WWW – People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals used two Playboy playmates wearing fake lettuce bikinis to give out veggie hot dogs.

“They claim to be interested in the hot dogs, but we know why they’re really out here,” said former playmate Kari Kennell-Whitman (pictured, at left). “They go, ‘Oooh, is that real lettuce? Can we touch your lettuce?’ And we go, ‘No, thank you.'”

This is a food fight. The vegetarians from PETA were on Capitol Hill because they have a beef with the American Meat Institute, which hosted its own event.

“I occasionally eat veggie burgers just because they’re good for you,” former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich said. “But I also eat meat and fish, so i’m probably not totally approved of by PETA.”

Instead of Playboy bunnies, the meat folks had a few baseball greats on hand.

“It’s a great cause,” said former baseball manager Davey Johnson. “I’m not a vegetarian, I’m a big meat eater.”

But everyone seemed focused on those lettuce bikinis.

“On a day like this, I’d be afraid it would wilt,” Patrick Boyle, of the American Meat Institute, said of one of the suits.

But the playmates said the lettuce was not real. Real lettuce leaves would wilt in the hot weather, they said.

Both groups said they will be back again on Capitol Hill next year.