‘Times’ Endorsements Include a Pinch in the Bum for GiulianiOkay, so there was a debate last night. All of the Republican presidential candidates got together to chat about whom people should choose in the voting booth (we’ll have details for you later). But, see, you might not hear much about it because it didn’t really matter. Why not? Because the Times bogarted all of the primary discussion this morning with their unsurprisingly self-righteous endorsements. For the Democrats, they chose Hillary Clinton because they “are hugely impressed by the depth of her knowledge, by the force of her intellect and by the breadth of, yes, her experience.” (Don’t worry, though, they totally heart Obama, too.) And for the Republicans, they begrudgingly chose John McCain. Except it wasn’t so much an editorial supporting McCain as it was one attempting, once and for all, to obliterate Rudy Giuliani.
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Which Republican Will Instantly Restore America’s Furious Economic Might?Tonight’s Republican debate in Florida could tip voters one way or another in what is basically a four-way race (though the latest polls show McCain and Romney, about even, putting distance between themselves and Giuliani and Huckabee, also about even). With recession looming, everyone wants to know who’s going to perform a miracle on the economy once in office. The pundits, for their part, have humbly offered up their opinions on the candidates with the best fiscal credentials.
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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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McCain Vanquishes Giuliani on His Home TurfSo last night, John McCain waltzed into New York, picked up $1 million for his presidential campaign, and waltzed right back out again. How could he be so bold as to infringe on his party mate Rudy Giuliani’s turf? “It’s the Willie Sutton syndrome,” he said at a press conference in Florida, referring to the bank robber of the thirties. “They asked him why he robbed banks, and he said it’s because that’s where the money is.” His timing was certainly good. Results of a Quinnipiac University poll yesterday showed that among New York Republicans, Giuliani, who last month surpassed McCain, is now neck and neck with the Arizona senator. And another poll released yesterday reported that McCain actually has a slim lead over the former New York mayor, whose numbers have been dropping, in part owing to dwindling finances — his staff has been going unpaid this month to save money. “I don’t believe Republicans should be attacking each other,” Rudes told a crowd in Palm Beach yesterday, right around the time that McCain, up north, was rummaging through his pockets. Poor Caesar!
New York Is All McCain’s, For a Night [NYT]
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Heilemann on South Carolina’s Republican Primary: Guess Which Three Will Bleed NextThe presidential campaign of Fred Dalton Thompson has surely been among the most puzzling curios of this year’s Republican race. Maddeningly long in gestation, then apparently stillborn, it has been an effort so laconic, even lazy, that its slogan might as well have been: Thompson 2008 – As if It Mattered.
in other news
Huckabee Salutes the Stars and BarsMike Huckabee has to do something extreme to differentiate himself from his opponent John McCain in South Carolina at this point. With the primary tomorrow, the two remain neck and neck (well, McCain doesn’t really have a neck, so maybe it’s neck and scar?). So Huckabee has taken a strategy that may work well in South Carolina but will have people scratching their heads in many other places in the country. Ever the populist, he’s come out in favor of one of America’s oldest underdogs: the right to fly the Confederate flag. Yesterday, in Myrtle Beach, he told a crowd of South Carolinians: “You don’t like people from outside the state coming in and telling you what to do with your flag.” Until 2000 when it was removed after political pressure, the pennant was still flying at the South Carolina State House. “If somebody came to Arkansas and told us what to do with our flag, we’d tell them what to do with the pole,” Huckabee finished. Ha-ha! He’d ram it up their asses! Oh, wait. That image in and of itself is a little offensive, even without the whole racial problem the flag represents. Click above to hear a pro-Huckabee ad that is running in the state right now, sponsored by the “Americans for the Preservation of American Culture,” a group that claims it is unaffiliated with the candidate. McCain, who in the past has called the flag a racist symbol, is painted as an anti-hero. As we discussed this morning, this all may show how well Huckabee knows his base, but it also kind of shows how poorly he knows everybody else.
Huckabee Embraces Confederate Flag To Woo White Evangelicals [HuffPo]
Earlier: Huckabee Is Inside Our Heads, Vice Versa
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Huckabee Is Inside Our Heads, Vice VersaEverybody seems to have Mike Huckabee on the brain today. As he pulls up nearly even with John McCain in South Carolina leading up to the primary there tomorrow, political writers are trying to understand what voters are thinking about the Baptist bass player. Do the Evangelicals matter? Don’t they? Will they even vote for him? It’s a Huckanundrum!
