Valerie Plame Invited to White House Correspondents Dinner

The woman who has given hope to a thousand journalists was invited to the annual White House Correspondents dinner. News organizations with reporters covering the White House may invite anyone they wish.

Editor and Publisher reports:

Will Valerie Plame be the talk of this year's White House Correspondents Dinner? E&P has confirmed that she is slated to attend this year's gala, along with her husband Joseph Wilson and several other notable non-journalist guests, such as Alex Trebek and Ben Rothlisberger, according to organizers.

As in the past, attendees at the annual black-tie affair, to be held on April 29 this year, often look for a controversial visitor who might spark extended gossip around the open bar. When outsiders such as Donna Rice, Michael Moore, Fawn Hall or Ozzie Osborne were escorted to the gathering, they sometimes drew nearly as much attention as the president during his remarks.

Plame, the former CIA operative whose outing by columnist Robert Novak sparked a U.S. Justice Department probe that has already sent one reporter to jail and brought a White House official under indictment, may take that role this year. It is unlikely she will be seated next to Novak, but perhaps Bush may have a good view of her from the dais.

She and Wilson will be guests of ABC News.