1. early and often
    Giuliani Loses a Second Bushie Rudy Giuliani’s front-running presidential campaign has lost a key staffer with connections to Karl Rove. Margaret Hoover joined Giuliani’s Solutions America PAC in September to help direct fund-raising operations, but her greater value was to shore up the former mayor’s credentials with conservatives and to signal Giuliani’s seriousness about a White House run. Hoover, a great-granddaughter of the 31st president and an intergovernmental-affairs aide to Rove before taking the Giuliani job, brought important national campaign experience to the team, having worked for Bush-Cheney ‘04.
  2. the morning line
    Rudy! Rudy! Rudy! • We were kinda hoping this wouldn’t come out until, say, a week before the primaries, but take it away, Times: Rudy Giuliani was briefed on Bernie Kerik’s unsavory dossier, including the commish’s possible mafia ties, in 2000. Then Rudy made him the city’s top cop. [NYT] • New Jersey governor Jon Corzine has already picked a side of the Dem roster for 2008: He’s officially endorsing Hillary. (The State Senate president, Richard Codey, is a John Edwards man.) This is not insignificant considering N.J.’s extra-early primary date. [WNBC] • Long Island police are investigating nightmarish scenarios after severed limbs “with pink toenail polish” washed up in Nassau, Suffolk, and Westchester. There’s also a torso in a Wal-Mart suitcase, and revolting details galore for the curious. [Newsday] • Since we’re reminiscing about Rudy, how about a big fat Catholic controversy around a work of art? Cosimo Cavallaro is planning an Easter exhibit of an anatomically correct (of course) chocolate (of course) Jesus (of course), and he swears the timing is coincidental (yeah, right). [NYDN] • And meanwhile a polyester-resin security guard named Artie, installed in the lobby of a Uniondale office tower, causes no controversy whatsoever. Probably because he’s inedible. [NYT]
  3. intel
    The Eartha Kitt Primary: Go Obama! Obama and Bloomberg get a thumbs-up, and Hillary gets a raised eyebrow, from the inimitable Eartha Kitt. The still very spry singer and dancer, who turned 80 in January, plays a fortune-teller in a Kander and Ebb musical, All About Us, coming to the Westport Country Playhouse. At a sneak peek of the show this week, we asked about her ‘08 presidential picks. “I’m for my country, not politicians who go blah blah blah,” purred the eternal Catwoman, who spent a decade shut out of gigs in this country after she denounced the Vietnam War during a 1968 White House visit.
  4. early and often
    Bloomberg Budget Shocker: Are the Good Times Stopping Their Roll?Michael Bloomberg yesterday afternoon stunned city agencies by demanding they draw up budget cuts — a mere seven weeks after he painted an extraordinarily rosy picture of a $4 billion city budget surplus. “This came out of nowhere,” said one agency boss who’d just received the memo from Bloomberg’s budget director. “Aren’t things really good right now?” Actually, it seems things aren’t quite as good as they were in late January. Yesterday’s memo, written by budget director Mark Page, tells all city agencies — with the exception of the Department of Education — to identify cuts of 1.5 percent for 2007 and 4 percent for 2008. “We have a softening national economy, we have some volatility on Wall Street, and we have a tentative agreement with the firefighters’ union that sets a pattern for the rest of the unions,” Bloomberg spokesman Stu Loeser told New York. “The firefighters got roughly 4 percent, and we’d been budgeting a 2 percent increase.” Which means that the police, sanitation, and corrections unions are likely to get larger raises than projected.
  5. 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]
  7. early and often
    Hillary and Bill Make the Bucks In what’s sure to be the first of many star-studded events for presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton, about 1,000 well-heeled New York Democrats gathered last night for a sit-down dinner at the Sheraton to get their first taste of the Clinton ‘08 campaign machine. Ron Howard, Chelsea Clinton, and Moby mixed it up with a slew of Wall Street types and the state’s congressional delegation. Charles Rangel and Chuck Schumer warmed up the crowd, who paid $1,000 for a plate of filet mignon, risotto, and spinach served with Cabernet Sauvignon. (The good seats were $4,600 each.) But everyone was just waiting for the Clintons (or just Bill?), who took the floor accompanied by Jesus Jones’s “Right Here, Right Now.” The former president jawed on for a good fifteen minutes, lauding his wife and comparing her to Eleanor Roosevelt. Reluctant to yield the stage, he finally did — just so a raspy-voiced Hillary could launch into her stump-speech points: health care, lower college tuition, and pulling troops from Iraq. The audience warmed when she talked about how the couple conserves energy up in Chappaqua: He replaces lightbulbs, and she mutters to herself with every flip of the switch, “Take that, Iran! Take that, Venezuela!” At 8:31, 90 minutes after the event began, Bill Clinton returned to the stage for an autograph session. The eager donors clamored for him.