• David Brooks reminds us that it can be looked at pretty simply: “It is no accident that the major candidates in the Republican field are a pastor, a businessman and a war hero. These are the three most evocative Republican leadership models.” [NYT]
• But Rich Lowry says that this appeal as a pastor has begun cooling with non-Evangelicals. And now that it’s becoming clearer that he lacks the planning to impress voters with his policy ideas. [NYP]
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Rudy Giuliani Braves the Delegate Dance of DoomToday the Times plays the delegate game with Rudy Giuliani. “If he carries Florida, he carries New York,” historian and sometime Giuliani adviser Fred Siegel told the paper. That logic has a victory in Florida giving the former mayor the additional 183 delegates from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut (though it blatantly disregards how this race has proven that one primary can have little or no influence on the next). That would give Giuliani 15 percent of the delegates he needs (not counting Florida’s 57). It’s a boost that would not be insignificant, but the paper also reports that even Giuliani’s staunch supporters in the Northeast are worried, and that McCain is edging ahead in New Jersey. (And, hilariously, the Associated Press has taken to calling his Florida campaign a “Hail Mary.”) But as more and more news outlets are revving up their Giuliani Campaign Deathwatches, it’s almost as if they, too, forget the lessons we’ve learned. Sure, all looks bad for him right now, but it did for McCain in late 2007, and it did for Hillary just before New Hampshire. No one can predict what’s going to happen, not even those goddamned delegates.
Even at Home, Backers Worry About Giuliani [NYT]
Earlier: In 2008 Primary Race, Delegates Take the Lead, Heilemann on Michigan’s Republican Goat Rodeo: Is Rudy a Mad Genius After All?
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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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Heilemann on Michigan’s Republican Goat Rodeo: Is Rudy a Mad Genius After All?There are three obvious ways to interpret Mitt Romney’s victory in the Republican primary in Michigan. The first is that Romney — whose father, George, was a three-term governor of the state — won on the basis of his favorite-son status, nothing more and nothing less. The second is that Romney, whose campaign for the past year has been an object lesson in the dangers of absolute and abject artifice in national politics, finally, to steal a phrase from Hillary Clinton, found his own voice: the voice of pragmatic, problem-solving managerialism. And the third is that the GOP nominating contest has become a full-fledged goat rodeo: On any given day, any given candidate might just emerge (temporarily) triumphant.
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Great Lakes, Great Times: The Michigan PrimaryHey voters, don’t let the Democrats steal Michigan’s thunder tonight. There may be a much-anticipated battle between Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama (how do you effectively spar when walking on eggshells?), and John Edwards (and Kucinich maybe) tonight in Nevada, but don’t forget the Republicans are doing something, too. They’re actually, you know, voting, which is kind of a relief. And the results might have a big effect on the rest of the race. If Romney loses, many suspect it’ll be the effective end of his campaign: a third big loss in a state where he spent three times as much on TV as any other candidate ($2 million) and where he actually was born. Unlike McCain, he doesn’t have the luxury of spending part of today spinning a possible loss and looking forward to South Carolina. According to the most recent polls, McCain and Romney are head-to-head, pulling in around 30 percent of voters each. But turnout across the state so far has been low, and since the state allows independents to vote in party primaries, those numbers are increasingly unreliable. All of which basically means nobody knows who is going to pull it off. Pollsters and pundits are wary of making any predictions today. So if you must watch the Democratic debate, make sure you keep checking the Republican results. Because it’s going to be fun as hell to watch all those TV talking heads say “I told you so” later on tonight, when in fact they told you nothing at all.
