Connecticut

It's down to Connecticut for Barack Obama if he's going to pick off a victory in Hillary Clinton's backyard. He fared well in New Jersey and Massachusetts -- much better than it looked like he'd do a month ago -- but not enough to win. That means he'll be competitive in each state's delegate race with Clinton but won't reap the psychological benefit of being declared the winner of either state. That leaves Connecticut, where Obama leads by about three points with about one-third of the votes counted.  read more »

• Budding blog emperor Lockhart Steele (best name in the biz) has started a site for "shopping, stores and the retail scene of New York City." And it's pretty cool so far--especially the sexy Bowery Whole Foods "shelf porn". [Racked]
• Ohio real estate has completely and magnificently crushed Manhattan real estate (at least in one instance): LeBron James' new 35,440-square-foot palace will have "a recording studio, a two-lane bowling alley, a casino, a 26-by 63-foot theater, a sports bar, an aquarium and a barbershop." Take that, Fifth Avenue. [Beacon Journal, via Luxist]
• Sadly, the LA-based studio Ball-Nogues has won MoMa/PS1 's 2007 Young Architects Competition. [The victorious installation "Liquid Sky" is above.] [Architectural Record News]
• The 100-mile voyage from NYC to the pre-Revolution village Kent, Conn., is apparently one of the Great American Drives. Why? It has to do with permeating "self-reliant Yankee spirit." [Travel + Leisure] - Max Abelson
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If pragmatism prevails in the Republican primaries and caucuses next winter—a questionable pro  read more »

Andrew Cuomo just hired Ellen Nachtigall Biben as his new Special Deputy Attorney General for Public Integrity.

Get used to hearing the name: she's the one who's going to be in charge of reviewing some 6,000 legislative member items, and who will be responsible for determining the legality of proposed items in the future.  read more »

Full announcement after the jump.

-- Azi Paybarah

Friday night, Barack Obama supporters in the city held their first meet-up at a Gallary Bar on Orchard Street, a sign of the grass roots traction he's having in Hillary's back yard. Right when you walked in, a painting of a nake woman's torso, with strategically placed scoops of Nutella.

I didn't spot any of the usual Democratic operatives at this party that I've seen at DL21C parties and other events. But the turn out was a modest 100 people or so. And after a short video, and raffle for Obama buttons, the crowd died down. But, in the pursuit of a story, I asked a few of the women why they were supporting Obama over Hillary.

Michelle Leffert, a 27-year-old college senior studying Spanish in Connecticut, was in the back drinking white wine and keeping her a-political cousin company (who didn't want to talk). Leffert said she's been an Obama fan before tonight.

"I watch CNN every morning when I get ready for school and they were talking about how the senator from Illinois was in Kenya and I didn't know anything, I mean I knew nothing about him," she said. He was there promoting AIDS testing, she said. "And I thought he was great, I just fell in love."

What about Hillary?

"I guess the reason why I like Barack Obama is that he's not in it for power and to me, she's in it for power. She's power hungry," said Leffert.

No pride, as a women, possibly seeing a woman become president?

"Not at all," Leffert said, adding, "She doesn't do it for me."

One of the night's organizers, Mohan Siva, a 24-year-old systems analyst also from Connecticut, tried explaining where Hillary and Barack differed on issues.

"I whish I can answer that one for you," he said. "It's something we've been talking about so we can better understand Hillary's piece of it. You know, with Barack, what I see as his big differentiating factor is one, he's very grass roots oriented. So Hillary has better money making capabilities than Barack. So that's one. And two, his perspective on the war. From the beginning, Barack's been 'It's not a smart war. It's a dumb war.' And even to this day he's still pushing 'lets get them out of Iraq. It's not the right war. It's not the right direction.' Hillary, Hillary is a little more prudent in that area," Mohan said. "I would say that's the biggest difference."

Which sort of explains why Steaphanie Mollison and Amanda Wolfe, two of the oldest women in the crowd (very early 30's) were supporting Obama. They were seated on a couch near discarded jackets and book bags.

"I have to be honest with," Mollison, who works in fashion, told me. "I've never really been political. But there's just something about Barack that I just connected with."

"He's really real," Wolfe, a litigation attorney, interjected. "You feel like you can actually talk to him and he'll be listening to what you had to say. "

Why not vote for Hillary thought?

"I'm going to bash Hillary," Wolfe said.