  8. it just happened
    Mistakes Made, Responsibility Taken, Jobs Kept It used to be that if you wanted to find the most slavish trend followers in this country, all you had to do was look to lower Manhattan, or parts of Brooklyn, or maybe Los Angeles. (Ugg boots in summer, anyone?) But now it seems that Washington, D.C.— Republican Washington, D.C., in particular — can go toe-to-toe on the fashion front. Have its denizens shed their navy suits and loafers? Of course not. Rather, they’re all following the new vogue for “responsibility” — you know, where you “take responsibility” for something and leave it at that. No detention. No docked pay. No resignation. Just take responsibility and walk away.
  9. early and often
    Blazin’ With Hillary About 40 young moneymakers with neat hair and well-fitting suits arrived at a midtown restaurant last night for the first, unpublicized meeting of the HillBlazers Committee. HillBlazers is the oddly Young Republican–sounding name — we imagine those blazers in navy, accented by repp ties and pleated khakis — the Hillary-for-president folks have given to the wealthy under-45ers who will spend the next two years fund-raising for the campaign. “Interestingly, there were more men than women,” at the meeting, a spy told us. “I would say it was a 60-40 ratio. There were clearly a lot of hedge-funders, people who work in finance. It was very crew cut.”
  10. 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.
  11. in other news
    Rudy and Donna: The Way They Were Today’s Times reminds us that Rudy Giuliani, America’s Mayor, used to be and likely still is a “mean-spirited,” cross-dressing, twice-divorced guy who used to call his old gay roommate “mother” as he left for work each day. But that’s not all there is to Rudy. He’s also “strong, and at the same time gentle,” according to a testimonial Ben Smith reports today on the Politico. Who’d that endorsement come from? His then-wife, Donna Hanover, in a 1993 TV commercial that featured the whole Giuliani family. It’s a misty, water-colored campaign ad, about the way the Giulianis were. RudyTube 1993: Rudy and Donna [Politico] New York Label May Not Fit All in Giuliani Run [NYT]
  12. in other news
    Scooter Libby, Convict and — Soon — Subject The hottest new almost-trend in publishing: political insta-books, like the Scooter Libby tome commissioned today — a day after his conviction — and due in bookstores next month. For decades there have been successful fast-tracked paperbacks on all sorts of light topics from Star Wars releases to the Pitt-Aniston marriage. The announcement of The United States vs. I. Lewis Libby — to be written be a real reporter, National Journal’s Murray Waas and published by Barnes & Noble’s nonfiction imprint — comes only a week after news of a Barack Obama insta-book, the first about the presidential candidate (he’s written two well-regarded memoirs), delivered only a month after he announced his candidacy. All we need now is one more example, and it’s a genuine, certified trend. Doesn’t any writer have anything he wants to say about Sam Brownback? BN Imprint Rushes Libby Book to Stores [Galleycat/Mediabistro]
  13. in other news
    Six Theories on Why the ‘Times’ Finds a $13,000 Stock Loss to Be Front-Page News The No. 2 story on the front page of today’s Times breaks the news that Barack Obama’s blind (or at least going-blind) trust invested $50,000 in two companies linked to campaign donors, that when he learned of the investments he sold the stock, and that he took a $13,000 loss on the investments. And so we wonder, this is big news because…? After the jump, some hypotheses.
  14. early and often
    Non-Candidates in Non-Campaign Succeed in Raising Level of Debate Last night’s non-historic Cooper Union face-off between famous formers Newt Gingrich and Mario Cuomo, billed by its organizers as a tribute to Abraham Lincoln’s actually historic 1860 speech at the same location, was explained as a challenge to 2008’s presidential candidates to campaign less in the modern, sound-bite-y style and more in the august Lincoln-Douglas tradition. A sedate, professorial crowd (read old) turned out to watch this exercise in bar-raising, at which at each speaker was given a full 30 minutes to orate. Gingrich went first and acquitted himself nicely, getting ovations for his emphatic bureaucracy bashing — “the machine doesn’t work!” — before finishing with some heartstring-pulling fearmongering, naming his two New York City grandchildren and declaring that he “fears for their safety.”