in other news
Katie Couric Thinks Cindy McCain Looks Like ‘a Husky’Harry Shearer has another funny outtake clip of Katie Couric, this time broadcasting from New Hampshire during the primary. Greatest lines include “Giuliani’s dead. I mean, you know what I mean,” “Oh shit oh shit oh shit,” “[Cindy McCain] looks like a husky!” and “I don’t know much about Huckabee.” Click above to view — it’s sort of boring and riveting at the same time. But it raises the question: How does Harry Shearer keep posting these things without backlash from CBS News and Couric herself? Unless Katie secretly likes this stuff slipping out
Katie Couric 1 [My Damn Channel]
Earlier: Katie Couric: ‘This Tart is Ready to Go’
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Reading Rudy’s Future: It’s a Dry HeatNow that yesterday’s poll numbers on Giuliani in Florida have sunk in, campaign staffers and political analysts (those that can stand to take a break from dissecting Hillary and Obama’s race kerfuffle) are trying to figure out whether this means the end for the former New York mayor. Yesterday, the Times reported that one of their polls showed McCain edging ahead of Giuliani by a small amount in the southern swing state, where Giuliani has been concentrating all of his campaign efforts. Huckabee and Romney were a mere percentage point behind, putting all four within the same margin of error for the poll. Now, with the arrival of the Michigan primary (Giuliani’s first real chance at a strong finish, some are taking a hard look at his future prospects:
• Today Giuliani’s chief strategist Brent Seaborn saw a bright side in not being part of the brutal Huckabee-Romney-McCain battle in early primary states: “I think we’ve been in the fortunate position that a lot of attacks haven’t been directed our way.” Giuliani may remain remarkably unscathed late into the race, which will be a surprise boon for a candidate with many potential negatives.
• But Matthew Continetti in the Weekly Standard points out that Hillary’s recent stumbles against Barack Obama may have taken the wind out of Giuliani’s campaign, which early on was partially based on his unique ability to take down the Clinton machine in a general election.
• And Joel Achenbach adds that when Super Tuesday comes around, previous voting numbers are going to become irrelevant in the face of delegate accumulation. Giuliani has always been aiming for delegates, not total state wins, and this strategy may serve him well on February 5.
• Finally, Talking Points Memo reads the Romney-McCain-Giuliani tea leaves and declares that the question isn’t whether it’s judgment day for Giuliani, but whether it’s high noon for Mitt.
gossipmonger
Mary Jo Buttafuoco Fires Back at Amy FisherMary Jo Buttafuoco, who is working a memoir about being shot by Amy Fisher, thinks the Long Island Lolita is trashy for cashing in on the fame she got from almost killing her. Patricia Clarkson and Gone Baby Gone actress Amy Ryan have seen each other “butt-ass naked.”
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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]
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An Imaginary Obama-Huckabee MatchupOf course, there’s no way of knowing what will happen to Barack Obama and Mike Huckabee next week or during any of the following primaries. Hillary, we’re guessing, has a lot of tricks left up her sleeve, and McCain and Romney are sure to make a surge in less evangelical states like New Hampshire, Michigan, and Nevada. But, if the thus-far-imaginary Huckabee-Obama contest were to one day take place, the Huffington Post has poll data from before the caucus. SurveyUSA polled voters in a handful of swing (and non-swing) states about a potential general election between the Illinois senator and the former Arkansas governor. Here are some of the more interesting results:
Obama gets:
Wisconsin by 16%
Iowa by 13%
Oregon by 11%
Virginia by 9%
Minnesota by 5%
Ohio by 1%
Huckabee gets:
Kentucky by 13%
Missouri by 2%
New Mexico by 1%
Now, that’s not all of the potential swing states, and in general it doesn’t really mean anything. But you were kinda wondering, weren’t you?
Huckabee vs. Obama: Who Wins? [HuffPo]
it happened this week
Cloudy Future
As thousands of European budget travelers swarmed the rainy city and prepared to gaze at the big crystal ball in Times Square, many New Yorkers had already moved on to 2008. Bill Clinton worried about Mayor Bloomberg’s buying his way into the presidential race: “He could spend $1 billion and hardly miss it,” said the former president.
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Republican Debate: All the Sexy HighlightsLast night’s Republican CNN/YouTube debate opened with fireworks: Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney heatedly debating whether Romney was responsible for hiring illegal immigrants to work on his house (and if so, would he recommend them to friends and neighbors). But like an actual fireworks display, it soon grew repetitive and numbing. For those of you who flipped to Kid Nation, here’s a rundown of the evening’s highlights.
