Check in with Michelle Kwan

It looks like Michelle Kwan's career (side job?) as a diplomatic envoy is still in full force. According to The Washington Post, she was sent to Buenos Aires last week after a probable State Department snub of the country due to its increasing closeness to Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez.

State Department officials insist that Rice had only a few days for the trip and couldn't squeeze in Buenos Aires. Besides, it should be noted that the department dispatched Olympic figure-skating medalist Michelle Kwan down there right after Rice's non-snub "to begin her third tour as a State Department Public Diplomacy Envoy."

Kwan's trip, we're told, followed "highly successful envoy visits to China and Russia in 2007."

Okay, so ice skating may not exactly be Argentina's national pastime, but Kwan probably got a warmer greeting than Rice would have.