  15. early and often
    Hill Wins in Obama Spat, Edwards Aide Says Barack Obama should have ignored the Hillary Clinton camp’s moral-minded broadsides over David Geffen’s the-Clintons-are-liars comments last week, one of John Edwards’s strategists says. “They made it a five-day story, and it knocked Barack off his pedestal,” the strategist says. “They shouldn’t have answered back. It would have gone away. I think Barack definitely lost that round.” The Edwards people know of what they speak. In January, the strategist recalls, Edwards spoke at Riverside Church, where he said that “silence is betrayal” on the Iraq war. As if on cue, Hillary’s longtime attack dog, Howard Wolfson, said the wording was “clearly aimed” at Hillary, and he lashed out at Edwards, claiming the ex–North Carolina senator was violating a campaign promise he made back in ‘04 to keep races among Democrats “positive.” Edward’s didn’t take the bait. And the issue, unlike this time, disappeared. —Geoffrey Gray
  16. in other news
    Long Islander Wants to Give Anne Frank U.S. Citizenship, Only 66 Years Too LateWe’re not quite sure what to think about Long Island congressman Christopher Bodkin’s crusade to make Anne Frank a citizen of the United States. The effort, about three years old, has gotten second wind with the recent disclosure of papers that show the Frank family unsuccessfully applying for a U.S. visa. The first impulse would be to gingerly inquire what is Bodkin’s (59, Republican, Episcopalian) deal with Anne Frank anyway: He had previously spearheaded a failed campaign to put her on a postage stamp. Luckily, the Times sheds some light on the politician’s M.O.
  17. early and often
    Hillary’s Barack-Bashing: Too Soon? Did Hillary Clinton’s longtime PR attack dog, Howard Wolfson, try to take a bite out of Barack Obama’s hide a bit too early? Wolfson demanded earlier this week that Obama take the extreme steps of removing Hollywood mogul David Geffen from his campaign and return his contributions after Geffen dissed the Clintons in an interview. It’s a dis that some strategists think didn’t need to be addressed. “It’s weird they let this happen,” says Basil Smikle Jr., a former senior Hillary aide turned political strategist. “That was a mistake.” How so?
  18. 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]
  19. in other news
    College Kids Like Obama More Than Hillary, ‘Desperate Housewives’ The big newspapers tell us the currently important dramas in the 2008 presidential race are the “money primary” and the “talent primary.” But what about the college kids–clicking–on–things primary? A story published on The Nation’s Website last week on Barack Obama’s appeal to young people mentioned that the Facebook group “One Million Strong for Obama” boasted 272,000 members. In the five days since the story was published — covering a road-trip-friendly three-day weekend — the group added 17,000 new members. (Any Facebooker can join the group, which is unaffiliated with the campaign and features information on rallies and donations and so forth.) “One Million Strong for Hillary,” meantime, has held steady at around 3,700 members. That’s about as many people as Obama attracted in each of the last five days — or, put another way, about 24,000 Internet-savvy college-age kids less than are “Addicted to Grey’s Anatomy.” Obama’s Impressive Youthroots [The Nation]
  20. 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
  21. 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]
  22. 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]
  23. 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]
  24. in other news
    Rudy Giuliani: The Evolution of a Presidential Candidate October 2004, Macon, Georgia: “We’ll have to see what it’s like a year or two from now.” [NYM] November 14, 2006, New York: “It is not a declaration, it is not an announcement — it is none of that.” [NYDN] February 6, 2007, Hannity & Colmes: “We still have to formally announce it and do a few more things.” [NYT] February 13, 2007, Tulare, California: “The American farmer is the most innovative in the world. You feed us. You take care of us. Each of us kind of helps the other.” [AP via amNY] February 14, 2007, Larry King Live: “Yes, I’m running.” [NYT]
  25. in other news
    Music and LyricsThe case of Paul Cortez, the personal trainer–musician accused of murdering a dancer who snubbed him, took an odd turn yesterday when the prosecution offered the defendant’s song lyrics as evidence of his violent tendencies. The Times quotes Cortez’s attorney, Dawn Florio, who claimed that songs like “The Killin Machine” were perfectly normal for her client to have written: “Rock stars don’t write about tulips and butterflies,” she explained. Objection, hearsay. — Lori Fradkin Lyrics and Diaries Offered as a Portrait of a Killer [NYT]
  26. 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]
  27. in other news
    Al Franken Decides He’s Good Enough, Smart Enough to Run for SenateIt’s semi-official: Al Franken is running for the U.S. Senate from Minnesota. This info, coming from a “senior Democratic official,” retroactively explains the former Upper West Sider’s hasty exit from Air America earlier this week. (He’d already moved himself and his show back to his home state two years ago.) But those that expect the race to be a nice comic diversion from the other 2008 carnage should look elsewhere. Franken is not a novelty candidate — not that that would be a problem in Minnesota, post–Jesse Ventura — and Republicans there, rather than dusting off old Stuart Smalley clips, are already saying unfunny things like “Minnesotans will reject Franken’s divisive, scorched-earth attacks.” He was also a close friend of Minnesota’s liberal, lamented Paul Wellstone, who died in a plane crash in 2002; a Franken candidacy is likely to invoke the specter of the popular senator. At any rate, this should be interesting. Franken to Run for Senate in Minnesota [USAT]
  28. early and often
    Hillary and Chuck (and the Baileys) Take the Senate for Chinese Chuck Schumer’s favorite Chinese restaurant in Washington was closed for a private party — his Positively American book party — Tuesday night, and Bernie Sanders, the Brooklyn-born Socialist senator from Vermont, was impressed. “This is a historic night,” Sanders said, picking string beans straight from the buffet and chatting with Jerry Nadler, the West Side’s man in the House of Representatives. “I’ve been coming here for years and I’ve never seen it shut down, but they shut it down for Schumer. He has reached the top. He has shut down the Hunan Dynasty.”