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McCain Orders Code Red on GiulianiGod knows you don’t need to dig too deep or spin too hard to catch Rudy Giuliani saying something awful. Usually, you just have to wait five minutes into a given public appearance — yesterday’s “I hope to do for the country what Bernie Kerik did for the city” comment comes to mind. And that’s why today’s flap over the candidate’s “torture joke” strikes us as a bit of a reach. Rudy made a funny about how, if sleep deprivation is torture, then his campaign schedule is torture, too. Before you knew it, John McCain demanded an apology, and the ex-Marine who runs McCain’s Veterans Advisory Committee in New Hampshire said, “His hyperbole is an insult to all American soldiers who have had to endure real torture.”
gossipmonger
Sarah Jessica Parker Doesn’t Hate All of Her CastmatesJames Mackenroth, a contestant on the upcoming season of Project Runway, may have been voted off in part because of a staph infection made worse by his HIV. Sarah Jessica Parker and Jennifer Hudson filmed a scene for the Sex and the City movie together at the Carlyle Hotel, and SJP gave JHud a CD! A-Rod and Martha Stewart posed for photos together at Nobu 57. Contrary to a previous “Page Six” report, attendees at the Rolling Stone reunion in San Francisco actually did drink the Champagne that Jann Wenner sent. James Gandolfini pulled out of appearing at a John McCain fund-raiser in New York because of “scheduling conflicts.” Anderson Cooper thinks Britney Spears is underreported on.
company town
Rupert Murdoch and the ‘Journal’ Eye WashingtonMEDIA
• Murdoch’s WSJ plans to take on the Times’ Washington bureau. What’s next, Hollywood? [NYO]
• Jeff Zucker and NBC bought Oxygen, the cable network for bored housewives, at the bargain-basement price of $925 million. [NYT]
• CNN’s Rick Sanchez has one big skeleton in his closet. After drinking a little too much at a Dolphins game, the eight o’clock anchor did a hit-and-run on a pedestrian who later died from his injuries. “It could have happened to anybody There were probably a lot of other people leaving the stadium that had had a couple of beers as well.” No wonder he was nicknamed Miami’s “Least Credible News Personality.” [NYO]
intel
McCain’s Strategist Blames Himself
You know John McCain’s presidential campaign is imploding. Do you know whose fault it is? John Weaver, the longtime West Villager who was McCain’s chief strategist, blames himself. “We had a spending problem, a message problem, a spending problem,” he told New York’s Geoffrey Gray in his first full interview since resigning from the McCain campaign this week. “That’s nobody’s fault but mine.” Gray’s piece runs in next week’s magazine — and on nymag.com today.
Off the Bus [NYM]
gossipmonger
Don’t Cry for Us, O.J. SimpsonO.J. Simpson had a ghostwriter for his never-released memoir, If I Did It (who’d have thunk it!) and even practiced a crying scene for his TV interview with Judith Regan. Barry Bonds’s ex-mistress, who has alleged that the slugger has used steroids, is shopping a tell-all and nude pictorial. Enrique Iglesias wishes he were gay. Nathan Lane wants to start a heterosexual pride parade, with George W. Bush as grand marshal. Jay McInerney is sick of telling people he broke his foot chasing after a taxi. Madonna didn’t invite Janet Jackson to sit at her booth at Butter, though she did hang out with Shakira. Also: Ashton, Demi, and Penélope were there. The flowers at the Waldorf-Astoria wedding of billionaire Russian heiress Angelina Anisimova and real-estate developer Ryan Freedman cost $1 million. John McCain didn’t wash his hands before leaving a restroom in East Hampton.
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Is McCain Set to Label Hillary ‘Senator Earmark’?
Is John McCain set to initiate an attack on Hillary Clinton? Little more than an hour ago, the McCain campaign put out word that the Republican will shortly hold a press conference in California to talk about “Sen. Clinton’s defense earmarks,” the many millions of dollars in federal funding Hillary has secured for New York military contractors. New York has previously noted the senator’s cozy relationship with some defense contractors, but then, isn’t this what senators do, work to bring money home?
photo op
Rudy Giuliani, Tickler?
