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A Hawk in Treasury Boss's Future
Tweet Share on Facebook September 16, 2007 Comment (1)Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson makes no secret of how much he likes his job. "It scares me how close I came to not doing it," he says with a chuckle. Still, with just 15 months left before his term ends, he's already looking to the future. And it includes placing identifying bands on the legs of young hawks. A famed birder who once chaired the Peregrine Fund and the Nature Conservancy, Paulson says he stays up on his old issues, especially the populations of birds of prey. With the hawk migration upon us, he plans to attend "a number of the hawk watches" to check on their health. "Sometime in the fall of 2009 I'll be back to banding again," Paulson says. "But for a while I'm trying to band asset-backed paper," he adds in a reference to short-term debt.
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Next Best Thing to Golfing With Bubba
Tweet Share on Facebook September 16, 2007 CommentFor golf lovers who also happen to be Clinton fans, the Clinton Museum Store has a perfect gift: Bubba's clubs. Store director Connie Fails tells us that Bill Clinton has offered for sale signed clubs from his personal collection. Included are 12 drivers, seven putters, and seven irons. "Some are very well worn," Fails says. "It can be at the Smithsonian, or it can be in your golf bag. The golfer who has everything does not have this—yet." They're not cheap—$3,900 gets you one framed club with a picture of Clinton golfing in New Zealand. Still, Fails says she has already sold one package.
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Sex, Anna Nicole, and Lawsuits Sell
Tweet Share on Facebook September 16, 2007 Comment (3)All those threats of lawsuits aimed at former TV reporter Rita Cosby, author of the salacious book about Anna Nicole Smith, don't seem to be hurting sales much. We're told that Blond Ambition: The Untold Story Behind Anna Nicole Smith's Death is set to debut as No. 10 on the New York Times bestseller list. "It hasn't shut us down; it's helped," says a publishing insider of the efforts to squash details like the allegation that Smith's two main men, photographer Larry Birkhead and lawyer Howard K. Stern, had sexual relations, which Birkhead denies.
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Out Loud: September 16, 2007
Tweet Share on Facebook September 16, 2007 Comment"Like, I've got cancer. I want to fight cancer, and I want to spend time with my family."
Tony Snow, on his last day as White House press secretary, rejecting plans to run for office
"I'm prepared to tell you that Americans are getting fatter and dumber."
Mike Gravel, a Democratic presidential candidate, discussing obesity in an online chat hosted by Slate, the Huffington Post, and Yahoo!
"I just note in passing, the Orioles could use Cal Ripken today."
Sen. Harry Reid, the Democratic leader, on the Baltimore Orioles, who've lost most games recently, including a 30-3 drubbing
Sen. Chris Dodd, a Democratic presidential candidate, referring to the popular country music star on Conan O'Brien's Late Night show
Sources: Christian Science Monitor, CNN, Washington Times, Late Night
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Cartoon: September 16, 2007
Tweet Share on Facebook September 16, 2007 Comment (1) -
Tony's Future: Fighting Cancer
Tweet Share on Facebook September 14, 2007 CommentHe has been bitten by the White House bug twice, first as former President George H. W. Bush's speechwriter and then as W's spokesman, but Tony Snow says a future political post is off his list for now. In an exit interview with reporters, though, he says that running for office still looks good.
"I will not deny that it has its attractions," he says. But fighting cancer and making money are a higher priority. "For family reasons, I just won't do it. And furthermore, at this time in my life, like, I've got cancer. I want to fight cancer, and I want to spend time with my family. As attractive as running for office may be, a guy who is leaving the White House due to lack of income is not likely to go work in the United States Senate and suffer not only a greater lack of income but the indignity of having to ask for money all the time."
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She's Just Cuz Ricci
Tweet Share on Facebook September 13, 2007 CommentOur favorite competitor, Politico's Anne Schroeder, got hitched this month, and even though she flew 725 miles away to her family's Evansville, Ind., home for the wedding, the world of gossip followed. That's because the Hollywood relative of her new hubby, the American Banker's Luke Mullins, made a cameo. Right there applauding the ceremony with friends, family, other newsies like Roll Call's Ben Pershing and the Washington Post's Paul Kane, and Ron Bonjean, chief of staff to the Senate GOP conference, was actress Christina Ricci, the Addams Family and Sleepy Hollow beauty.
"Christina is our cousin, and she made the trip," says Luke's bro, Brody Mullins of the Wall Street Journal. "The wedding was great."
We hear that rain threatened the lakeside ceremony but held off until after the vows, during which big winds kicked in. "Oh, it was windy. It was like, wow, this is pretty powerful," says one attendee. And Anne was quite bold at the altar, asking the priest at the end: "Can I kiss him now?" The priest smiled and said, "I would."
Back to Ricci. Those there said she was very nice and pretty in her short bob haircut, maybe her look for her role as Trixie in the upcoming Speed Racer movie.
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Can You Talk Like a Republican?
Tweet Share on Facebook September 12, 2007 CommentIf you speak Republican, then the national party wants to talk to you. We heard today that the Republican National Committee's communications director, Lisa Camooso Miller, is leaving to take a post in Alexandria with the National Community Pharmacists Association.
Sources tell us that she'll be VP for public affairs at the organization, where her hours ought to be a whole lot better than at RNC, considering the 24-7 crunch that occurs in a presidential election year. Hers is the second major departure in the GOP PR machine. Just recently, spokeswoman Tracey Schmitt left to join Rockville-based Emergent BioSolutions, an international biopharmaceutical firm. Insiders did not indicate that there was anything that prompted the departures.
Other GOP communicators say the losses of both are a big blow to the party, which has been licking its wounds since losing control of the House and Senate in 2006. The RNC isn't expected to take long to fill the positions since it has top communications aides ready to step in and also because several administration spokespeople are looking to move out of government service before the end of the president's second term.
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Who Matters Most? Will, Not Coulter
Tweet Share on Facebook September 12, 2007 CommentIf you're a George Will fan, and it seems that most of us are, then this won't be a surprise. Media Matters, the progressive media watchdog, finds that he's the king of newspaper columnists. In its list of the top 100 columnists, he leads with his column published in 368 papers with a total circulation of 26,178,378. But you'd be wrong if you guessed David Broder, Ellen Goodman, or Cal Thomas as the second-most-circulated columnist.
No, it's the Orlando Sentinel's Kathleen Parker, another conservative voice. She's in 328 papers with a total circulation of 20,300,742. The study "Black and White and Re[a]d All Over" shows that conservative columnists greatly outnumber "balanced" and progressive columns.
But for us news junkies, it's the ranking that matters most. The rest of the top five in order: Broder, Goodman, and Leonard Pitts Jr. Some of the surprises are who's not near the top in circulation, like Bob Novak (25th) and Ann Coulter, who barely made the list at 95th.
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Forget Oprah! Edwards Snags Rachael Ray
Tweet Share on Facebook September 11, 2007 CommentThe Obama campaign may have locked up exclusive television appearances with superstar and supporter Oprah, but John Edwards's folks announced today that they have their own plans with another famous-enough-for-one-name, small-screen phenomenon affectionately known to her fans as "Rach." As in Rachael Ray, the multitasking food show phenomenon.