"I'm not going to bash Hillary," Mollison echoed. "Before Obama stepped into the picture, I was for Hillary. And I still love her." She went on to say, "For me, it was like I love Hillary as a person. It wasn't just because she was a woman. I liked her views. It had nothing to do with her being a woman. Oh my god. I've never been a feminist in that respect."

Would you consider yourself a feminist?

"I would, to a certain extent," said Wolfe.

-- Azi Paybarah

A Cook Political Report/RT Strategies poll shows 25 percent of people in favor of sending more troops sent to Iraq. That same poll shows John McCain, who supports the surge, leading Hillary Clinton by six points. Discuss.

DMIblog has a lengthy look at Hillary's immigration policy.

Mike Bloomberg could still jump into the 2008 race in a few months, says Ben. (Speaking of whom, check out the paper under Bloomberg's arm.)

Bloomberg said that it's possible to crack down on illegal guns and respect gun owners' rights.

Ethics reform is stalled in Albany because of, what else, scheduling conflicts.

Coop makes an interesting sighting.

Ads to raise awareness about Dafur will be on the subways soon.

Harry Siegel reflects on pre-Katrina problems with New Orleans the Times' coverage thereof.

Joel Klein in 2009? He didn't say no.

Chris Cillizza wonders what tonight's SOTU catchphrase will be.

John Edwards will have a full-page ad in Roll Call tomorrow.

Pfizer will lay off workers in Brooklyn, where the company was founded, but workers in Connecticut will be spared.

Someone is trying to unload a 7-foot long Ehud Barak poster. For free.

And above is Hillary with a candidate who is being sued over Family Values.

-- Azi Paybarah

Oct. 21, 2006 11:03 p.m. 6 pounds, 8 ounces Lenox Hill Hospital    read more »

Our madcap couple has just returned from having spent Thanksgiving with a large piece of the country  read more »

When I learned that the Russian Tea Room was about to reopen earlier this month after four years as  read more »

In what looks like a conscious echo of Ned Lamont's attention-grabbing literature in Connecticut, here's part of a campaign flyer being handed out by one of the opponents of Transport Workers Union president Roger Toussaint opponents showing him hugging MTA Chairman Peter Kalikow.  read more »

For more information on the flyer, or the union's election later this year, check out Chuck Bennett.

-- Azi Paybarah

Ned Lamont, Connecticut’s Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate, crossed the rainy street alone.  read more »

Ned Lamont, Connecticut’s Democratic nominee for the U.S.  read more »

Less than a week from the elections, it’s getting increasingly easy to envision what for the Repub  read more »

Less than a week from the elections, it’s getting increasingly easy to envision what for the R  read more »

Today's Quinnipiac poll =out of Connecticut has Joe Lieberman leading Ned Lamont 49-37% among likely voters, with the Republican candidate Alan Schlesinger at 8%.

In the Oct. 20th Q poll, Lieberman led Lamont 52-35%.

Lieberman leads Lamont among likely Republican voters (73-6), Democratic voters (56-37) and among independent voters (51-36).

Q pollster Douglas Schwartz said Lamont's hopes of victory are, unfortunately, tied to Schlesinger.

"For Ned Lamont to catch Sen. Joseph Lieberman, he needs Alan Schlesinger to break out of single digits and take away Republican votes from Lieberman."

What are the odds of that?

-- Azi Paybarah

Mayor Bloomberg will visit Connecticut Monday to formalize his endorsement of Joe Lieberman and campaign with the Senator at the Stamford train station. Bloomberg, not exactly the greatest retail campaigner in history ("Hi, how are ya" ad infinitum) will most likely have more impact at the Stamford Marriott, where he will help raise money for the Senator. --Jason Horowitz

George Pataki gets a D from the conservatives at the Cato Institute.

Chuck Schumer raised more money for Senate Democrats than his Republican counterpart.

The New York Magazine blog isn't impressed with the senate debate in Connecticut.

John Faso plays against form by agreeing with Mike Bloomberg on guns.

The connections between the Siena pollsters and John Sweeney are explored here, here and here.

Karol Shenin gets excited about Wal-Mart's $4 prescription drug policy.

Greg Sargent translates Tom Friedman's column about Iraq.

The Working Families Party sings against Iraq.

John Edwards said people can "act patriotically about something besides the war."

Evan Bayh courts labor.

A reporter in Albany got arrested. [added]

And above is Prime Minister Tony Blair singing. Sort of.

