Obama, Clinton cross paths on way to DC fundraisers

This probably won't appear in Craigslist's "Missed Connections:" You: Husky-voiced two-term Democratic president, famously sharp political instincts, married to my secretary of state. Me: History-making victory in 2008, but struggling now. You were going to headline a fundraiser, so was I. Re-election pointers sometime?

But on Friday, President Barack Obama and former President Bill Clinton crossed paths, each on the way to a different fundraiser at the tony Jefferson Hotel in downtown Washington.

The two "had the opportunity to say hello," according to a White House aide, who disclosed that tidbit to pool reporter Alexis Simendinger of RealClearPolitics.com on condition of anonymity. (Which is one of the ways that you know this happened inside the Beltway.)

Simendinger reported that she ran into Democratic Rep. John Lewis at the hotel and asked him whether he was going to see the president. "He said he was arriving at the hotel to see the president—President Clinton," who was hosting a fundraiser for the lawmaker from Georgia.

Obama's fundraiser, which was closed to the press, included 25 supporters who each paid $40,000 to attend, according to a campaign source, Simendinger reported.