This Thing Is Still Wide Open

The rapidly emerging conventional wisdom after tonight's victories in New Hampshire for Hillary Clinton and John McCain runs as follows: • Both races are still up for grabs, although the Democrats have probably narrowed to a Barack-Hillary face-off. • We'll all be sick of hearing about The Cry very soon. • Unless McCain runs the table through Florida, even Rudy still has a shot, because Republican momentum is so divided. On the big question of the night — why were the polls showing Obama with a double-digit lead so wrong, and how did Hillary come back? — there are many answers. Because the media underplayed the margin of error, says Talking Points Memo. Because Democrats like a fighter, says Slate. Because people like to look racially progressive when they talk to pollsters but turn conservative in the voting booth (a.k.a. the "Bradley Effect") says the National Review and many others (Franklin Foer has a less depressing variation on this theme, too.) Because New Hampshire voters didn't want to copy Iowa again, says the New Republic. Because of voter backlash against the media's Obama hype, says Andrew Sullivan. One thing is for sure: The year ahead is going to be pretty interesting.

Posted 01/08/08 in Daily Intel : Early and Often

Tags: andrew sullivan, barack obama, early and often, hillary clinton, new hampshire primaries, presidential race

‘The Atlantic’ Brings the Media Party to Its Gruesome, Inevitable Conclusion

After 150 years of really great ideas, The Atlantic has come up with one that makes us uncomfortable. To celebrate their anniversary milestone, reports WWD, they're going to throw a big party with stars you'd expect, like Tom Wolfe, Arianna Huffington, and Moby (er…), but they're going to put the whole thing onstage. The audience will be whoever wants to stop by and watch journalists and luminaries get together and schmooze. "It's the cocktail party as performance art," said Atlantic Media consumer media president Justin Smith. First of all, didn’t Gawker already have this idea when they had a live feed from their book party? At least at their version, people were doing drugs and trying to hook up. And second, can The Atlantic possibly believe that people, even readers, would want to watch journalists frolicking in their natural habitat*? This is not a good sign. If you've ever wondered whether Andrew Sullivan or Matthew Yglesias is better over canapés, you are truly, truly demented. Or, you know, a blogger. Are we really at the point that people are throwing parties solely to pander to us? Somehow we imagined this would feel more satisfying. *Open bars on someone else's dime, naturally. Life of the Party [WWD]

Posted 10/29/07 in Daily Intel : Ink-Stained Wretches

Tags: andrew sullivan, arianna huffington, atlantic monthly, bloggers, blogging, gawker, ink-stained wretches, matthew yglesias, moby, tom wolfe

Alex Kuczynski Has a Smart Brother

A drunk Justin Long spilled soup on himself twice at Veselka, and then fell for the old beer as "stain remover" trick. The Observer tried to hire event planner Elli Frank to help throw some upcoming parties, despite the fact that the paper referred to her as a "madam" three years ago. James Frey sold a book (this time a novel) to HarperCollins. John-Michael Kuczynski, brother of plastic surgery maven Alex Kuczynski, wrote a book titled "Conceptual Atomism and the Computional Theory of Mind." Retired Giant Tiki Barber attended a book party celebrating the memoir "I Dream of Blue," where coach Tom Coughlin was the butt of some playful ribbing. Knopf editor and Gabriel Garcia Marquez champion Ashbel Green is retiring at the age of 80.

Posted 09/13/07 in Daily Intel : Gossipmonger

Tags: alex kuczynski, andrew sullivan, britney spears, carmen electra, eve, gabriel garcia marquez, gossipmonger, justin long, naomi campbell, peggy noonan, tiki barber