  29. photo op
    How’re You Doin’? Not So Good, Ed At Bush’s you-people-make-too-much-money speech on Wall Street yesterday, onetime Democrat Ed Koch’s ever-increasing embrace of Republicans became disconcertingly literal. Earlier: Bush Visits Wall Street, Discovers Income Inequality [NYT]
  30. in other news
    Bush Visits Wall Street, Discovers Income Inequality The president was in New York yesterday, and he brought some odd tidings for our city’s financial industry. In a speech strategically delivered across the street from the New York Stock Exchange, George W. Bush — who on a trip to New York years ago delivered his famous “Some call you the elite, I call you my base” line — spoke out against excessive executive pay and lush severance packages. Meantime, an editorial in the same day’s Wall Street Journal posited that any legislation curbing executive pay would immediately translate into higher taxes. As the person hectoring the gaggle of Wall Streeters about fiscal modesty was the same person who had drastically cut taxes for everyone in attendance, the listeners could be forgiven for mild confusion. The Sun calls the crowd’s response “muted.” But of course it was: The real target audience for the speech was the general public. “The fact is that income inequality is real,” said Bush. “It has been rising for more than 25 years.” And you’re first noticing that now, George? Pardon the pun, but that’s rich. Bush Warns Wall Street on Pay [NYS] George W. Bush: The Elite, My Base [YouTube]
  31. it just happened
    Mark Green’s Brother Buys Air AmericaTwo-year-old Air America, the “liberal radio network” currently languishing in Chapter 11 protection — and is it our imagination, or has it always been languishing in Chapter 11? — is in for a major makeover, according to news reports today. First, its current group of investor-owners are washing their hands of the ailing enterprise; it’s all but sold to Stephen Green, the founder of SL Green Realty Corp. and the brother of Mark (the former mayoral candidate). Second, the scratchy voice of the network, Al Franken, is leaving next month. Portland-based author Thom Hartmann, whom we don’t know much about but who looks strikingly like an SNL parody of a liberal, will take his time slot. Everyone agrees that Air America — whose noble attempt to counteract right-wing bloviators ran into the fact that liberals suck at yelling or being yelled at — can use retooling. But we’re more interested in two other items perhaps implicit in the sale. One, we’ve got to assume Mark Green is not as retired from politics as some have predicted, and, two, we’ve also got to assume Al Franken is definitely running for Senate. SL Green Founder to Acquire Air America [Crain’s]
  32. in other news
    When Good Cover Lines Go Bad Related: Kerry Decides Against 2008 Presidential Run [CNN.com]
  33. early and often
    Chuck Schumer Has Seen the Promised Land! You’d think Chuck Schumer was busy enough in 2006, masterminding the Democratic takeover of the Senate while also doing his day job as a member of that body. But he also found time to write Positively American, which hit bookstores this week. It’s part memoir and part branding strategy for his party: The key, both to Schumer’s own career and to his vision for the Dems, is a relentless focus on the needs of a mythical suburban Long Island middle-class family he calls “the Baileys.” He recently told us all about them. In the book you’re tough on your own party, criticizing Democrats for losing touch with middle-class voters and pandering to interest groups. I felt a real need — an urging almost, a yearning — to get the Democratic Party to start coming up with a model, a platform of ideas, that would appeal to the average voter. Everywhere Democrats went throughout the 2006 campaign, middle-class voters said to us, “Look, we don’t like Bush, we’re tired of Reaganism — but what do you guys stand for?”
