Media-Whore D'Oevres

"Even if McCain wanted to match Obama’s choice of venue, he couldn’t: Minnesota’s last large open-air venue, Metropolitan Stadium, closed in 1981 and was demolished in 1985, only to be transformed a decade later into the famous Mall of America. The only Invesco-like venue in the state is the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, where the Twins, Vikings and the University of Minnesota’s football team play. But this is beside the point: McCain can’t attract the masses to rallies like Obama can, and even if he could, it’s doubtful that his performance would rise to the occasion. The football stadium rally is an Obama calling card. McCain would only look like a feeble imitator if he tried to hold one of his own." (Observer)

"Clay was the center of it. And he was never afraid to be interesting. So many of the people who get into the magazine business are terrified of being interesting. My God, what trouble you could cause!" (Gore Vidal/NYMag)

"DIDDY must have felt like a D-lister when he had to wait to get into his own Fourth of July bash on the East End. The rap mogul 'barely made it in' to the Ciroc vodka-sponsored party he hosted at East Hampton hot spot Lily Pond because, by 11 p.m., more than 1,000 clubgoers had already lined up in the parking lot. 'They were blocking Diddy's grand entrance,' said our source. 'He and his entourage arrived with a three-car fleet of Cadillac SUVs and were forced to turn around. He couldn't even make it close to the front door.'" (PageSix)

"A grey and foggy first July weekend in New York with some rainfall keeping the pavement damp and shrouding the cityscapes by the river with a luminous grey mist. I read Michael Shnayerson’s piece in the new Vanity Fair (with the Gossip Girls on the cover) on Hamptons real estate. Evidently any property under five million isn’t moving these days." (NYSocialDiary)