KissMyGrits
07-22-2006, 10:40 PM
Idol finalists headed to White House
President Bush is about to come face-to-face with the one man who has his voting record beat.
Bush plans to host American Idol Taylor Hicks and the other Top 10 finalists next Friday in the Oval Office. It will be the first time contestants from the hit TV show have been invited to meet the president.
Hicks won the most recent season's contest May 24 after 63 million votes were cast for him in the season finale. That's more than the 59 million that Bush got in 2004, a record in any U.S. presidential election. Although, to be fair, voters can cast more than one ballot on American Idol.
The White House announced the Idols' upcoming visit Friday as Bush traveled to Englewood, Colo., for a Republican fundraiser.
The meeting is scheduled for Friday, when the performers are due to be in Washington for their American Idols Live show at the Verizon Center. Hicks has a personal connection inside the White House: Susan Whitson, first lady Laura Bush's press secretary, taught him ninth-grade English in Birmingham, Ala.
The finalists will get a tour of the White House before their audience with the president. It was unclear if runner-up Katharine McPhee would be among the group because she missed recent tour stops due to bronchitis and laryngitis.
President Bush is about to come face-to-face with the one man who has his voting record beat.
Bush plans to host American Idol Taylor Hicks and the other Top 10 finalists next Friday in the Oval Office. It will be the first time contestants from the hit TV show have been invited to meet the president.
Hicks won the most recent season's contest May 24 after 63 million votes were cast for him in the season finale. That's more than the 59 million that Bush got in 2004, a record in any U.S. presidential election. Although, to be fair, voters can cast more than one ballot on American Idol.
The White House announced the Idols' upcoming visit Friday as Bush traveled to Englewood, Colo., for a Republican fundraiser.
The meeting is scheduled for Friday, when the performers are due to be in Washington for their American Idols Live show at the Verizon Center. Hicks has a personal connection inside the White House: Susan Whitson, first lady Laura Bush's press secretary, taught him ninth-grade English in Birmingham, Ala.
The finalists will get a tour of the White House before their audience with the president. It was unclear if runner-up Katharine McPhee would be among the group because she missed recent tour stops due to bronchitis and laryngitis.