  34. early and often
    Obama Snags Major Clinton Money ManAdd to Barack Obama’s list of marquee New York donors — and former Clinton supporters — the name of Orin S. Kramer. Kramer is an enviro-friendly financier and author who has been a stalwart in Clinton money-raising quarters for years. He played a key role in the Al Gore and John Kerry presidential campaigns, serving as New York co-chair for both. A domestic-policy staffer in the Carter White House, Kramer is currently the general partner of Boston Provident, L.P. He’s the latest fund-raising coup for the Obama camp, which also picked up support from lefty billionaire George Soros earlier this week. How did Kramer reach the decision to leave team Clinton? “I ran up against my pain threshold,” he said. “I have unalloyed respect for Senator Clinton. She is eminently electable, and some of my closest friends are major players in her universe. But despite being a dinosaur, I’m drawn to a different kind of political experience. Whether large numbers of people will see the world that way, we’ll see.” —Geoffrey Gray
  35. in other news
    Businessman Giuliani Doesn’t Make Things Easy for Politician GiulianiIn the ever-growing field of potential presidential candidates, Rudy Giuliani is the one with the most embarrassing pals. (Or, if he isn’t, he certainly acts like it.) And we’re not even talking about the mustached electoral Kryptonite known as Bernie Kerik, necessarily; today’s Times has word that Giuliani is selling off some of his businesses for fear of being linked to unsavory clients. First on the block is Giuliani Capital Advisors, an exclusive investment bank that accounts for almost half of Rudy’s revenue flow. A source suggests that Giuliani is itching to distance himself from some of the firm’s clients before an aggressive opponent — perhaps the same one that found/stole his game plan? — finds out who they are. This leaves the ex-mayor’s mini-empire with two businesses — Giuliani Partners (which consults for some scandal-plagued companies) and law firm Bracewell & Giuliani (which represents “major polluters”). In short, as nominee backgrounds go, being a junior senator with almost no record suddenly doesn’t seem so bad. Giuliani Is Expected to Sell One of His Three Businesses [NYT]
  36. the morning line
    Free at Last, Free at Last • What were we doing in the days before DNA testing? Well, apparently jailing busloads of innocent people, for one thing. The eighth — eighth! — New York State convict in thirteen months to be exonerated by DNA evidence was released yesterday after fifteen years in jail. [NYT] • Both tabloids look at the State of the Union address through the eyes of Ceasar Borja Jr., the son of a WTC cop whom Hillary Clinton had flown to Washington. His father died of lung disease hours before Bush’s speech. [NYP, NYDN] • It’s not exactly the Oscars, but a consortium of community activists got to nominate the city’s worst landlords last night. The runaway winner: Adam Mermelstein of TreeTop Development, who used fake inspectors with prop badges and invalid eviction papers to harass his tenants. [NYDN] • Now this is a divorce case. Four children, $55 million in assets, $5 million in legal bills, and the heaviest dueling allegations in recent memory (kiddie porn and spousal rape versus drug addiction and mental disease). Welcome to Westport. [NYP] • And you know you love the Mets a little too much when they have to take out a restraining order against you. An 18-year-old Piazza fan was barred from Shea for three years after faking a press pass to get closer to his idol. [amNY]
  37. the morning line
    George and Hillary Want 9/11 Health Care • The health of 9/11 first responders finally becomes a major political issue; President Bush will address it in tonight’s State of the Union address, and now-official White House contender Hillary Clinton used ground zero to announce her $1.9 billion long-term treatment initiative. [amNY] • The Sean Bell case began in earnest yesterday, with the 23-member grand jury beginning to parse the evidence in the infamous 50-shot police slaying of an unarmed man. The presentation will take close to a month; detractors say the D.A. is using the occasion for a “minitrial.” [NYP] • A side effect of being rich and famous is that people think they don’t need to make good on their debts to you. For instance, New Delhi owes New York City $16.4 million (in real-estate taxes for the properties India owns here). Our courts are tempted to tweak the laws so the city can sue. [DNA World] • “Come on, guys, we can get more mileage out of this antique-dealer-suing-bum story. Angles, think angles.” “How about the bum’s son comes to town to reconcile with him?” “Perfect.” [NYDN] • And a mass evacuation of New York City will commence today via the Brooklyn Bridge, under the cover of Coast Guard cutters and military helicopters. Luckily, it’s all so that Will Smith can save the earth or become a stockbroker or something. [7Online]
