Julia Hurley, a Republican state representative in Tennessee, used to be a waitress at Hooters. Yes, Hooters! It was there, she writes in this month's Hooters Magazine, that she honed the skills necessary to be a successful politician.

Which is not so surprising, in the end, as corralling sad, red-faced drunks requires the same skillset in both wings joints and state legislatures. The AP, which wrote up Hurley's Hooters Magazine article, seems intrigued by the juxtaposition of boobs and politics:

A freshman Tennessee legislator credits her success in politics and business to the time she spent working at a restaurant chain known for buxom waitresses in tank tops and short shorts...

The article appears in the magazine's "Orange Pride Spotlight," which features "the success stories of Hooters Girls both past and present." Much of the rest of the magazine is devoted to full-page photos of women posing in bikinis and Hooters uniforms.

All in all, though, Hurley sounds like the definition of a "success story"—she gave birth to a daughter at 15, worked her way through college, and is now a freshman state representative at age 29. Who cares where she used to work, or if she credits it with her success? (Not her constituents. Yet.)

On the other hand, this sounds kind of gross:

A chance encounter with a former manager led to an offer to return to Hooters.

"I had gained quite a bit of weight by then, but he offered it to me anyway," she said. "He took me under his wing and within the year I had gotten back into physical shape and had become a trainer for that store."

[AP]