Washington ? If the nation’s capital is a long way from home for most members of Congress, it can feel even more distant for their spouses.

Vicki Tiahrt said she was a bit overwhelmed when she moved to Washington from tiny Goddard, Kan., in 1994, after her husband, Todd, was first elected to Congress. But she soon forged friendships with other transplants at the Congressional Club, an organization formed to foster closer ties among spouses of members of Congress, the President’s Cabinet and Supreme Court justices.

Now Tiahrt is serving a two-year term as president of the 97-year-old club, which preserves a bygone era of traditional Washington.

“Life is not always easy and political life, I think, is even more difficult,” Tiahrt said. “When members of this club walk through that door, they forget about politics and we are just here to support each other. We laugh and sometimes we cry together, and these friendships will endure.”

As president, Tiahrt helps coordinate receptions, charity events and a massive annual luncheon honoring the first lady. Whether she’s introducing a speaker, welcoming a new member or tending to financial details, Tiahrt can be found at the club’s headquarters almost every day.

With about 650 members, the club is one of the few places in Washington where Democrats and Republicans alike can escape partisan bickering.

“We leave the politics at the door — that’s in the bylaws,” said Jan English, a member since 1974 and wife of former Rep. Glenn English, D-Okla. “When the ladies built this club, they knew what they were doing. It’s just a place for friendships and camaraderie.”

Crossing party lines

The spouses also have helped each other weather political scandals, media frenzies and personal tragedies that often hit members of Congress. The Tiahrts have had to deal with one tragedy; they lost a teenage son last year.

Vicki Tiahrt is serving a two-year term as president of the 97-year-old Congressional Club, in Washington, D.C. Tiahrt said she was a bit overwhelmed when she moved to Washington from tiny Goddard, Kan., in 1994, after her husband, Todd, was first elected to Congress. But she soon forged friendships with other transplants at the Congressional Club, an organization formed to foster closer ties among spouses of members of Congress, the President's Cabinet and Supreme Court justices.

“Hard times come, and it’s really good to know that people that you work hard with are there for you,” Tiahrt said.

The strict rules of bipartisanship mean that every committee is always chaired by a Republican and Democratic spouse. The presidency alternates between parties and — unlike their spouses in Congress — they are limited to a single term.

Friendships that spouses make in the club also can help members of Congress develop relationships across party lines.

“It helps me in my job because Rep. Martin Sabo (D-Minn.) and I are pretty good friends because our wives became friends first,” Todd Tiahrt said. “I think that’s been very helpful in looking for help on legislation and just comity in general.”

Not that politics haven’t occasionally seeped in. In the club’s early years, members rallied with the suffragette movement to help women win the right to vote. Many also campaigned in favor of prohibition.

Today, the group shuns political causes and functions mostly as a service organization. Club members raise thousands each year for charities like Martha’s Table, which provides meals to needy families, and the House of Ruth, which supports abused women and their children.

The club is best known for its cookbook, which contains hundreds of recipes contributed by politicians, cabinet officials and their spouses. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, has a recipe for homemade ice cream. Cissy Marshall, widow of the late Justice Thurgood Marshall and one of the club’s oldest active members, has a recipe for Beef Wellington.

‘A little more casual’

The club’s headquarters sits on the edge of Washington’s fashionable DuPont Circle neighborhood, about a mile from the White House. Built in 1914, the two-story mansion has classically furnished rooms filled with memorabilia and antiques. A grand ballroom upstairs can seat 200.

One room contains a collection of miniature dresses that are replicas of ball gowns worn by every first lady, from Mary Todd Lincoln to Hillary Rodham Clinton. Another displays a collection of dolls from around the world donated by foreign embassies and dressed in native costumes.

While some of the decor may seem antiquated, English said the club had come a long way from times when society magazines called it a place for big hair and big egos.

“I remember in the older days it was just filled with ladies with their little hats,” English said. “It has gotten a little more casual.”

But the crowds are not as big as they used to be. Many spouses with full-time jobs don’t have time to join the club, and more members of Congress are deciding not to move their families to Washington, Vicki Tiahrt said.

With more women being elected to Congress, a number of men have joined the club. Paul Pelosi, whose wife, Nancy, is Democratic minority leader in the House, addressed spouses at this year’s orientation.

“Bob Dole and Bill Clinton could join, but they haven’t,” Tiahrt said, because the wives of the former Kansas senator and former president now serve in the Senate. “We would love to have them. Or at least have them come to talk about their books.”

One role reversal that has taken place is for some club members to win election to Congress, including Reps. Jo Ann Emerson, R-Mo., Mary Bono, R-Calif., and most recently, Doris Matsui, D-Calif. They are allowed to keep their membership in the club.