(Photo: Peter Kramer/Getty Images)

Brown Out
Tina flees a postelection dinner debate.
The day John Kerry conceded, Tina Brown was as beleaguered as the rest of Manhattan’s opinionistas. Still, she went to a dinner at the Park Avenue home of private-equity investor and dinner-table antagonist Jeffrey Leeds. According to a fellow diner, Brown mused about “feeling that the person in the White House has no imagination.” When Leeds pressed her on whether her beef was about “sensibilities” or “policy,” she brought up Roe v. Wade. “Have you read it?” asked Leeds, who clerked for Justice Brennan. “If you’re going to be an educated person you should. It’s not that long.” Brown stalked out before the flourless chocolate cake was served. She denies leaving early, saying they’re “great friends.” Leeds agrees, but admits the conversation was “spirited.”
—Carl Swanson