VEGAS, BABY!

Miss D.C.: I’m gonna win in Vegas!
(www.examiner.com/yan)

Tonight in Vegas (of course), 51 contestants will vie for the prestigious title of Miss USA. Local girl Chelsey Rodgers will represent our fair District and, like any beauty queen, she’s part bitter, part sweet.

“There are 51 wonderful girls here,” Rodgers told Yeas & Nays. “We’re all sisters. Everyone’s sweet, intelligent, talented and beautiful. I’m in good company.”

But bring it on, she says: “They’re going to be sad when I get it! … I can’t wait. I’m so excited.”

That is, if Rodgers can crawl across the finish line. She concedes that she — and every contestant — is only getting five to six hours of sleep a night thanks to marathon sessions of rehearsals, media spots, interviews and photo sessions. “There’s a lot of concealer under my eyes!”

She’s staying at the Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino on the Vegas Strip, and her roommate is Miss North Carolina (Andrea Duke). The two of them are collecting “buckets and buckets” of free swag from such fancy vendors as Chi, Nina and Farouk. “I’m going to need a suitcase just to take it back.”

Sadly, she hasn’t bumped into any celebrities while out in Vegas … except one: Robin Leach. “I’m not quite sure why he’s here.”


Despite the pressure, Rodgers denies being nervous. “I feel like I was really strong for the preliminary competition, which was this past Saturday.” But could she get nervous if the Howard University law student gets asked about the big business back home: politics?

“Surprisingly I haven’t gotten a lot of politics questions,” said Rodgers, who has decided whom she will vote for in the 2008 presidential election. “I’m not looking for how you move me with your speech. I need to hear how you’re going to accomplish it.”

As for tonight’s viewers of the pageant, many of them are looking for one thing —pretty girls — and Rodgers said they won’t be disappointed.

“It’s more of a fashion show than a beauty pageant,” Rodgers said. “So look out Victoria’s Secret, models!”