We have no idea what Rudy Giuliani was doing to John McCain at last night’s Republican debate, but we suspect he tried to make it illegal here when he was mayor.
gossipmonger
Nobody Knows in America, Puerto Rico’s in AmericaJohn McCain has RSVP’d for the Puerto Rican Day Parade, but Rudy Giuliani has not. Lorraine Bracco will be a onetime co-host of The View. Baird Jones will celebrate Dr. Kevorkian’s release from prison tonight by exhibiting his paintings at Webster Hall. Kevin Costner ate at Michael’s. John Travolta may be in denial about his son’s autism because of Scientology. Paris Hilton plans to keep a diary when she’s in prison, which she can later sell. Sharon Stone is set to star in mock political ads to be unveiled at the upcoming Venice Biennale. Charlie Palmer’s Kitchen 22, on West 22nd Street, closed.
in other news
America Loves Rudy More Than Ever; New York, Not So Much
The Gallup Poll people released new numbers on the Republican presidential contenders today, and they only buttress the emerging consensus that Rudy Giuliani, who used to be New York’s tyrannical mayor before he came America’s beloved one, is the nominal front-runner. Forty-eight percent of liberal and moderate Republicans — granted a group that might be about twelve people big these days — said they preferred Giuliani; 26 percent picked the second-place finisher, John McCain. But even among conservative GOPers, the thrice-married moderate came in first, with 38 percent of respondents picking him to McCain’s 20 percent. And here’s the knockout punch: A whopping 80 percent of all Republicans holds a favorable impression of Giuliani. That’s huge — and “until he’s not defined by 9/11,” the Politico’s Jonathan Martin writes, “those fav/unfav numbers probably don’t come down.” But, then, those are national numbers. Contrast them with local poll results reported today by Crain’s New York Business. There, 70 percent of respondents agreed that Rudy lacks the temperament to be president, presumably recalling his performance up through September 10, 2001. Of course, this Crain’s poll, unlike Gallup’s, was online and unscientific. On the other hand, its respondents were people who have actually, you know, been governed by the guy. Ah, memories.
Gallup on Rudy’s Lead [The Politico]
Giuliani Not Fit for the White House: Poll [Crain’s]
in other news
In the American Political System the People Are Represented by Two Separate But Equally Important Groups…
“Former Senator Fred Thompson, who now plays a district attorney on ‘Law & Order,’ told Fox News today that he’ll make a decision in the coming months about whether to jump into the field of Republican candidates vying for the 2008 presidential nomination.” —The Caucus, New York Times, yesterday
Daily Intel tried to contact Thompson for comment on this matter. Unable to reach him, we relied instead on answers in the public record — that is, actual L&O quotes he’s delivered as District Attorney Arthur Branch. The Q&A is after the jump. Duh-DUM.
in other news
Candidate Books: Coming Soon to a Shelf, Remainder Bin Near YouToday the Times turns its publishing-world attention from Nascar lit to a different kind of race, the presidential one, and specifically to presidential books. It seems there are distinct types of candidate tomes, and publishing insiders provide a detailed taxonomy of them: There are “introduction,” “manifesto,” and “off-topic” works. (Generously, if inexplicably, the experts put Al Gore’s Earth in the Balance in the third category and not the second.) The article is full of unsurprising facts: Barack Obama’s Audacity of Hope has opened a can of Amazon whup-ass on the reissue of Hillary Clinton’s It Takes a Village; Bush absolutely did not write A Charge to Keep (we sort of recall news in 2000 that he hadn’t read it, either, but maybe we just feel that’s the case because no one else did), and that if book sales were ballots, John McCain would be finishing his second term. Those best-sellers notwithstanding, though, the quoted experts agree that, as one puts it, “most of these books are going to be wastes of trees.” Hey, in the grand scheme of things, bad books are the least bad things paper can do to a presidential election.
Time to Throw Their Books Into the Ring [NYT]
photo op
Atlantic Yards Begins Not With a Bang But With a Bulldozer in a Snowy Lot
There it is, folks: The start of demolition for Bruce Ratner’s Atlantic Yards. Reports say they’re knocking down a disused bus depot to create a temporary rail yard so that construction can begin. From the AP’s pictures, it just looks like they’re using a really big bulldozer to move some barrels and take down a chain-link fence. Either way, historic!