-- Azi Paybarah

Former Virginia Governor Mark Warner will not run for president in 2008, a senior advisor to his campaign confirmed this morning. Warner was considered a potential rival to Hillary Clinton when it came to capturing moderate and centrist Democratic voters. Donors and Democratic strategists were intrigued by the idea that, as a southern governor with the proven ability to reach across party lines, he would have been a more palatable and plausible candidate in a general election.

"He has been saying for more than a year that he was going to take a serious look at this thing and then make a decision," said a senior aide to Warner, who said he was asked not to make on the record comments until Warner made his announcement at 11 am. "Ultimately it was a personal consideration."

The source dismissed the idea that Clinton, with her enormous name recognition and reserves of cash, scared Warner off the campaign trail.

"He has a deep and healthy respect for her as a person and a potential candidate," said the source. "But no, none of this was driven by her, shying away from her or anyone else."

Warner, the source said, "is determined to stay in the public and political arena. He is certainly not ruling out a later run for electoral office."

UPDATE: Warner speaks: "while politically this appears to be the right time for me to take the plunge--at this point, I want to have a real life."

Message after the jump.  read more »

--Jason Horowitz

Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara, Sidney Poitier, Lauren Bacall, Jonathan  read more »

What constitutes dirty money in Connecticut?

Here's the Ned Lamont campaign's explanation of the $500,000 contribution that Lamont just made to his own cause:

"I think it says more about Senator Lieberman's expenditures than it does about his (Lamont's) campaign," said Liz Dupont-Diehl, Lamont's spokeswoman. "Lieberman has outspent us two-to-one on tv ads and Ned's just not going to let that happen."

The reason for the gap in spending, she said, is Lamont's aversion to certain types of cash: He refuses to accept campaign contributions from any special interest lobbies, and limits his donor lists to "political leadership PACs" and grassroots-y groups like MoveOn.org.

Lieberman, on the other hand, "has the support of many Democrats and most of the Republicans, not to mention the fundraising help and advice of Karl Rove."

(Last month, Mel Sembler, a former Republican National Committee finance chairman, organized a fund-raiser for Lieberman that raised a couple of hundred thousand dollars.)

Dan Gerstein, Lieberman's spokesman, writes in with a very different take:

"Ned also crows about not taking PAC money, and then turns around and gladly accepts leadership PAC money from the likes of John Kerry. And where does that leadership PAC money come from? The same lobbyists and corporate interests that Ned is disingenuously attacking. That's Ned at his typical, hy-pac-critical worst. And just this week we learned that Ned is plugging a fundraiser he is doing with Ted Kennedy that is openly soliciting -- you guessed it -- PAC money."

--Jason Horowitz

Rep. John Murtha, the military-minded Democrat who is calling for troops to be withdrawn from Iraq, said tonight that Hillary Clinton is "slowly coming around" on the Iraq War issue.

Hillary has come to see the light recently by supporting Ned Lamont in Connecticut and calling for Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to resign. But she hasn't said her vote for the Iraq War was a mistake.

Speaking at a town hall meeting in Brooklyn, Murtha said:

"I think the senator from New York is slowly coming around. I believe the senator from New York has begun to see the light I hope. She called me... and I said, 'You can take the lead in this anti-war, this particular war fight.' And she declined. I don't understand what her reasoning is..."

The town hall meeting was hosted by Rep. Anthony Weiner and congressional candidate Yvette Clarke, is here.  read more »

More in the morning.

-- Azi Paybarah

The mid-90s: a good thing.

• How the mighty have fallen! Ex-executive, ex-con Martha Stewart may sell her $9 million Turkey Hill estate to a "Connecticut-based local TV host." This personality, Mr. Mar Jennings, will own the hallowed grounds on which Ms. Stewart's not-impenetrable empire was built. (New York Post)
• Is "buzz"-happy Red Hook still the same neighborhood? Maybe. According to the Times, "local real estate agents" agree that the majority of residents still live in projects--and the Red Hook Houses have nearly the lowest average income in New York. That stat comes from a NYT piece on the neighborhood's African American "old timers," in which real estate nicknames like "Poor Block, Junkie Paradise, Crazy Corner" are rattled off without a hint of condescension or discomfort. (New York Times)
• CNN loves the bubble, or at least it loves bubble stories. Thus we are all alerted this morning to the big news that real estate does not necessarily make a good short-term investment. The story's headline reads: "With the real estate bubble losing air, is this your big chance - or the single worst time to buy?" Everyone panic. (CNN/Money)
• Eloquent Metropolis gives a brief overview of the recent infiltration of public art, including Sarah Sze's Corner Plot in Central Park ("self-contained by its submerged plot"), Nancy Rubins' Big Pleasure Point at Lincoln Center ("Hurricane Katrina"), and Jeff Koons' Balloon Flower (Red) at 7 WTC ("of course... now trite."). (Metropolis)
• Questionable Expert Assertion of the Day: "Long Island City, along with Greenpoint, Brooklyn, contain the same potential as such Manhattan areas as Chelsea or the Lower East Side." (Globe St.)
- Max Abelson  read more »
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How Joe Lieberman Beat Himself  read more »

