By Ralph Barrera, AP
About 600 of the USA's top journalists, politicians and business leaders attend. But last Saturday night at the downtown Renaissance Hotel, neither President Obama nor Vice President Biden showed up. Why?Columns
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The president was in South Korea meeting with world leaders. But the vice president was at his home base in nearby Wilmington, Del.Clearly, the administration didn't want either of its two top guys to take part in the fun and games in an election year.Ironically, the Gridiron is where then-U.S. Sen. Obama of Illinois really captured the attention of the press when he gave the Democratic Party speech at the 2006 affair.Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, the designated closer subbing for President Obama, was pretty gentle on everybody. His closest thing to a jab was when he said: "DoD (Department of Defense) recently completed a 65-year project to develop a cutting-edge robot. Initial testing wasn't good, but Mitt Romney's performance is improving."With neither of the two top Democrats present this time, Republican presidential also-ran Gov. Rick Perry of Texas stole the show as his party's speaker. He mostly made fun of himself by quoting from some of his campaign goofs."My problem was saying stuff that wasn't right. Mitt's problem is saying stuff that is," Perry joked. Examples: "I would say stuff like 'Solyndra is a country' or 'the voting age is 21.' Mitt says things like his wife drives a couple of Cadillacs or his pals own NASCAR teams."If Perry had learned to loosen up like that while he was a candidate, he might still be in the race.Feedback: Other views on the Gridiron"When an organization's been around 127 years, we don't get overly concerned about a scheduling problem one year. We look forward to welcoming President Obama and Vice President Biden — or their successors — back next year."—George Condon, president, the Gridiron Club "Obama had a genuine scheduling conflict, but Biden's no-show was a sign of the Gridiron's declining prestige. The club needs to evolve, especially by televising the dinner on C-SPAN."—Robert McCartney, columnist, The Washington PostFor more information about reprints & permissions, visit our FAQ's. To report corrections and clarifications, contact Standards Editor Brent Jones. For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to letters@usatoday.com. Include name, phone number, city and state for verification. To view our corrections, go to corrections.usatoday.com.