In my excitement to sing the praises of a beautiful woman who happened to be a progressive Republican, I skipped over the fact that Shandi Finnessey was crowned Miss USA, not Miss America. A woman, of course, corrected me. No matter; the right still has pageantry cornered:

Erika Harold may be a former Miss America but the 2003 title-holder has been busier than ever. Harold will be a law student at Harvard this fall. But before heading off to Cambridge from her home state of Illinois, she has a scheduled stop in New York where she'll be a delegate to the Republican National Convention.

She'll be there as President Bush formally accepts the party nomination. Some Republicans hope it will be the first of many campaign events for the former beauty queen.

"I would be very interested in considering the possibility of running for public office," Harold said.

See you on a ballot sometime soon, Erika.