Earlier: Bruce Ratner Swings His Ball
company town
The Guy With the Biggest Birthday Party WinsFINANCE
• Birthday parties aside, Stephen A. Schwarzman tops Fortune’s private-equity power list. [Fortune via CNNMoney]
• Jeff Dorman, a senior managing director of prime brokerage services at Bear Sterns, resigned late last week. Poor guy didn’t even last a year. [DealBook/NYT]
• Is Jim Healy, head of fixed income at Credit Suisse, about to resign because of friction with new heads Brady Dugan and Michael Ryan? [DealBreaker]
grub street
Balthazar Boss Turns BologneseKeith McNally created the New York iteration of the French bistro. Now he’s gone Italian. The Underground Gourmet talked to him about his new West Village trattoria, Morandi, the great floor his wife picked out for it, and why this could be his last restaurant. It’s at Grub Street.
Keith McNally on Why Morandi Will Be His Last Restaurant Ever [Grub Street]
in other news
Real Estate Is Booming! Run for the Hills!
So is New York’s real-estate market currently hot or cold or lukewarm or tepid or what? The answer, of course, is that it’s all of these things depending on who looks at it and where and how he looks from. The latest report, in yesterday’s Times, concludes that the market is indeed hot — but only here. Anecdotal evidence includes tales of buyers storming open houses “in all price ranges.” One theory chalks up the increased hustle to December’s obscene Wall Street bonuses. Another posits that people have simply stopped worrying about the impending real-estate crash precisely because of the glut of self-contradictory information (in the last quarter, four major firms couldn’t even agree on which way the prices were trending). If the latter theory is correct, though, this means the upbeat Times item swings the pendulum too far into the positive territory; as a public service, then, we feel compelled to neutralize its impact. Sell. Sell now! NYC is overbuilding! Everyone who bought into every half-built luxury condo tower will attempt to flip at the same time! Run!
Scared again? Good. We did our part to keep the market healthy.
Housing Market Heats Up Again in New York City [NYT]
the morning line
There Either Will or Will Not Be Six More Weeks of Winter
• We can all agree it’s Groundhog Day, but there’s little agreement beyond that. Contradictory early-morning behavior from local groundhogs Staten Island Chuck, Holtsville Hal, and Malverne Phil casts uncertainty on the duration of winter. [Newsday]
• Hillary Clinton has announced that her presidential fund-raisers must pony up a record-breaking $1 million apiece to make her BFF inner circle. (By comparison, Dubya’s BFF benchmark in 2000 was a trifling $100,000.) The burning question: Should the HRC BFFs be called “Pathfinders” or the naughtier “Hillraisers”? [NYT]
• Just in time for Black History Month, and egged on by rap legend Kurtis Blow, the City Council ponders a resolution to urge all New Yorkers to stop using the N-word. And even when you end it with an a, dawg. [amNY]
• In the political equivalent of wearing the same dress to the dance, ‘08 rivals Giuliani and McCain learned they’d be sharing top billing in May at a big New York State GOP fund-raiser — and some party insiders are calling it a major dis to Rudy. [NYP]
• One day after he suggested that Barack Obama was the first black presidential candidate to master both English and personal hygiene, Senator Joe Biden hit Al Sharpton’s radio show to insist he had the highest regard for the Rev’s syntax. [NYDN]
the morning line
Something’s Gotta Give
• Just in time for Bloomberg’s $150 million help-the-poor initiative, the Times unloads a “Giving” section. It comes complete with an attempt to launch a word (“philanthropreneurs,” and, um, keep trying) and, best of all, a graphic titled “Bono’s Beneficent Universe.” [NYT]
• A shocking! new! poll! has Hillary Clinton pulling ahead of Giuliani and McCain in a presidential matchup. Buried in the cover story’s eighth graph: Her advantage falls within the margin of error, so it’s a tie. But you’ve already bought the Post. [NYP]
• The good news is that you are now able to swipe your cell phone at subway turnstiles. The bad news is that it necessitates “a consortium of credit card and wireless providers.” So the future is now — if you’re a Cingular customer with a Citi card. [amNY]
• Andrea Peyser, a noted expert on Crips and Bloods, is disappointed that not enough gang members showed up to a Sean Bell protest, because the press release promised gangs. Oh, just read it. [NYP]
• And Brooklyn hip-hop scenesters mourn the closing of Beat Street on Fulton, an iconic vinyl store; everyone cites digital age as the culprit. This is the store where Fannypack formed — is nothing sacred, iTunes? Is nothing sacred? [NYDN]