CHARLOTTE, N.C. Slimmin’ down Dems

Taken a close gander at DNC big wheels lately? At least a couple are … not so big. His Mayorality Anthony Foxx, left, told the CarolinaFest crowd Monday that, inspired by Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” initiative, he’s lost 25 pounds. Meanwhile, convention honcho Steve Kerrigan, right, also is sporting a trimmer silhouette, as you can see.

Which leads us to assume both will eschew the latest release from hometown chain Bojangles’: the return – this week! – of its made-from-scratch smoked sausage biscuit for just 99 cents! Timing completely coincidental?

(We suspect “The Daily Show’s” Jon Stewart will also abstain: Asked Monday if he had any CLT-specific material yet, he told book editor Pam Kelley: “We’re trying to figure out why, no matter what you’re eating, they put it on a biscuit.”

White-hot

More than 30,000 people are clamoring – via Facebook and Change.org – for a DNC answer to Clint Eastwood: Betty White. She hosted “Saturday Night Live” after a similar push in 2010, saying: “When I first heard about the campaign to get me to host ... I didn’t know what Facebook was. And, now that I do ..., I have to say ... it sounds like a HUGE waste of time.”

... with the dogs on biscuits

In big party news, we veer screechingly to the sedate: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and other Dem√ senators plan to lunch with Duke Energy CEO Jim Rogers Wednesday at Rogers’ Eastover home. We’re picturing an energy-conserving hot-dog cookout, yes?

Amen!

Not everything Obama will disappear when the DNC packs up: A billboard-sized Shepard Fairey mural/collage – including the now-iconic “HOPE” portrait – stays at the Mint forever, a gift from D.C. power lobbyists Heather and Tony Podesta. (Heather, you may recall, called the QC “grim” to Reuters.) Monday, she and Tony hosted an “extravagant” brunch at Halcyon, wrote the New York Times, noting both were wearing Prada shoes. Said Tony: “The Pope wears Prada. And so do I.”

Buttons of the day

We’re getting down into the smaller interest groups now …See the buttons in the slide show.