Keith Olbermann Takes His News Corp. War to the People“Page Six” claims that the MSNBC host won’t work with “citizen journalists” from MySpace because the Website is owned by News Corp. Plus everything else that’s in today’s gossip columns!
intel
Rielle Hunter’s Cabal of Crazy: A RosterTo sum up: Everyone involved in this whole Edwards-affair mess is probably crazy, almost certainly lying, and definitely should keep his or her mouth shut. Here are the bit players you need to know.
The Obamas All Over the Glossy Newsstand, Once AgainMichelle and Barack appear on the covers of ‘Ebony’ and ‘Essence.’ But Meghan McCain has an interview in ‘Glamour’! Plus the latest on Barbara Corcoran, John Thain, and the other captains of industry.
gossipmonger
A-Rod Indulges in Retail TherapyBecause we don’t count Kabbalah as actual therapy. Plus, gossip on Brad Pitt, Heath Ledger, John Edwards, and Billy Joel in our daily column roundup.
Obama’s Potential Running Mates: A Who’s WhoObama is as starkly unusual a presidential contender as the country has ever seen, which means he can choose either to amplify or offset any of the characteristics that define his own candidacy.
Elizabeth Edwards Responds to John HeilemannIn an MSNBC interview, the former candidate’s wife claims she likes Hillary’s health-care plan and finds Obama to be “charming,” but still won’t make an endorsement of either.
company town
Lawyers Advocate an Oscar for ‘Michael Clayton’ — That George Clooney Makes Them Look So Good!LEGAL
• Lawyers everywhere are crossing their fingers for a Michael Clayton Oscar win. “In 80 years, only 10 legal movies or actors playing members of the legal community have taken home gold,” a columnist sighs. Awwwwww. Wait a second. We didn’t do the math, but isn’t that more than like, every other profession? How many people playing bloggers have won Oscars, for instance? Slickster lawyers. Always trying to trick us with their fancy talk. [Law.com]
• Could John Edwards be our next attorney general? [The American]
• The Sean Bell “50-shot” case is set to go to trial on Monday. [NYT]
it just happened
Breaking: John Edwards to Drop Out of RaceToday’s a big day for third-place candidates, it seems. After news spread last night that Giuliani will drop out of the Republican primary race as early as today, news hit this morning that John Edwards is planning the same thing. According to the Associated Press, the former Democratic senator will make the announcement today at 1 p.m. in New Orleans. No endorsement is yet planned.
Edwards to Quit Presidential Race [AP]
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At Last: Introducing John Edwards, the Minority CandidateRemember when we were surprised that, after “The Cry,” Hillary Clinton suddenly was turned into a minority candidate? She is a woman, after all, but until recently both she and Obama had done a good job of sidelining their gender and race. Well, now we’re really surprised. John Edwards is now claiming to be a accepting the title of “minority candidate,” because he is the only white male running in the Democratic primaries. The above clip (click to view) is from an episode of The Tyra Banks Show to be aired on Friday. In it, you’ll see the following exchange:
Tyra: What does that feel like to be a minority and to be a white male?
Edwards: It feels like you have to fight hard for everything you get.
Tyra: [Offering up a high five] Give it to me because I’m a black woman.
Next thing you know, the Republican candidates will be claiming to be minorities. And then we’ll know the apocalypse is nigh.