It's no coincidence that a purposeful silence has replaced the well-publicized calls from Republicans last month for no-hope GOP Senate candidate Alan Schlesinger to make way for someone more credible.

The state and national party, it seems, have concluded that they can't succeed in Connecticut this year under any circumstance, and would rather see Joe Lieberman win -- which polls show he's likely to do, absent a credible Republican candidate -- than risk handing the election to Democrat Ned Lamont.

This morning, a source at the National Republican Senatorial Committee confirmed in a phone interview that the party will not help Schlesinger or any other potential Republican candidate in Connecticut, and it now favors a Lieberman victory in November.

"We did a poll and there is no way any Republican we put out there can win, so we are just going to leave that one alone," said the NRSC source.

Instead, the NRSC is pulling for Lieberman over Ned Lamont, who rode an anti-war message to a victory in the Aug 8 primary.

"Most Republicans would agree that he'd clearly be a better choice than Lamont," said the source.

--Jason Horowitz UPDATE: An NRSC spokesman just called to make clear the distinction between actively and openly supporting Lieberman, which they're not doing, and merely opting not to support a Republican in Connecticut.

"The NRSC is not supporting Lieberman," said Brian Nick, a spokesman for the NRSC. "He is a Democrat who votes 90 percent of the time with the Democrats. The race isn't competitive at this point -- our resources will be used elsewhere."

What does Hillary Clinton really believe?  read more »

WASHINGTON—For Democrats in this swampy, overheated capital—where the Starbucks are closed by 8  read more »

What does Hillary Clinton really believe?    read more »

WASHINGTON—For Democrats in this swampy, overheated capital—where the Starbucks are clos  read more »

No one is happier about Alan Schlesinger, the hapless Republican candidate in the three-way race for Joe Lieberman's seat in Connecticut, than Joe Lieberman.

The incumbent senator, after all, is counting on the support of Republicans as well as independents and moderate Democrats to beat Ned Lamont in the general election. And having credible Republican in the race -- which Schlesinger, forgive us for saying, is not -- could siphon a serious number of votes from Lieberman's "independent Democrat" candidacy.

So... remember Jack Orchulli?

He's the well-connected multi-millionaire and former partner of the fashion designer Michael Kors who ran and lost against Chris Dodd in the 2004 Senate race. Orchulli did manage to draw a third of the vote in that Senate campaign two years ago -- a handy number to keep in mind in a three-way race-- and has the ability to raise a lot of money very quickly.

Orchulli told us late yesterday that he's already been approached by state Republicans about replacing the hapless Alan Schlesinger as the G.O.P. nominee in the Connecticut Senate Race -- and that he'd "make himself available" to do it.

"Should the party decide that they want me, and should Mr. Schlesinger decide that he wants to step aside, I would make myself available to them," said Mr.Orchulli. "If I was in it, it would undercut the perception that Mr. Lieberman has the Republicans, and it would change the dynamic of this whole race."

And though the Times wrote after the election that Republicans hadn't much idea about a credible alternative candidate, Orchulli, at least, sees it differently.  read more »

"The funds would be there," he said. "There is personal money, and people have expressed interest in raising money." So can Orchulli possible be the guy? Or does all the praise of Lieberman by the Republican leadership, including Karl Rove, suggest that they have something else in mind?

--Jason Horowitz

We can probably draw two conclusions from the news that Dan Gerstein has just been named Joe Lieberman's communications director:

1) Gerstein is being rewarded for his tireless advocacy on behalf of Lieberman throughout what was a very rough primary campaign.

2) Gerstein has concluded that serving as a consultant to Tom Suozzi's campaign is no longer the most productive use of his time.