  38. numbers game
    Poll: New Yorkers Support Their Overwhelmingly Reelected Senator Today’s Daily News has blockbuster front-page news: In a poll of New York City residents, more would pick their own senator to be the Democratic presidential nominee than would pick a freshman Illinois senator with far lower name recognition. (Who’d have thunk it?) If there’s any interest to the poll, it’s in the demographic breakdowns. • New York City voters who would pick Hillary Clinton for the Democratic presidential nominee: 43 percent • New York City voters who would pick Barack Obama for the Democratic presidential nominee: 24 percent
  39. the morning line
    Hillary! • We’re 48 hours into Hillary’s official campaign for the presidency, and already the Times is wondering who’d fill her Senate seat. Names that have come up: Paterson, Meeks, Velasquez, Lowey — and even Suozzi. A News survey, meantime, finds Hillary beating Obama handily — in New York City. (Of course, we’re pretty sure Gore and Kerry did likewise to Bush here.) [NYT, NYDN] • Damon Mootoo, the deaf guy from Guyana who disappeared in Queens last week hours after arriving in the United States, was finally found and returned to his relatives. He said he lived in cars and backyards for four days. [NY1] • Tired of the busy signals when you try calling for that Per Se reservation exactly two months in advance? You’ll be thrilled to learn that a new service charges clients $35 to $45 to nab them rezzies at tough-to-get-into hot spots. [NYP] • London may be edging out Gotham as the biz capital of the world, due in part to the United States’ lawsuit-heavy culture and tough immigration rules, says a new $500,000 report. [NYDN] • Waitress, the movie made by New York indie-film actress Adrienne Shelly before she was murdered in her apartment last year, was shown to applause and tears at Sundance. [1010WINS]
  40. it just happened
    Hillary’s In To the great surprise of no one, Hillary Clinton finally announced this morning that she’s running for president in 2008. “I’m in. And I’m in to win,” she said in a statement posted to her new campaign Website, oddly echoing the old Lotto slogan. “All you need is a dollar and a dream,” retorted fellow presidential aspirant George Pataki, continuing his quixotic campaign. Hillary Says ‘I’m In to Win’$2 2008 Race [NYT] Hillary for President [Official site]
  41. early and often
    How Chic Is Our Power? Yesterday’s Times brought word that Nancy Pelosi’s elevation to House Speaker is changing not just Washington’s politics but also its fashion. “[W]ith the ascent of Nancy Pelosi, 66, widely recognized and admired for her Armani and easy fashion savvy, the days of the dowdy Washington dress code may be numbered,” wrote reporter Lizette Alvarez. She quoted Representative Mary Bono: “I am so sick of the matronly box — the rest of America doesn’t dress like that.” It made us wonder: Do New York’s big-shot female pols have better fashion sense than Washington’s? We pulled a bunch of photos of five Big Apple power players and gave them to New York fashionista Amy Larocca for a once-over. After the jump, her verdicts.
  42. 20-person poll
    Iraq: To Surge or Not to Surge? So now it’s official: Bush wants to send 20,000 more U.S. troops to Iraq. And, as we know, congressional Democrats think that’s a bad idea; indeed, Senator Ted Kennedy introduced legislation earlier this week that would require Congress’ approval before any additional forces could be considered. So do New Yorkers support Bush’s plan? Do they support Kennedy’s? And do they think 20,000 more troops will make a difference in Iraq, anyway? It’s 20-Person Poll time, and random passersby on Madison Avenue say no, no, and no.