Edwards Talks to Tyra Banks [Time]
Related: Hillary Clinton: Minority Candidate
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Which Candidates Should Worry About the Actors Who Endorsed Them? A Graphical GuideAs the primary season approaches its climax, each voter is faced with a choice: Is it better to back a candidate based upon the opportunistic ramblings of cable-news talking heads or the endorsement of the voter’s favorite actor? Folks who filter their beliefs through those of a television or movie personality risk surrendering their stake in actual issues. Then again, they’re secure in the knowledge that they’re for the same guy as the Fresh Prince. Who are these actors, and how might they help — or potentially destroy — the campaigns that are so carefully conducted by their buddies? Glad you asked! —Dan Amira
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Everybody Loves a Good Bad DebateIf you decided to watch the Democratic presidential debate last night instead of American Gladiators, you made the right choice. The brutal (and hilarious) squabbling between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama was just as entertaining, if not more, as watching an overmuscled guy in spandex use a pillow stick to beat the living hell out of a civilian. “Senator Obama, it’s hard to have a straight-up debate with you because you never take responsibility for any vote,” snapped Hillary at one point, to boos. Obama, referencing the attacks on him by former president Bill Clinton, shot back, “I can’t tell who I’m running against at times!” Snap! But unlike on Gladiators, there was no clear winner in the debates. Below, a roundup of speculation and analysis on who came out on top and who couldn’t get past the “The Eliminator”:
• Everyone lost a little bit by reducing themselves to familylike squabbling. “Any good psychologist would recognize the three classic defense mechanisms on display,” explains Richard Wolffe. “Denial, repression and suppression.” [Newsweek]
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In 2008 Primary Race, Delegates Take the LeadAs we move out of last night’s Republican primary in New Hampshire, and the fatigued Democratic debate, one thing has become clear: We don’t know what’s going to happen. Pollsters and pundits alike don’t understand the dynamics of the race and can’t seem to predict how the leads in either race will shift as we continue from state to state. But something interesting (or dreadful, depending on how you view it) is emerging. This year’s contest, it seems, is soon going to become all about the delegates.
Sure, every national election is “all about the delegates,” technically. But as we enter the South Carolina primary, we’re hearing more and more about the importance of delegate-oriented campaign planning and how because of the complicated system that many voters don’t understand, strategies might dramatically shift in the coming weeks.
• “I’m not sure it’s about the bump [after Michigan],” Romney told reporters this morning. “It’s about putting together delegates.” Romney, despite having Michigan as his first win, is leading with 42 delegates amassed so far. [Detroit Free Press, AP]
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Today in the Presidential Race: Race!Just as Hillary last week renewed the debate over whether her gender was a factor in the Democratic primary, this weekend she raised the same question over Barack Obama’s race. Her aggressive appearance on Meet the Press largely focused on remarks she had previously made about Barack Obama in comparison to Martin Luther King Jr. She tried to back up her idea (basically, that MLK is not like Obama because MLK worked for decades, and needed the help of elected officials, to get his goals achieved) and also accused the Obama camp of implying that there was a racial controversy buried in her words. Her tortuous explanation (much too convoluted to get into in a blog post), and the resulting interpretations, are still raising hackles this morning.
• Black Entertainment Television founder Robert L. Johnson, speaking yesterday, sparked a firestorm of debate after saying: “An African-American, I am frankly insulted that the Obama campaign would imply that we are so stupid that we would think Hillary and Bill Clinton, who have been deeply and emotionally involved in black issues since Barack Obama was doing something in the neighborhood — and I won’t say what he was doing, but he said it in the book — when they have been involved.” The Obama campaign reacted angrily, finding a reference to Obama’s admitted childhood drug use in Johnson’s words, an inference Johnson disputes. [The Caucus/NYT]
it just happened
John Kerry Endorses Barack ObamaRight about now, John Kerry is stepping up on a stage in Charleston, South Carolina, to announce that he’s endorsing Barack Obama for president. This sort of makes sense, as Kerry was the guy who picked Obama to deliver the keynote speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, which rocketed the young politician onto the national stage. Except, wait, it doesn’t make sense, because Kerry was also the person who chose John Edwards as a running mate that same year. Man, Edwards just can’t win these days, huh? Oh, wait…
2004 Dem Nominee Kerry Endorsing Obama [AP]
Mediavore
Keith McNally Sued; Huckabee Serves Clam Chowder in New HampshireAccording to a new class-action suit being brought against Keith McNally, servers at Pastis and Balthazar were forced to foot the bill for customers who walked out on their checks, in addition to being denied minimum wage. [NYP]
Frank Bruni, like many other critics, believes a restaurant’s chicken dishes speak volumes about its overall quality. [Diner’s Journal/NYT]
E-mails sent by Starbucks Corp. managers reveal their efforts to prevent unionizing among their employees, although labor experts say the activity is not illegal. [WSJ]
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As Voting Winds Down, Who Is Still Wound Up?While the press has been running ragged up in New Hampshire, we set journalist Peter Keating to work watching the candidates to see which ones were putting in the most effort. Contrary to what the 24-hour news cycle would have you believe, some of them sleep. Some of them skip events. And some of them, well, aren’t really trying. Later tonight, we’ll bring you the results of all the hard work. For now, Keating’s report from the campaign trail begins in a predictable place:
“Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s Visit Here Today At 4:30pm Has Been Cancelled,” reads a sign hanging in the window at John’s Barber Shop, an old-school establishment nestled among the charming shops on Daniel Street in Portsmouth, N.H. Of course it’s been canceled. Rudy had better things to do this afternoon than to keep grubbing for votes in a state where he’s been vying to keep pace with Duncan Hunter in the polls.
