It is easy to be so taken by Arianna Huffington's charm and personal history that one loses sight of the big picture. Just ask the New Yorker's Lauren Collins, whose profile of the Huffington Post publisher had too much on Huffington's yoga and sleeping habits and not enough about how she operates her business. The Times, too, seems to be overly concerned with personal narratives this morning, educating readers at length about how Huffington and royalist competitor Tina Brown went to fancy London parties together in the 1970s and both dated older men, so they're friendly rather than cutthroat competitors. Whatever. The real question: How is either of these money-losing publishers going to attract advertising?

HuffPo, as we've said before is a partisan political site and thus a tough sell to advertisers. Even if the site could somehow maintain its traffic levels after the election (doubtful), it will struggle to likewise maintain advertiser base. Rolling high right before the election, it's nevertheless losing money and trying to put together $6 million to $10 million in financing amid a liquidity crisis. (The Times is told this financing "could be closed" by the end of December. Sure.) (UPDATE: Ad Age tackled the question of HuffPo's future Monday.)

The Daily Beast, meanwhile, seems like it could well be too highbrow, ultimately aiming, one presumes, for a rarified market of "globally curious" luxury good purchasers. The Monocle set, if you will. Trouble is, that demographic and its advertisers hav suddenly become quite a bit more, uh, exclusive and hard to come by.

The juiciest bit in the Times piece concerns debate among Brown's backers over money:

Michael Jackson, the head of online programming at IAC and a longtime lieutenant of the company’s chairman, Barry Diller, distanced himself from The Daily Beast. After being involved in its early formation, he raised questions about the cost, according to three people briefed on the matter who were willing to speak freely on the condition that they remain anonymous. Ms. Brown now reports directly to Mr. Diller.

Every party is broken up by someone at some point. Huffington and Brown should appreciate that fact particularly.