This Just In . . .

Washington Post/June 15, 2003

Leave no movie star behind: Church of Scientology cause celeb Tom Cruise slipped into town this week for private meetings with senior Bush administration officials at the Department of Education and the White House.

On Thursday, Education Secretary Rod Paige hosted a lunch for Cruise -- a conspicuous supporter of Bill Clinton before President Bush took office -- so the actor could gab with education officials in the secretary's dining room.

"He wanted to learn more about the president's 'no child left behind' program,' Education Undersecretary Eugene Hickok told us yesterday."

"He was impressed at how serious it is, and said that anything he could do to help he would do. He also talked about his own challenges as a child trying to learn to read."

Hickock added: "We're willing to talk to anyone interested in the issue. I don't think I'm star-struck."

But we hear that on Friday at the White House, where Cruise lobbied officials on Scientology-related issues, there were plenty of young female staffers standing around, hoping to bump into him in the corridors of power.