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The Candidates’ Last Words: New Hampshire Not As Cold As IowaWe woke up this morning and turned on the TV to find uncle-cute Matt Lauer interviewing dad-cute John Edwards on the Today show. It was a short interview, but long enough for Edwards to get across his main point: “Senators Obama and Clinton have over $100 million in their campaign chests,” he told Matt. “I am the underdog in this race, just like the middle class in America.” Bam! It was time, we realized, for every candidate to give his or her last word to New Hampshire voters (and no, the 11.5 voters in Dixville Notch, New Hampshire, who “elected” Obama and McCain last night are not the final word). So what did they go with this time?
Mitt Romney: The former Massachusetts governor began stumping around the state in front of a huge sign that said “WASHINGTON IS BROKEN.” It’s apparently his new motto (“Fix” is the new “Change!”). He also created a giant list of fifteen presidential to-dos that were supplied by New Hampshire residents he spoke to. He’s literally asking voters to write his platform, people. The list included things like “Make America Safer,” “End Illegal Immigration,” “Cut the Pork,” and “Strengthen Our Families.” Nos. 14 and 15 on the list were empty because nobody told him what to put there. So populist, so budget. [National Review]
it happened this week
Blown AwayAs the first arctic blast of January weather whipped through town last week, the city was chilled by news that Iowans had frozen out New York’s candidates for the White House. Hillary Clinton’s last-minute plea on the first post-hibernation Letterman show —starring Dave’s new reindeer-wrangler beard—failed to help her, and she finished behind Barack Obama and John Edwards. Rudy Giuliani finished sixth behind Mike Huckabee but had left Iowa five days before the caucus anyway. Dark horse Michael Bloomberg denied that there was any significance in his attendance at a caucus of potential third-party candidates, though he took pokes at the front-runners’ lack of ideas. Fourth-place finisher Fred Thompson, who’s probably wishing he’d never quit as New York’s fictional D.A., lost his old Law & Order job to Sam Waterston.
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The Final Bid: What the Candidates Had to Say Before Iowa Finally Stopped ListeningToday, Iowa is all about the last word. Encouraged by a recent favorable opinion poll in the state, McCain returned for a brief trip, along with Senators Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Sam Brownback of Kansas. All three were harping on McCain’s foreign-policy experience. “Call me old-fashioned, but I think foreign-policy experience matters,” Graham said. “And if it does matter, then the choice is easy.” “I know Pakistan, I know Israel,” explained McCain at a different event. “I know these countries, I know their leaders.” [NYO]
Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton sent out talking points to surrogate speakers drumming up support across the state. They include bullet items like “Change isn’t something you just demand, or hope for, it is something you work for, and [Hillary] has been working for it all her life,” and “Hillary has stood up to the Republicans and beat them twice in landslides.” [Time]
ink-stained wretches
Low Temperatures, High Drama: Inside the Iowa Press Corps
As you know, everyone who’s anyone in politics is in Iowa right now. But so is everyone who’s no one! That’s right, we’re talking about the press, the unwashed mass following the candidates around, scribbling and taping and snap-snapping as Hillary, Obama, McCain et al spout platitudes, stuff themselves full of local cuisine and generally attempt to maintain a grip on the love handles of the elusive midwestern vote. That’s who we want to know about. We’ve had enough of Billary and FreJeri Thompson and KuciniHottie. What about the writers, anchors and bloggers who make them who they are?? (Or at least tell us who they want them to be?) For those of you with a lurid curiosity about these sick characters, we did some digging into what the Iowa press corps is up to. And not just the Dana Milbanks and the Adam Nagourneys. (Spotted! The NYT staff having dinner at Lucca, the Italian place in Des Moines’ “East Village” that Ad Nags raved about in the travel section a few weeks ago.) We mean everyone. Take Jodi Kantor from the Times, for example.