Here's what he told us about his decision to join Lieberman full time -- and to leave Suozzi:

"I feel bad about it. I really enjoyed working with him."

And, he added, "I was very much looking forward to going back to help Tom after the primary, under the assumption he was going to win. The results turned out otherwise."

The decision was made this morning. According to Gerstein, it was Lieberman who called Suozzi this afternoon to deliver the news.

Full announcement after the jump.  read more »

-- Jason Horowitz

Betsy Gotbaum discusses the findings in her review of a city hunger hotline at Campo Ministerio Serepta soup kitchen on the Lower East Side.

Jonathan Tasini holds a press conference on the significance of the Connecticut Democratic Primary for the anti-war vote against Hiliary Clinton on the steps of City Hall.

Assemblyman Andrew Hevesi shares his knowledge of New York government with teens from Bukharian and Queens at the Teen Lounge at the Central Queens YM/YWHA.

Gay Men's Health Crisis commemorates its 25th anniversary with a vigil and candlelight march beginning at the Colonial House Inn.

—Nicole Brydson

Also in the Observer this week, Jason Horowitz looks at the bad week Joe Lieberman had trying to motivate -- or even locate -- Democratic supporters in Connecticut.

And Steve Kornacki writes about the unusual phenomenon of ideological primary challenges in the Democratic Party.

It's going to be interesting, now that Lamont is the nominee, to see how enthusiastically Lieberman's Democratic colleagues in the Senate actually work against him.

Chuck Schumer's DSCC is already decked out for Lamont, and it's probably fair to assume that all of the other Senators who promised to support the winner are going to follow suit.

It looks like Lieberman will have the support of one prominent liberal Republican: Mike Bloomberg, whose backing should count for something in a general election.

-- Josh Benson UPDATE: Speaking of support from Republicans, George Stephanopoulos is now reporting that Karl Rove has reached out to Lieberman, on behalf of the president, with an offer of help.

“The goalposts have been moved,” said Dan Gerstein, a former aide to Senator Joseph Lieb  read more »

The conventional narrative of what may become Joe Lieberman’s final campaign for public office  read more »

The conventional narrative of what may become Joe Lieberman’s final campaign for public office—p  read more »

There’s an enigmatic new celeb on the cultural radar. Can you guess his name?  read more »

More on the political stakes in the Joe Lieberman race: Eve Kessler writes in the Forward about nervousness that "thousands of hawkish Jewish Democrats who see the Connecticut lawmaker as their standard-bearer will either abandon the party or sit out the November election."

She quotes Lieberman ally and Democratic fundraiser Michael Granoff blaming bloggers for an impending political mess: "What the blogger community is doing in Connecticut is going to hurt the party -- that's axiomatic. If the message is, 'There's no room for Joe Lieberman in the Democratic Party,' that means a whole lot of people are not welcome there. People are disgusted."

And she casts David Brooks in the token role of conservative-rubbing-hands-over-Jewish-exodus.

Of course, it's worth noting that the much-discussed notion of masses of security-minded Jewish voters defecting to the GOP after 9/11 never really materialized.

Just to put Lieberman's treatment by some grumpy bloggers in perpective.

-- Josh Benson

Today's Times has a good piece about the leftwing rage toward Joe Lieberman for being George Bush's lapdog on the disastrous Iraq policy. Even the Daily Kos has come out for Lieberman's primary opponent, Ned Lamont, who wants Connecticut to be progressive again.

I'm all for Lamont; I want Lieberman and all the other so-called liberal hawks—and the rightwing hawks, too—to sleep in the bed they made for themselves in the thuggish faith that you can impose democracy by force in the Mideast, or anywhere for that matter.

But the article exposes the left's soft underbelly. Withdraw the troops? Well, no. Lamont says he wants the troops withdrawn from the Sunni Triangle immediately, then we should establish benchmarks for their complete withdrawal. The left's leader on the issue, Russ Feingold, says that we should have all troops out by the end of the year. Others talk about an "oil spot" strategy—similar to Lamont's idea, in which Baghdad is secured and then the peace spreads out over the rest of the country like an oil spot on your jeans.

The difficulty is that few on the left have any clear idea what to do. By and large, we feel an American withdrawal would cause more suffering. Myself, I say that the main thing we need to do now, and forcefully, is repudiate our current policy so that we can actually get other countries to help us try and stabilize the place. But is that a policy? Not really.

