Park. He said he got clearance to do so this month from his two children by his first marriage when the three of them vacationed in Florida.

The attraction? "She’s a Russian Jew," he said, "who gets up earlier than I do."

The TV Newser blog added that there was no word whether Golodryga would move to Washington (she's currently based in New York). These kinds of conflicts of interest are probably not considered to worrisome at ABC, which already sports a Cuomo and a Clinton bimbo-crusher in prominent positions.

Another ABC morning economic specialist, Mellody Hobson, is a soft touch for Democrat fundraisers (including $28,500 for the Obama Victory Fund in the fall of 2008). This could come from being a close friend of Desiree Rogers, the bumbling White House social secretary. Hobson was "furious" that anyone would consider Desiree sloppy, although the Salahis made an easier entry at the first state dinner than the Northwest Airlines underwear bomber.

This will not be the only marriage of an Obama aide and a reporter. Health-care czar Nancy-Ann DeParle is married to New York Times reporter Jason DeParle.