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John Edwards Attacks the Wealthy in Their Place of Worship“Morning, Brock! I see you were reading the Wall Street Journal in your Town Car on the way to work!”
“Hullo, Trip! Indeed I was. Can you push the elevator button for the executive suite? Thanks. You know, I happened to notice that there was an op-ed by Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards in there.”
“Really. I haven’t been much paying attention to those liberals out in Iowa. Can you imagine spending the New Year in Des Moines?”
“There aren’t even mountains there. Where do people ski? And more important, where do they après ski? The Wal-Mart parking lot? Ha-ha! Oh, dear, you’re stepping on my Bally briefcase with your Ferragamo loafer, it seems.”
“Sorry, my boy. Anyway, what does that old Edwards boy have to say? He does have good dental work and trustworthy hair. Maybe he’s finally appealing to us, his own income class?”
“Let’s take a look, shall we? Hm ‘the bargain of America’ ‘skyrocketing education and health care costs’ ‘foreclosure crisis’ wait a minute! Listen to this: ‘The problem is forty percent of all economic growth over the past 20 years has gone to the top 1% of families.’ That’s the problem? Egad. Someone page Mindy. I need a Mylanta!”
gossipmonger
Donna Karan Accepts CougarhoodFifty-five-year-old Donna Karan’s boy toy is 30-year-old model J.J. Biasucci. Ethan Hawke allegedly started dating “secret” girlfriend (his former nanny!) Ryan Shawhughes before he was divorced from Uma Thurman. Steve Martin played the banjo and read funny poems at the Cutting Room. Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin shared a happy dinner at BLT Fish. Eighty-eight-year-old Manhattan district attorney Robert Morgenthau may step down from his post, which would allow Governor Spitzer to appoint Cyrus Vance Jr. Michael Kors served mini-cheeseburgers at his store opening in Soho. Madonna kicked 25 yoga students out of a studio at the Reebok Sports Club on Columbus so she could practice by herself. Howard Stern is annoyed at Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner for bringing paparazzi to his Upper West Side block.
Lindsay Lohan Gives ‘Page Six’ the Chance to Use a ‘Retail Therapy’ Pun
Lindsay Lohan spent her Thanksgiving shopping in therapy and shopping in New York with her mom and sister, while her boyfriend spent it partying. David Wright bought jewelry for his mom for Christmas. Tory Burch has been dating both Paramount head Brad Grey and Katie Couric’s ex, Tom Werner. Whoopi Goldberg, who supports Bill Richardson for president, slammed John Edwards and Michelle Obama for canceling appearances on The View. Hayne Suthon, the owner of Lucky Cheng’s, has finally made peace with ex-husband Robert Jason. Jerry Seinfeld is planning to stick to stand-up, not movies. Alec Baldwin bought the cast of 30 Rock mozzarella sticks after their show at the Upright Citizens Brigade.
gossipmonger
Calvin Klein and Donna Karan’s Bentley Accident: Hilarious!Donna Karan rear-ended Calvin Klein’s Bentley while in her own Bentley. And get this, she was actually driving herself! Don Imus will have a co-host for the first time in his career when he returns to the air on December 3. Bryant Park charges the crew of Sex and the City $100,000 for each day they film there. (Also, the film’s ending is supposedly not yet written.) NBC Universal Jeffrey Zucker bought Kitty Carlisle Hart’s East 64th Street co-op for $12.3 million, “Page Six” reports, making us happy to see that they’re catching up on two-month-old Daily Intel posts. More Secret Service guards have been hanging out on Barbara Bush’s West Village block, perhaps because Janeane Garofalo gabbed on Bill Maher’s show that she’s Bush’s neighbor. Downtown promoter Ivy Supersonic spent a night in jail after being accused of stealing $7,000 by the owner of the Plumm. ‘Mocialite Kristian Laliberte hosted a party with BlackBook magazine for Carlos Campos at Upstairs in Soho.
