Hill-arious! Republican Senate hopeful John Spencer denied telling Daily News reporter Ben Smith that he thought opponent Hillary Clinton was ugly and probably had plastic surgery. Spencer did admit to noticing how Clinton's style had changed, but says he never questioned Bill Clinton's decision to marry. Well, Ben Smith explains how the conversation came about:Spencer and his wife, Kathy, by chance, sat beside me on a Friday morning JetBlue flight to Rochester. Spencer read The......

Senator Hillary Clinton and her Republican opponent John Spencer debated yesterday morning, and as expected, Spencer brought up her presidential ambitions again. He questioned why she was making trips in states that are important electorally and even went as far to say that he happened to like her (he's got nothing to lose, since the GOP isn't throwing any money at his campaign) she'd be a “tremendous” presidential candidate. But that's as far as the......

Last night, Senator Hillary Clinton and Republican challenger John Spencer met upstate for their first debate. Aside from the fact that they were actually meeting, it was a fairly mild affair, given Clinton's huge 2-to-1 lead over Spencer. Spencer, a former mayor of Yonkers, did raise the question of Clinton's 2008 ambitions, saying, "You're not president yet, Mrs. Clinton!" when she discussed wanting to remove Donald Rumsfeld. He also questioned Clinton's huge warchest, "She's raised......

Siena College released poll numbers for various NY election races yesterday. In the wackiest race of all - the Attorney General race between Democrat Andrew Cuomo and Republican Jeanine Pirro - it looks like the embattled Pirro is gaining slightly on Cuomo. Cuomo now leads by 13 points, 50 to Pirro's 37, but a month ago, Cuomo led by 17 points. But it's not like voters are suddenly switching sides - Cuomo's numbers went down......

With the primary settling who's running in November, candidates came out swinging. And the best cage match might be the Attorney General's race. The NY Times had this first line:Kicking off their general-election battle for New York State attorney general yesterday, Andrew M. Cuomo and Jeanine F. Pirro could not have smiled more, sounded nicer, or done a poorer job of concealing their true feelings: they want to shred each other.In fact, Democrats in NY......

With just 55 days left, the dance cards are set for the general election. As expected, Attorney General Eliot Spitzer and Senator Hillary Clinton won their respectives primaries for governor and Senate. The NY Times noted that Clinton's reosounding win showed that her support of the Iraq war did not affect voter sentiment:“Clinton’s work ethic, her lack of enemies, and her fund-raising help for other Democrats have insulated her from party criticism, including on......

If you're a registered Democrat or Republican, get your primary shoes out. Here's a list of candidates (PDF), but the shortlist of primaries is: - Governor: For the Democrats, Attorney General Eliot Spitzer vs. Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi - Attorney General: For the Democrats, Andrew Cuomo vs. Mark Green - Senate: For the Democrats, Senator Hillary Clinton vs. Jonathan Tasini; for the Repubilcans, John Spencer vs. Kathlen T. McFarland - Congress, 11th District in......

After last year's mess of an awards show and this year's joke of nominations (where is love for Lauren Graham, Academy of Television Arts & Sciences?), we were going to swear off this year's Emmys. But then we realized Conan O'Brien was hosting, so we must watch and liveblog. And there's the hope of a good Steve Carrell bit, not to mention awkward reaction shots of Candy and Tori Spelling during the Aaron Spelling tribute.......

Huh - it really seems like Senate hopeful Kathleen Troia McFarland has some bad mojo. There was losing the Republican bid to challenge Hillary Clinton this fall, though she's still battling it out with Republican nominee John Spencer for a pimary. There was not having enough campaign money, so she had to dig into her personal savings. There was the revelation that she abandoned her sick brother because he was gay. There was the insane......

While the Senate race this fall is kind of boring, in that Senator Hillary Clinton is pretty much assured re-election, one thing that is exciting is the insanity of the Republican party. The two Republican candidates, John Spencer and K.T. McFarland, debated on NY1 last night and it was balls out nuts. Spencer won the Republican party's nomination, but McFarland is hoping to sway some people during the primary (September 12) with digs like this:"You......

Many politicians will be marching in the Gay Pride Parade, as it's a big election year, and, like many constituencies with issues at stake, the gay community generally heads to the polls to support their candidates. Which makes Republican Senate hopeful Kathleen T. McFarland's new disclosure about her family fascinating. The NY Times reports that McFarland's advisers told to her reveal that her childhood home was "physically abusive" and why she became estranged with her......

The Gay Pride Parade started at noon at Fifth Avenue and 52nd Street, but don't worry, you'll be able to check it out as it winds its way down Fifth, making a right when it right 8th Street and then heads towards Christopher Street, and will take a few hours. And there will be lots of celebrating along the way and afterwards, what with Pridefest and the Dance on the Pier. The parade's co-Grand Marshals......

Former Massachusetts Governor William Weld dropped out of the Republican race, officially letting the much lesser known John Faso take the Republican nomination worry-free. The maneuvering seemed to come after various state GOP bigwigs asked Weld to step down after Weld, who was initially supported by Governor Pataki and former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, made a poor, but viable-enough-to-force-a-primary showing during the GOP convention. Faso is conservative, while Weld was much more moderate, and the GOP......

Wolfmother...

To no one's surprise, Senator Hillary Clinton won the NY State Democratic nomination for this fall's Senate race. Which means she got to use her acceptance speech as a possible preview into a run for the presidency someday. The NY Times said that President Bill Clinton kept talking and talking (about Hillary), "until finally, perhaps realizing he was the only politician left in the room, he turned to go." That Bubba - what an operator!......

- The Village Voice gets a new editor in chief - and he's from DC - A crane crashed into a overpass on the LIE in Queens and there are huge delays - the truck that was carrying the crane dragged the crane into the shoulder - The Long Goodbye: WNBC puts up photographs from this morning's Katie Couric Farewell episode and the Today website has video - What everyone wanted: A 77 page......

- AMNY is reporting that a Manhattan-bound L train derailed from the yards in Carnarsie (there were no passengers; the conductor and motorman are uninjured), disrupting service between Rockaway and Broadway... it's unclear how this will affect the evening commute - Wannabe Republican senator nominee John Spencer says the other possible nominee, KT MacFarland, is a pawn of Hillary Clinton's - Cingular service seemed to be down for a while today for New Yorkers......

Gothamist was a bit underwhelmed by this year's Golden Globe nominees, and we were thinking of not liveblogging. But, gosh darn it as we watched the E! preshow and saw the starlets sparkle their way down the red carpet, we realize it was hopeless, so here we are. Let it be known that: - Keira Knightley looks gorgeous in her white Valentino - and there's something surprisingly youthful about the dress, even though there's that......