D.C. People Watcher   

Sandra Sobieraj gives up the Associated Press' White House beat to head People magazine's Washington bureau.

Associated Press writer Sandra Sobieraj leaves the White House beat for People magazine. When she was covering Al Gore's 2000 presidential run, Sobieraj says, "Whenever Bon Jovi was on the campaign plane, Babyface, Cher, I was sort of gravitating that way. A lot of my copy ended up on People.com." The magazine even talked to her about becoming its political correspondent, though a hiring freeze squelched that idea. But when People's D.C. bureau chief, Sarah Skolnik, recently decided to quit to stay home with her twin toddlers, she called Sobieraj. "What they were looking for in me is the breaking news skills...so we can get more of Washington into the magazine," Sobieraj says. "There's a lot going on in Washington that isn't just the Ways and Means Committee, the tax debate or Medicare reform. There are interesting, offbeat things happening."