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Clinton Wants, Gets It AllOkay, okay, okay. So Hillary Clinton staged a comeback by opening up a can of whoop-ass at last night’s Democratic presidential debate. She is “a champ,” she “scored a win,” and she “hit the jackpot” (the debate was in Vegas, see?). But after the last debate, a lot of the next-morning press coverage missed out on important events from the end of the debate because of reporting deadlines. So we went through the last few minutes of the New York Times genius transcript feature to see if our colleagues in print missed anything. Which, to our minds, they did. Right at the close came a question from Maria, a UNLV student:
Maria: [To Clinton] Do you prefer diamonds or pearls?
Clinton: Now I know I’m sometimes accused of not being able to make a choice. I want both.
Moderator: Now do I get to ask any of the other candidates or, I suppose, just Senator Clinton?
Maria: It’s the only shiny thing up there.
There ended the debate. If that isn’t a metaphor, we don’t know what the hell is.
Clinton’s in Thick of Barbed Democratic Debate [NYT]
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Tonight’s Dem Debate: Swift Boats Ahoy!Tonight, the Democratic “hopefuls” (by which we mean one probable, two unlikelies, and four delusionals) are gathering for an 8 p.m. debate in Las Vegas. CNN isn’t even bothering with the respective Dem-candidate poll numbers in Nevada — they’re too busy matching Hillary up to Rudy (dead heat) and Romney (easy Clinton win). Which is funny, because the narrative of this debate seems to be more along the lines of “Can Hillary regain her momentum?”
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Hooo-ey! Cotton Eyed Bill Attacks Language, AgainHas Bill Clinton accidentally drawn the national attention to the fact that his wife is, gasp, a woman? This is what the former president and possible First Laddie said yesterday about the Democratic candidates’ recent televised gang-up on Hillary: “Those boys have been getting tough on her lately.” They sure were, just as sure as they are all, in fact, boys and she is, in fact, a she. No controversy here, right? Wrong. “Mr. Clinton’s use of the word ‘boys,’” writes the Times, “caught the attention of the Republican National Committee Barack Obama and John Edwards.” All three camps are now accusing the Clintons of trying to graft a war-of-the-sexes story line onto the argument.
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Hillary’s Rivals Turn on Her But Find Themselves Barking at Her Heels (Okay, Flats)
Much ado was made this morning over the way the other candidates turned against Hillary Clinton during last night’s Democratic presidential debates. Obama and Edwards went after her so aggressively (especially regarding her refusal to clarify whether she supports Eliot Spitzer’s licenses-for-illegal-immigrants plan) that Bill Richardson even said, “I’m hearing this holier-than-thou attitude toward Senator Clinton. It’s bothering me because it’s pretty close to personal attacks that we don’t need.” The question is, is this kind of response to Clinton’s wide lead in the polls coming too late to do any good for her rivals? Having Obama and Edwards focus on her made her the star of the debate, even if she made some missteps. Just look at the Times ingenious “Transcript Analyzer” to see who managed to speak the most during the debate: Hillary got out 25 percent more words than anyone else and managed to insert herself most frequently. And just as her opponents started making her their main focus, she’s shifting into general-election mode. Refusal to give a solid answer on a divisive issue like licenses for illegal immigrants is a move clearly designed to avoid offending both Republicans and Democrats. If Hillary continues to behave as though she’s already won the primary, it’s sure to make Obama and Edwards go even more ballistic. Which has us so excited, because nothing is more entertaining than watching a pretty boy stomp his feet.
A Pitched Debate: Clinton Hears It From Her Rivals [NYT]
intel
In Which We Predict Hill Will Take a Bayh in ‘08
Today Cindy Adams predicts that Wesley Clark is in line to be Hillary Clinton’s running mate. He recently endorsed her, and Adams points out that four years ago, the two of them were the big Democratic stars. Interesting! Or, at least it would be, if Cindy Adams were at all a political expert. She’s not, and neither are we. But since America is probably going to have to deal with the whole running-mate issue earlier than ever this year, we thought we’d pile on with our prediction of whom she’ll anoint. After all, if Hill really wants to cement her position as the de facto Democratic nominee, why not go all the way? Barring any of the other candidates, we think she’s going to pick Indiana Senator Evan Bayh. Why? If you’ve even bothered reading this far down, you might as well click through to the jump to read our crackpot logic.
intel
John Edwards’s Docudrama: The Anatomy of Innuendo (Updated)
One of the wonderful things about the Internet is that rumors and scandal take on a life of their own. No one even needs to report anything! Once a story is out there, it’s fair game for everyone else to repeat it, often under the guise of media analysis. The story starts at the bottom of the food chain of credibility. Bloggers and tabloid outlets egg each other incrementally on, until eventually more serious outlets pick it up.