Believe me, I despise Bush and Lieberman as much as anyone, for the incalculable suffering they brought to a people they've never met, out of a fantasy about their own power and goodness. They should suffer politically for that, and in their dreams. The problem for my side is that the left's only political position is that rage. We hope to milk till November at least, when progressives will be empowered and neoconservative nationalism's back is broken. I suppose we can rationalize the fact that there's no responsibility in that program because we feel no responsibility. Hey, when we said, "Not In My Name," about this war, we meant it.

The moral difficulty is that it places us in a really bad position: hoping for more bad news from Iraq, pulling for the insurgents.

Troubled Amtrak has long worked well in the Northeast Corridor--Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, various Connecticut cities, Providence, Boston.

So now the Bush administration, according to The New York Times, has a new solution: Charge surplus-addled commuter rail systems in those cities for their use of Amtrak facilities--tracks, stations, etc.

The plan, according to The Times,

could hit New Jersey Transit hard, because it operates many trains over long routes. The Long Island Rail Road could be charged more for using Pennsylvania Station in New York City. Metro-North Railroad, which terminates in New Haven, runs on tracks owned by New York and Connecticut, but the Shore Line East, which runs east of New Haven, operates on Amtrak tracks and could be hit for more. Septa, which serves the Philadelphia area, and the commuter systems serving Boston, Wilmington and Baltimore would also be subject to new charges.

But can they actually do this? The commuter rails already have arrangements with Amtrak for the use of their facilities.

And in New York, where a greater portion of commuter rail is already funded through fare-paying customers, are Amtrak trains serving the region to be partially subsidized by suburban commuters?

As it is, the successful New Jersey Transit and Long Island Railroad lines are likely to be the ones footing the bill for the new Penn Station--which will be across the street from Amtrak's old "vomitorium," Penn Station. Remember the big plans for a rail hub that would welcome commuters to the city? To paraphrase Vincent Scully, now suburban commuters who already work in the city will be entering like emperors, while tourists slither in like rats.  read more »

- Tom McGeveran

Dec. 5, 2005 6:46 a.m. 7 pounds, 11 ounces Greenwich Hospital    read more »

Dec. 5, 20056:46 a.m.

7 pounds, 11 ounces  read more »

Greenwich Hospital

Second Thoughts On Term Limits  read more »

So what is a New York City Democrat supposed to do?  read more »

So what is a New York City Democrat supposed to do?    read more »

Hilly and I had our third couples therapy session.  read more »

Jeanine Pirro has received at least $2,000 in campaign contributions from a company with long-reported ties to organized crime, according to Westchester campaign finance records.

Pirro's campaign for district attorney accepted $500 from the company, Worth Construction of Bethel, Connecticut., as recently as June 20, 2005. (Worth is one of several suspect donors catalogued in this Daily News report today.)

The company was barred from bidding on school construction contracts in New York City after its president, Joseph Pontoriero, refused to answer any questions from authorities about his alleged mob ties, according to published reports. The firm has denied any such links.

The Times reported in 2000:

"Mr. Pontoriero was listed as an unindicted co-conspirator in the so-called commission case, a key prosecution in 1986 that helped break the mob's stranglehold on the concrete industry. That trial, a 10-week glimpse at gangland lore, established the existence of a Mafia politburo, known as the commission, and resulted in the conviction of the city's top crime leaders.

"He was a regular visitor to the Palma Boys Social Club in East Harlem in the 1980's, where, according to the F.B.I., he often met and talked with Anthony ["Fat Tony"] Salerno, then the crime family's boss."

Worth executives also contributed $9,000 to Al D'Amato's reelection campaign in 1997, and their contributions in 1999 to Al Gore generated something of a scandal after they were disclosed.

Westchester's electronic records, which go back only as far as 2001, list a $1,000 contribution to Pirro that year, followed by $500 in 2004 and another $500 this year.  read more »

Pirro spokesman Mike McKeon told the News and the (ever-gracious with the credit) Times: "Jeanine Pirro has prosecuted more than 100 made members and associates of the mob and has been a leader in the fight against organized crime. Any suggestion to the contrary is just ridiculous."

HARTFORD, CONN. (AP) -- State Democrats are criticizing Senate Republicans for inviting political consultant Dick Morris to a fund-raiser when he owes the state more than $250,000 in back taxes.  read more »

My students tell me the painter Julie Mehretu is hot stuff.  read more »

At J.  read more »

During the 2004 election coverage, I repeatedly cringed at the unflattering ensembles I saw woman po  read more »