Media-Whore D'Oevres

"I believe that before the Florida primary occurred, and knowing that Huckabee would do no better than 3rd or 4th, the McCain camp had already reached out to them to get Huckabee to stay in the Florida primary. The McCain strategists also believed that Giuliani’s 'inside straight' bet (meaning that he avoided the preceding primaries and bet all on Florida) would fail miserably. If Giuliani pulled from the campaign, then the three remaining candidates would be: McCain, Romney and Huckabee. If you play blackjack, and in the world of politics, McCain getting Huckabee to stay in the race through Tuesday is the equivalent of 'insurance.' The McCain strategists (largely Charlie Black) knew that keeping Huckabee in would freeze the conservative vote - more conservatives could like split for Romney than McCain if Huckabee was out. Here is where the math comes in: even if McCain gets less than 50-percent of the vote in the winner-takes-all primary contests, he could end up garnering over half the number of delegates needed to win the nomination." (NYSD)

"Chelsea Clinton’s presence was part of a last-minute push to humanize her mother before an electorate that sometimes needs to be reminded ... At Christmastime, Clinton took a leave of absence from the Avenue Capital Group, a New York hedge fund run by Clinton friends. Clinton’s most intense engagement on the trail may have come at Cimarron-Memorial High School in northwest Las Vegas, the packed site of several caucuses Jan. 19." (Politico)

"While supposedly under house arrest in Croatia, indicted army General Mladen Markac was photographed on a hunting trip with a group of fellow hunters, their bagged boars and the Minister of the Interior, Ivica Kirin. Despite attempts to prove otherwise, the incident suggests neither judicial reform nor co-operation with the UN are high priorities for the government. Rather, the government remains caught up in its wartime legacy and has yet to feel secure in its prosecution of indicted generals." (Janes)

"MARC Jacobs kicked off Fashion Week with a documentary on the behind-the-scenes life of a designer - although many viewers would have likely been more interested in the secret tryst he's been having with a porn star. Jacobs has been quietly seeing adult film actor Erik Rhodes and whisking him away to secret locations, sources told Page Six. The new fling is likely the reason things have cooled again between Jacobs and former male escort Jason Preston, whom he's dated on and off since 2005." (Page Six)

"The question that came up at the end of the debate is one I’ve been turning over in my mind recently: Would either of them consider the other as a running mate? Obama-Clinton is less likely. Why would Hillary, who could well become the Senate Majority Leader, take the No. 2 job when she was already No. 1.5 for eight years? And why would Obama want the two Clintons in his White House when we’ve been seeing, or remembering, how toxic the pairing of these two individually stellar political talents can be? But Clinton-Obama has a magnetic logic. He would be spared death by Senate tenure and receive the best possible apprenticeship for the Presidency; she would absorb the tremendous surge of newness behind his candidacy. It’s possible, in spite of last night’s good spirits and near-hug, that they despise each other too much by now. If so, too bad for them separately and their Party as a whole." (NewYorker)

"You have to hand it to Lionel Richie, the guy knows how to handle the bad times as well as the good ... With experience, apparently, comes wisdom, and he was the star turn last night at the New England Patriots' private post-Super Bowl party at the Westin Kierland Resort and Spa in Scottsdale, Ariz. Looking into the crowd, he saw all the long faces of the players (minus Tom Brady and girlfriend Gisele Bundchen, who never showed), coaches, a sad, pacing Bill Belichick, as well as owners and their families, he said, 'Come on, there's reason to celebrate. Lionel Richie survived Nicole Richie!'" (PageSix)

"Democratic Senate candidates continued to trump their Republican counterparts in many key races around the country in the fourth quarter. Financial reports show Democrats topped Republicans by hundreds of thousands of dollars in races in Colorado, Louisiana, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Virginia. GOP incumbents held fast to money edges in other top races in Kentucky, Maine, North Carolina, Oregon and Texas. The map of races, GOP retirements, and money all appear to be favoring the Democrats with 10 months to go until they look to keep and expand their majority." (TheHill)