We may be about to leave the early stages of such a cycle with the growing scrutiny into the professional relationship between John Edwards and a woman named Rielle Hunter, a.k.a. Lisa Druck, who produced films for his One America prepresidential campaign. Ann Coulter is even involved! The following timeline details the anatomy of an innuendo, including a few steps into the perhaps inevitable future.
white men with money
740 Park: Ladies Love Chris DoddHuffington Post’s FundRace 2008 feature, which lets you track individual campaign contributions by name or address, continues to be a reliable source of stalkerish joy. Today we decided to check up on how 740 Park Avenue, with its plentiful dollar, votes. What we found might shock you.
in other news
Hillary’s Health 2.0: Expect Big, Expensive ThingsWhen any other Democratic candidate announces a health-care reform plan, it’s a thoroughly wonkish moment in the campaign. When Hillary announces hers, as she will today, it’s high drama: See, she’s tackled the subject once before, as First Lady, and destroyed the congressional Democratic majority in the process. The plan Clinton is set to propose this time centers on the “individual mandate,” which sounds totally empowering but is actually a Clintonian way of saying health insurance will be a requirement akin to auto insurance. Instead of tearing down the existing system, the plan expands it in every direction. The companies now offering health care to their employees will be able to simply continue to do so; those that don’t will have to either start or chip in toward a federal health-care kitty. The remaining uninsured get a tax credit to buy coverage, and the criticism you’ll hear from every Republican for the next thirteen months (oh, God) is that this two-step transaction is somehow limiting and invasive.
gossipmonger
Roddick Calls Federer a ‘Robot’Nicole Kidman may be playing Vanity Fair–style arbiter Amy Fine Collins in the film adaptation of her memoir. Rupert Murdoch may be trying to lure CNBC “Money Honey” Maria Bartiromo to his new Fox Business Channel, though the Post isn’t making matters easy by writing negative items about her. The Suffolk County D.A. has seized over 45,000 pages of legal papers in its investigation of the Fire Island double voting scandal. Mischa Barton may or may not have had a wardrobe malfunction at a Save the Children event at Lincoln Center. Andy Roddick referred to Roger Federer as a “robot.” Authors of a book about Doris Duke are claiming that Bob Balaban, director of an upcoming movie about the tobacco heiress, may have committed copyright infringement. Rudy Giuliani played golf — though presumably not well — sans Secret Service at the Noyac Golf Club in Sag Harbor.
in other news
Edwards Saddled With Toussaint EndorsementYesterday, John Edwards “won” the support of the New York Chapter of the Transit Workers Union. He even showed up in the city to rejoice with Roger Toussaint, who represents up to 34,000 union votes in the region. We can’t help but think, though, that this public display of affection might not have been the best idea. In a city where Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton already have an edge — why affiliate yourself with a shyster who is most famous for inconveniencing millions of New Yorkers for no legitimate reason with the illegal transit strike in 2005? Hillary’s lucky she dodged this bullet. Edwards probably assumed that New Yorkers who feel good about unions outnumber those who are still irritated about the strike, forgetting, of course, that we city people are like elephants. We have long memories, and we think it’s a real bitch to walk from the Upper East Side to Wall Street.
Transit Union’s N.Y. Local Endorses Edwards [NYS]
gossipmonger
Sarah Silverman to Explore the Joys of BlackfaceSome people allege that Kelly Klein, 50, is too old to have a baby via a surrogate mom, and must have gotten an egg from a donor. A crazy Italian lady made a lunge for Brad Pitt at the Venice Film Festival, and “Page Six” has the video! (Also, Pitt’s two-hour-and-40-minute Assassination of Jesse James is too long.) Sarah Silverman goes blackface in the next season of her show. John Edwards and Russell Simmons did yoga together. Mariah Carey’s ex-manager claims that she owes him money. David LaChappelle hates Madonna, Gwen Stefani, and Christina Aguilera, and won’t work with them. Heather Graham sings and plays guitar in her upcoming movie.
