"Democrats’ path to holding their Senate majority has narrowed, with Republicans pulling ahead in critical states and on the cusp of upsets in several others. Even some within the party are starting to say their midterm prognosis isn’t good. 'Democrats are, as we’ve talked about before, going to have a bad Election Day, no matter how you slice it,' former White House press secretary Jay Carney told CNN on Tuesday evening. With wins in West Virginia, South Dakota and Montana all but certain, the GOP feels increasingly optimistic about its chances of flipping Arkansas, Alaska and Louisiana, and nabbing at least one of the two most competitive swing states, Iowa and Colorado. Now, the party is eyeing tightening races in New Hampshire and North Carolina —races Republicans promised all along would be competitive in the end — as signs a GOP wave is building, giving it more options in its pursuit of Senate control. Jim Manley, a Democratic strategist and former aide to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), said while he’s still optimistic in North Carolina, Republicans appear to be surging overall. 'In North Carolina, I think the Republicans see the seat slipping away, but in other parts of the country I think they feel they have momentum on their side and they’re going in for the kill,' he told The Hill. Manley said he still thinks Democrats will be able to “eke it out” in the final week before the midterms. But he acknowledged that New Hampshire and North Carolina are must-wins for the party — and that their tightening is a concern. 'I’m not sure [Democrats] can' lose either one and still control the Senate, Manley said. Republicans say current polling mirrors 2006, a bad midterm cycle for their own party, when Democrats picked up six seats in the Senate. They note that every Republican incumbent polling below 48 percent support at this point in the cycle that year lost. A new Washington Post/ABC News poll out Tuesday underscores the GOP’s advantage nationally. Across nine states with competitive Senate races, voters prefer Republicans over Democrats in a generic House match-up, 57 to 39 percent." (TheHill)
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| Jesse and his beautiful wife Karen. |
"JESSE KORNBLUTH’S novel, 'Married Sex' has been snapped up for the Hollywood treatment. Griffin Dunne will direct and Nick Wechsler will produce. (Wechsler’s credits include the classic indie 'Sex, Lies, and Videotape' and the more recent, classic for less esoteric reasons, 'Magic Mike.')Kornbluth, Griffin Dunne and Griffin’s dad, the late Dominick Dunne were old friends. Jesse felt some of the scenes in his book 'could have been written by Dominick.' So this past August, on the anniversary of the writer’s death, Kornbluth sent Griffin the book, 'an act of friendship — to complete the circle, as it were. The next thing we all knew, Griffin and Nick Weschsler and I were in business!'" (Liz Smith)
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"Yesterday at the Plaza, the New York chapter of the American Cancer Society held its 19th annual Mothers of the Year luncheon. This year they honored mothers Deborah Norville and Felice H. Schnoll-Sussman, MD. You know who Deborah Norville is. Dr. Schnoll-Sussman is an Associate Professor of Clincal Medicine in the division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology and Director of the Jay Monahan Center for Gastrointestinal Health at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center. Diana Feldman, who is long a devoted and enthusiastic Volunteer Chairman of Special Events for the American Cancer Society, opened the luncheon and introduced Paula Zahn was emcee. Paula, incidentally, who is also a professional cellist, in telling me about her day told me that she was performing last night in a chamber music concert at Carnegie Hall. Paula put herself through Stevens College on a musical scholarship playing cello and has performed in chamber music concerts all over the world.Paula then introduced Muffie Potter Aston who was an honoree in 2011 talked about Motherhood and then introduced Deborah’s husband Karl Wellner (the perfect “Viking” according to Muffie who is an old friend of both). Karl spoke about their meeting -- on a blind date and then presented the Mother of the Year Award to his wife. Deborah who talked about her own experience growing up, including the experience her grandfather’s death of colon cancer, and what motherhood has been like for her with her three children (two sons and a daughter, all of whom are now young adults). Both Deborah and Muffie celebrated hands-on motherhood with their talks." (NYSD)
David Gregory
"Dumped 'Meet the Press' host David Gregory was close to landing at CNN, insiders say, but the network didn’t reach a deal to bring him onboard because of his big salary demands amid crushing company cost-cutting. Page Six exclusively revealed that Gregory had met with his onetime NBC champion Jeff Zucker at CNN in August, and the two were then spotted having lunch as Gregory’s embarrassing ouster at ratings-challenged 'Meet the Press' became imminent. 'Jeff was really considering hiring David,' a source familiar with the talks told us. 'But they could not come up with a number to get him there.' The source added that staff cuts of around 10 percent at CNN and its parent, Turner Broadcasting, made the deal impossible. 'They were meeting around the time of the crazy layoffs at CNN, and it would have looked really bad giving out a huge contract while people were being laid off.' Gregory earned up to $5 million a year and, according to sources, got $4 million to exit NBC before being replaced by Chuck Todd. His 'Meet the Press' predecessor Tim Russert reportedly made $5 million a year as host." (P6)
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