Tom DeLay isn’t alone. While the former House majority leader had a quick fall from grace on Dancing With the Stars—stress fractures in both feet caused him to drop out early—a lot of fancy footwork is going on in political circles (and not just in the health-care-bill negotiations).

President Obama, who danced onstage with Ellen DeGeneres to Beyoncé’s “Crazy in Love,” has a classically trained ballet dancer heading the White House staff: Rahm Emanuel studied dance throughout his Chicago childhood and was offered a scholarship with the Joffrey Ballet. We even hear that Emanuel worked with a private ballet instructor at a downtown DC studio in recent years.

In his years on Saturday Night Live, Minnesota senator Al Franken danced up a storm, including in a memorable sketch where he played Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger.

When Utah congressman Jason Chaffetz complained this fall after being singled out for additional screening at the Salt Lake City airport, he became the latest in a long line of politicians who’ve run into trouble at airports. Here’s a roundup of some of the most memorable confrontations.

Security

In 2000, cameras caught Congressman Patrick Kennedy of Rhode Island trying to shove a woman who was monitoring a metal detector when he was told his carryon bag was too large to fit through the x-ray machine.

In March, when gloved officials asked to search the bag of Oregon congressman Peter DeFazio, who had helped create the Transportation Security Administration, he allegedly mumbled a swear word.

Boarding Gate

Louisiana Senator David Vitter, of “DC madam” notoriety, threw a tantrum in March after he set off an alarm by opening a security door to a restricted area while rushing to catch a flight. When confronted by an employee, Vitter went into a “do you know who I am?” tirade before fleeing the scene.

Indiana congressman David McIntosh was charged with two counts of assault and battery in 1996 after trying to push his way past two USAir employees and onto a full plane. Both workers said McIntosh smelled of alcohol.

It’s been a historic year for women at the Supreme Court. Elena Kagan became the country’s first female solicitor general, and Sonia Sotomayor became the third woman to sit on the high court. But one place you won’t find more women is among Washington’s exclusive bar of Supreme Court advocates.

Latham & Watkins partner Maureen Mahoney, widely considered the queen of the DC appellate bar, is scaling back her practice and partially retiring. Renowned Supreme Court advocate Beth Brinkmann, previously chair of Morrison & Foerster’s appellate group, has left to be a deputy assistant attorney general in the Justice Department’s Civil Division. Among the cream of the crop of Washington’s Supreme Court lawyers, the last woman standing is Patricia Millett.

It’s been a year since the messiest law-firm breakup in recent history. Last November, Michael Hausfeld was, as he said at the time, “abruptly and unceremoniously” told—via a note left on his office chair—to leave his firm. The antitrust lawyer had been the top rainmaker at the DC plaintiffs firm Cohen, Milstein, Hausfeld & Toll (now Cohen, Milstein, Sellers & Toll) when his partners voted him out.

He didn’t go quietly. He started his own shop, Hausfeld LLP, taking about 20 other Cohen, Milstein lawyers with him, and hired Venable partner Stefan Tucker to look into a possible lawsuit.

In a town with some big egos, Hausfeld is known for having one of the biggest. In the words of one source who knows him, “People who have a reputation for being difficult to work with have that reputation for obvious reasons.”

DLA Piper didn’t have a hole in its roster of top Republican lobbyists for long. Weeks after former House majority leader Dick Armey resigned, DLA welcomed former Florida senator Mel Martinez to its ranks. Martinez, who left the Senate in August, started at the firm on October 1.

You wouldn’t think Armey would be a popular guy around DLA, where he caused some heartburn for his colleagues. Armey resigned after his role as chairman of the conservative group FreedomWorks—which helped organize protests against health-care reform at town-hall meetings—entangled the firm and its clients in a mess of bad publicity.

But apparently his word still carries weight. While Martinez was looking for his next landing place, he says, Armey served as “a good recommendation for me” at DLA.

More>> Capital Comment Blog | News & Politics | Party Photos 

When W. Mark Felt, the onetime number two at the FBI, unmasked himself as Deep Throat in May 2005, a few close observers weren’t surprised. They had suspected that Felt was Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein’s fabled Watergate source: In 1974, just two months after All the President’s Men disclosed Deep Throat’s existence, Washingtonian editor Jack Limpert fingered Felt as the likeliest Deep Throat.

What remains a Watergate mystery is how the Nixon White House learned in October 1972 that Felt was the Washington Post’s source. Decades later, it’s apparent that the White House had a secret source of its own inside the Post, a person who might be dubbed Richard Nixon’s Deep Throat.

Nixon realized early on that someone in the FBI was leaking to the Post. In a conversation captured on the President’s voice-activated tape recorder on October 19, 1972, four months after the break-in, White House chief of staff H.R. “Bob” Haldeman told Nixon that the culprit had been identified. “It’s pretty high up,” Haldeman said. “Mark Felt.” After a flash of anger, Nixon asked Haldeman how he’d found out.

Joy Zinoman After 35 years, the head of Studio Theatre is stepping down. How has Washington theater changed? What’s next?

John Lannan The only one of the Nationals’ 30 pitchers to last the entire season, he might have suggestions for a better season next year.

Stacie Turner According to insiders, the Georgetown real-estate agent is one of Bravo’s Real Housewives of DC cast members, so watch out for film crews.

David Ferriero The newly appointed US archivist, who headed the New York Public Library, comes here with a mission of transparency and openness.

Cate Blanchett The Australian actress will be here for a month of performances in A Streetcar Named Desire at the Kennedy Center.

Brian Nutting The longtime Congressional Quarterly editor was fired for asking impertinent questions about mass layoffs at the newly merged Roll Call–CQ.

This article first appeared in the November 2009 issue of The Washingtonian. For more articles from that issue, click here.