Sort of like the idle Colin Powell rumors that swirled before the 1996 and 2000 Republican conventions, we’ve been forced this campaign cycle to endure months of sporadic chatter about Condoleezza Rice’s supposed candidacy for the number two spot on the G.O.P. ticket.

Except that the speculation may have just taken a twist that the Powell talk never did: There’s suddenly reason to believe there might be something to it.  read more »

On Monday, Jan. 7, following in the footsteps of Jay Leno, Jimmy Kimmel, and Conan O'Brien, Comedy Central's Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert will return to the airwaves without their shows' writers, who remain on strike. Which guests will cross the picket line to appear on the first night back for The Daily Show and The Colbert Report?

Not Katrina vanden Heuvel, the editor of The Nation, who this afternoon told Media Mob that she had recently turned down Mr. Colbert's invitation to appear on his Jan. 7 show.

She said that she loved The Colbert Report but that she is "standing in solidarity with the striking writers."  read more »

Twenty-eight-year-old Christopher Hayes will be The Nation's new DC bureau editor, according to a memo sent to staff this afternoon.

Mr. Hayes, who has spent the last year contributing regularly to The Nation as a Puffin Fellow at the Nation Institute, will replace David Corn, whose departure for Mother Jones was announced a month ago. While technically a senior editor at In These Times, Mr. Hayes said The Nation has been his primary focus during the last 12 months, and that about 90 percent of his writing from that time has appeared in its pages.

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