  43. it just happened
    Dems Say No to MSG Convention And so the 2008 Democratic National Convention goes the way of the 2012 Olympics: Despite Bloomberg’s best laid plans, it won’t be coming to New York City. Moments ago, the Democratic National Committee announced that it will hold its next presidential- nominating convention in Denver. This is no doubt a strategic move, a way to try to attract Coloradans and other Western voters to Big Blue. (New York will no doubt remain safely in the good guys’ column even after this snub.) And after living through the GOP convention here in 2004, did we even want to put up with all that mishegoss again, anyway? Plus, you’ve got to consider it from the Dems’ point of view: The last convention they held at Madison Square Garden, in 1992, nominated Bill Clinton. Wouldn’t want to follow that precedent, wouldja? Democrats Pick Denver as Convention Site [The Caucus/NYT]
  44. in other news
    Spitzer Not Actually Forcing Gay Things Down Your ThroatsIt turns out John Faso — remember, that guy who was trounced by Spitzer? — was wrong after all when he infamously accused his rival of planning to “force gay marriage down the throats of New Yorkers.” The first days of the Spitzer administration suggest the governor has a slower, gentler method in mind. Same-sex marriage, which the GOP wanted you to believe was all but a lynchpin of Spitzer’s platform, was conspicuously absent from the barrage of proposals in his State of the State address. Gay-rights advocates are somewhat alarmed, the Sun reports. But not to worry: As Spitzer’s communications director says, “Gay marriage isn’t a Day One issue.” The governor will get around to it, eventually: “We have to prioritize and that’s how we prioritized.” Spoken like a true leader. Spitzer: Gay Rites Ahead [NYS] Earlier: Spitzer’s Support for Gays Will Not Be Tested [E&O]
  45. intel
    Magazine Can’t Wait for End of Bloomberg EraWe’ll remind you, first, that New York elects its mayor the year after the United States elects its president. Then we’ll remind you that Mike Bloomberg was elected to a second four-year term — unprecedented spending, unprecedented margin of victory, remember? — in November 2005 and inaugurated on January 1, 2006. Finally, we’ll remind you that this means he’ll be New York’s mayor until December 31, 2009. Now let us point you to the first two sentences of Adam Gopnik’s “Comment” in the current New Yorker. The emphasis is ours: It is a sign of the times — which, a Greenwich Village bard once told us, change — that two former mayors of New York may run for President next year, and no one thinks that either candidacy is even slightly a joke. Former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani is thinking of running, as a Republican, and current Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who will be a former by then, may run as a None of the Above. Hey, even the world’s most storied fact-checking staff gets a holiday break, too. Gothamitis [NYer]
  46. early and often
    The Breakfast of Champions When the House and Senate convene at noon today, Democrats will finally — as they’ve been salivating for since November, or even since Gingrich — take control of both chambers. So how does one start such a momentous day? We asked much of New York’s newly empowered congressional delegation what they’d be eating for breakfast. Sen. Chuck Schumer: Cold cereal, “my favorite food.” Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, Long Island: Coffee and a bagel. (What kind of bagel? That, says George in her office, will be “a game-time decision.”) Rep. Joseph Crowley, Queens and the Bronx: “Special K with strawberries and 2-percent milk, plus a cup of cold-brew coffee.” Rep. Edolphus Towns, Brooklyn: Scrambled eggs and sausage. Rep. Nydia Velasquez, Brooklyn, Queens, and the Lower East Side: Oatmeal. Rep. Carolyn Maloney, Queens and the East Side: A Power Bar. (“I’m going to need the energy to get ready for the first 100 hours.”) Rep. Eliot Engel, Westchester, Rockland, and the Bronx: Bagels and lox and herring, imported to Washington from New York. Rep. Nita Lowey, Westchester: “Her usual oatmeal.” Rep. Maurice Hinchey, Woodstock: Raisin Bran and black tea. Rep. Louise Slaughter, Rochester: French toast “with the most beautiful and smartest grandkids in the world.” If you need us, we’ll be at Eliot Engel’s. —Jocelyn Guest Earlier: Dem Congress Is New York’s Gain — And Mississippi’s Loss?