gossipmonger
Divorces, Horses, and So OnPaula Zahn’s friends say she wanted to stay in the Fifth Avenue apartment she shares with soon-to-be ex-husband Richard Cohen for the sake of their kids, but he made it too difficult. Lou Dobbs’s daughter Hillary won the Open Jumper Class (and $7,500) at the Hampton Classic Horse Show. (Soon-to-be-mom Kelly Klein also rode there.) Heather Mills has racked up a number of parking tickets in her Bentley convertible in East Hampton. NYU’s school newspaper went out of its way to point out that people use the campus library to commit suicide and hook up on Craigslist. Larry David doesn’t like fund-raisers on yachts in Martha’s Vineyard. Courtney Love is blaming ex-boyfriend Steve Coogan for Owen Wilson’s attempted suicide, and now Coogan is worried about his career prospects. The New York Times has a clear anti-Yankees bias, “Page Six” says.
intel
Fun With Fundrace: Park Slope for Obama, ‘Burg for Hillary, Batali for John Edwards, and More
We told you yesterday about Fundrace 2008, the fun new feature on the Huffington Post that lets you track people’s political contributions by name or by neighborhood. What we didn’t expect was that the thing would prove terribly addictive. Here’s a sampling of what we found after a full day of playing with it:
• Completely random celeb-name search reveals Mario Batali’s $1,000 contribution to John Edwards (as well as the chef’s home address), Tommy Hilfiger’s $2,300 donation to Barack Obama, and the supposedly apolitical Sandy Weill’s $4,600 gift to Hillary Clinton.
in other news
HuffPost Launches Fundrace, Reveals Campaign SecretsAnd the campaign-financing race just got much more fun. The Huffington Post launched its Fundrace 2008 database today, on which you can look up which presidential candidates are milking your friends and neighbors for money, and exactly how much of it. It also includes the very popular neighborhood feature, where you can see whether that dude who sells dime bags in your entryway is actually a junkie for Joe Biden. After some quick scans, we’re delighted with this year’s results so far. For example, in the opportunely named “Chelsea-Clinton” 10001 Zip Code, John Edwards is a surprise favorite. (Explain that, Jodi Kantor.) And among fancy Upper East Siders with 10021 addresses, Hillary is exactly twice as popular as Rudy — and that’s where he lives. Maybe his neighbors don’t like the cigar smoke?
Fundrace 2008 [HuffPo]
gossipmonger
It’s His PrerogativeBobby Brown beefed up security in Australia because he still thinks Osama bin Laden is after him. Former party girl Taylor Stein, who just had a baby with William Lauder, has dated a lot of very, very wealthy older men. A documentary producer claims Bobby Kennedy got into a shouting match with Marilyn Monroe the night she died, and not in the bedroom where her body was found. Mom of the Year Dina Lohan is being sued for allegedly failing to pay back a $400,000 loan she used to jump-start Lindsay’s music career. ABC misspelled Whoopi Goldberg’s name in a press release announcing her as the new host of The View. Rudy Giuliani made up for the fact that the Yankees lost Eric Gange to the Red Sox by raising $350,000 at a Greenwich fund-raiser. Chelsea Clinton tried, and failed, to quietly read Harry Potter on the 6 train. CBS News execs are not pleased with the performance of some of the company’s interns. Tyra Banks attended a party for her Air Force cadet brother, who is going to Iraq.
gossipmonger
The Future of the Species Depends on Paris HiltonParis Hilton has landed a starring role in a movie set in the year 2056, “when a plague nearly destroys the human race and survival is dependent upon being able to finance a pricey organ transplant.” Anne Hathaway got into a fight with her boyfriend (who is being sued by Ron Burkle) during a screening of her movie in East Hampton, but she stayed with him at the after-party until the cops shut it down at 1 a.m. Madonna strolled into the Reebok Sports Club on Columbus Avenue without checking in. Tyra Banks and her family ate at Serendipity 3. The two assistants from Jane who were cast in SoapNet’s Fashionista Diaries have been moved to CosmoGirl. Usher’s pregnant girlfriend, whom he was slated to marry on Saturday until a last-minute cancellation, checked into a hospital for “pregnancy complications,” though it may just be a ploy to get him back. Ivana Trump is set to get married for a third time, to Rossano Rubicondi.