WASHINGTON — Gliding into the dining room of a House office building looking much like she did in the 1970s TV series "Charlie's Angels," actress Cheryl Ladd is surrounded by admirers.
It would normally be considered a familiar scene for the actress.
But these fans are different: They're members of Congress. And Ladd isn't just signing autographs, she's calling for measures to help end child abuse.
Welcome to lawmaking in a media-saturated culture, where advocacy meets Hollywood meets Capitol Hill.
More and more celebrities these days are using the Capitol dome or a congressional hearing room as a backdrop for touting their pet issues — a boon for advocacy groups that have learned star power prompts instant attention from lawmakers and reporters.
"To bring attention sometimes it takes celebrities, someone to get those cameras there," Ladd said after a recent luncheon that included Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott and House Speaker Dennis Hastert.
Adds supermodel/actress Lauren Hutton, recently in town to promote hormone replacement therapy for menopausal women, "Many places where we are, we probably wouldn't be on TV or get a lecture hall if it wasn't that you had someone that everyone had heard the name of before.
"It's what people know and feel comfortable with. It's almost like a brand name," Hutton said.
In recent weeks, lawmakers have heard from a host of celebrities, including singer Michael Bolton on extending the 1994 Violence Against Women Act, singer James Taylor on music education and Miss America, Heather French, on increasing federal funding to help homeless veterans.
Relying on a celebrity's aura to draw attention to an issue isn't new.
"Celebrity advocacy is as old as Gloria Swanson," said Robin Bronk, executive director of The Creative Coalition, a social and political advocacy group composed of entertainers. "What you are seeing now is it's expected of celebrities. Just as it's expected to have a manager and publicity, they also have an issue."
Swanson, who became a star in the 1920s and appeared in Cecil B. DeMille's movie "Don't Change Your Husband," had been married six times when she joined efforts in the 1960s to reduce taxes on single people. She told the House Ways and Means Committee she had been "single most of her life."
The result was a tax structure that both Democrats and Republicans are now clamoring to overturn by eliminating the so-called "marriage penalty."
Celebrities today enjoy that same power, a fact readily conceded by lawmakers.
"People don't listen to Congress. But they're going to listen to Miss America," Rep. Julia Carson, D-Ind., said after French got a standing ovation for her testimony before a House subcommittee.
"This comes out of the woodwork as a gift from God that we have somebody this high level that can have access to so many public events to bring this issue into everybody's mind and to create an awareness," said Linda Boone, executive director of the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans.
After "Today" show host Katie Couric launched a campaign earlier this year to increase colon cancer awareness, including an appearance before Congress, scores of people headed to their doctors for colon cancer checkups.
Working with Couric is the Entertainment Industry Foundation, a clearinghouse for philanthropic efforts founded in 1942 by movie mogul Samuel Goldwyn with leaders such as Humphrey Bogart and Joan Crawford.
"We live in a society that is celebrity obsessed," said Bronk of the Creative Coalition. "What we try to do is say, 'Given that celebrities are counted upon to be opinion leaders these days, how can we best use our voice effectively?' It draws the media, and if it draws the media, it draws the public."