  47. the morning line
    A Third-Rate Burglary? • As we cynically predicted, the story of Giuliani’s suddenly public ‘08 battle plan swiftly moved from the plan’s contents to who obtained it and how; the Giuliani camp says it was “borrowed” from an aide’s suitcase, photocopied, and returned. Exciting stuff. [NYS] • A construction worker dubbed a “Subway Superman” (by both tabs) leaped in front of an oncoming train to drag a stranger to safety. Better yet, he did it while wearing a ski cap with a Playboy Bunny, which is mysteriously logo-free on the Post cover. [NYDN; NYP] • Subpoenas continue to fly in the Joe Bruno probe. The State Senate chief — and, as of two days ago, New York’s top Republican — is under scrutiny for corruption, and the latest FBI target is an Albany investment firm Bruno did consulting for. [NYDN] • NYC taxis will help map out the city’s many pesky cell-signal dead zones: Ericsson, the Stockholm-based phone maker, got the Taxi & Limousine Commission to install sensors in cab trunks. The Swedes are under the cute illusion that “cabs go everywhere.” [Fox News] • And in a bit of truly silly timing, Cites — an international environmental agency — lifted its ban on sevruga and osetra caviar imports from the Caspian Sea. The news should send corks popping at Petrossian and become relevant to the general consumer in, let’s see, about 362 days. [NYT]
  48. in other news
    Rudy Goes Off the Script (or Does He?)Rudy Giuliani has lost his ‘08 presidential battle plan. Literally. He — or one of his aides — left the damn thing in a hotel, all 140 pages of it. It’s the front page of today’s Daily News, and the way the News presents it, there’s actually little more to be gleaned from the text than from, say, a cursory examination of public documents. We learn that Bernie Kerik, Judith Nathan, and Donna Hanover are “liabilities,” that Giuliani is losing influential money guys to McCain, and that fund-raisers will be cutely divided into “Team Captains,” “All-Stars,” and “Sluggers.” Of course, any time something this farcical happens to a major figure, it’s a good time to dust off the old who-benefits-most meter. (Doesn’t U2 lose, and then find, the master tape every time the band has an album coming out?) But this time there appears to be no gain in it whatsoever for Giuliani’s camp, which comes across as rather hapless. Unless! Unless we put on our tinfoil hats and assume that the entire point of the largely non-damaging disclosure is this: “The document was obtained by the Daily News from a source sympathetic to one of Giuliani’s rivals for the White House.” How dare you, Giuliani’s Rival, engage in such dirty, unprincipled … oh, wait. We see. Revealed: Rudy’s ‘08 Battle Plans [NYDN]
  49. 20-person poll
    Iraq Study Group: Perhaps Monkier Than We Thought? The Iraq Study Group report is out, obviously, and now, it seems, all the important players have weighed in: Bush says he doesn’t want to decrease troop levels and the Post says the panel’s chairmen are “Surrender Monkeys.” Clearly it’s time for another 20-Person Poll. New York’s intrepid interns hit Madison Avenue to ask three questions. Question No. 1: The Iraq Study Group says “the situation in Iraq is grave and deteriorating.” Does that come as a surprise to you? Big surprise: 2; no surprise: 18 Question No. 2: Who has a better plan for Iraq, President Bush or the Iraq Study Group? Bush: 3; ISG: 12; neither: 5 Question No. 3: Are James Baker and Lee Hamilton, the chairmen of the Study Group, in fact surrender monkeys? Yes, monkeys: 6; no, not monkeys: 14
  50. 20-person poll
    President Hillary? Today’s Post insists — more than anyone else has yet insisted — that Hillary Clinton has really, genuinely, honest-to-goodness decided to run for president. Which means it’s time for another 20-Person Poll. New York’s interrogating interns hit Madison Avenue this afternoon, and they asked twenty registered Democrats who’d get their vote in a presidential primary. Here in her home state, things are looking good for our junior senator — unless, that is, a certain melting pot from Illinois decides to run. Matchup No. 1: Hillary Clinton vs. Barack Obama Clinton: 6; Obama: 14 Matchup No. 2: Hillary Clinton vs. Al Gore Clinton: 10; Gore: 10 Matchup No. 3: Hillary Clinton vs. John Edwards Clinton: 13; Edwards: 7 Matchup No. 4: Hillary Clinton vs. John Kerry Clinton: 15; Kerry: 5 ‘I’m Going to Go for This’ [NYP] Earlier: President Mike?
  51. the morning line
    Hillary for President! • OMG. Hillary Clinton is — you’re not gonna believe this — totally running for president. She said so to a “New York lawmaker” on the phone, and he told the Post. Her declaration? “I’m really going to go for this.” OMG. [NYP] • Yesterday in Astor-ia: In finalizing the settlement long settled, Anthony Marshall was cleared of abuse allegations concerning his 104-year-old mother, Brooke Astor. He and his wife still need to return over $11 million in “gifts.” Oh, and his lawyer was docked 10 percent of his six-figure fee for chatting to the press. [NYDN] • Thirty-nine people in New York and New Jersey are now down with E. coli, all traceable to a single Taco Bell in South Plainfield, New Jersey. Some of the joint’s employees are sick as well. And the marketers of Fast Food Nation are really wishing this happened two weeks ago. [NYT] • Crews will take another tug at the ol’ Intrepid, currently stuck in cementlike silt on its way to a dry dock where it was supposed to be getting a spruce-up. The path is reportedly clear now that a Navy contractor has ladled out some of the gunk from under the ship’s stern (for $3 million). [amNY] • And in an irresistible police-blotter item, a man is arrested for a series of shop, hotel, and drug-store robberies wherein he’d open his coat to reveal a dynamite-stick belt (actually highway flares). Inventive but unsurprising, considering the perp is an actor with Law & Order on his resume. (Duh-dum.) [WNBC]
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