Clay Aiken won the Democratic nomination for North Carolina's 2nd congressional district this afternoon, just one day after his primary opponent, Keith Crisco, died from injuries suffered in a fall.

Keith Crisco, the man locked in a tight battle with Clay Aiken for the Democratic nomination for North Carolina's second congressional district, died suddenly at his home on Monday, reportedly from a fall.

Clay Aiken, the runner-up from season 2 of American Idol, holds a slim lead in his Democratic Congressional primary against former North Carolina Commerce Secretary Keith Crisco this morning. Aiken is ahead by just 372 votes with all precincts already reporting, leaving the race too close to call.

American Idol maven and auburn-haired Broadway crooner Clay Aiken thinks "Washington is dysfunctional." So he'd like to be a congressman and fix all that now, please, thank you very much.

Clay Aiken is a bored, rich person so he might as well consider running for office. That, according to the Washington Blade, is precisely an idea the 35-year-old singer has started to put in motion in recent months. From American Idol winner to... the gay Al Franken?

Hollywood Week has ended its first week! Yes, there's more than one week to this single week. Similarly, all the American Idols are German. It's just how things work — time bends, reflections change — in Ryan Seacrest's imagination world.

"Real Housewife" Jill Zarin turns 46 today. Ben Stiller is turning 44. Actor Gael García Bernal is 31. Writer/director David Mamet is 62. Model Chanel Iman is turning 20. Director Ridley Scott is turning 72. TV legend Dick Clark turns 80 today. Billy Idol is 54. Elisha Cuthbert, the actress and ex-girlfriend of Sean Avery, is 27. Actress Amy Ryan turns 40. Performance artist Marina Abramovic is 63. Retired NFL and MLB star Bo Jackson turns 47. Watergate burglar-turned-radio host G. Gordon Liddy is 79. Clay Aiken is turning 31. And Joan Ganz Cooney, the Sesame Street creator, wife of billionaire financier Pete Peterson, and step-grandmother to PC Peterson, is 80.

[Submit your own Gawker Stalker sightings to stalker@gawker.com] June 15 @ 11 am I was leaving the Flatiron Building and I spotted Clay Aiken. He was probably heading up to the Macmillan Publishing offices

Good Saturday morning! Tom Brady and Gisele Bundchen spawning, Keifer Sutherland, Clay Aiken, and Giada De Laurentiis squashing separate (but equal!) beefs, Robert Pattinson gets some Can(nes), and Beyonce sez: "avoid the gym."

Last night millions of American Idol fans tuned in to watch the show's season finale. But you know who didn't?—-Clay Aiken, who basically trashed everything about Idol today on the subscription-only message board of his website, going so far as to say Adam Lambert made his ears bleed!

Tyra Banks, Suze Orman, Keith Olbermann, and Phil Donahue were among the honorees at the 20th annual GLAAD Media Awards at the Marriott Marquis on Saturday night. A few of the people on hand for the occasion: Jonathan Adler and Simon Doonan (left), Chris Noth, Clay Aiken, T.R. Knight, Tim Gunn, Christian Siriano, Cherry Jones, Robert Verdi, Heather Matarazzo and Carolyn Murphy, Vanessa Williams, Michael Urie, Ana Ortiz, Junior Vasquez, Jay Manuel, Hanna Storm, Brad Rowe, Jenny Shimizu, Stockard Channing, Judith Light, S. Epatha Merkerson, State Sen. Eric Schneiderman, and Hedda Lettuce. [PMc, Wireimage, Advocate, Access Hollywood]

♦ Either Mariah Carey is pregnant or she's determined to do whatever it takes to stay in the spotlight. The diva was spotted looking "ebullient" on her way out of an OB/GYN's office in LA, where she was greeted by a cheering entourage and seen clutching "what looked like a sonogram." [P6, Mirror]
♦ Kate Moss skipped champagne and wore a loose dress to a Vogue event in China, which means she must be pregnant, too. [The Sun]
♦ In an upcoming issue of O, Oprah says she's "fallen off the wagon" and now weighs 200 lbs. But she blames it on her "out-of-balance thyroid," which gave her "a fear of working out." [AP]
♦ Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich watching soccer at Nevada Smith's in the East Village with girlfriend Dasha Zhukova? We can hardly believe it. [P6]
♦ Steve Schwarzman insisting on remaining centerstage at yesterday's Vanity Fair photo shoot? That sounds likely. [P6]

When Hollywood's best and brightest finally look for signs leading up to today's stripper-consuming, Dark Lord-producing Pop Cultural Doomsday, we have a feeling they'll find a trail of dark psychic energy leading all the way back to the day before Thanksgiving, when NBC aired a televised ritual of evil incantations known as Rosie Live! It was here that the stage was no doubt set for our destruction, and accordingly, comedienne Kathy Griffin adopted a "what the hell" attitude and attempted to mend fences with longtime foil Clay Aiken backstage. Sadly, even the impending end of the world couldn't produce warm feelings from Aiken:

Lindsay Lohan leaving the Bowery Hotel ... Michelle Williams walking in Brooklyn with daughter Matilda ... Jada Pinkett Smith arriving at her hotel in Midtown ... Gretchen Mol shooting scenes for her new show, Life on Mars, on Roosevelt Island ... Agyness Deyn walking with a coffee in hand ... George Hamilton arriving at NBC studios ... Zoe Kravitz flipping off photographers while walking with her mom Lisa Bonet and her mom's boyfriend Jason Momoa ... Christie Brinkley and daughter Alexa showing up to an Obama benefit concert at the Hammerstein Ballroom ... Katie Holmes leaving her apartment building en route to the opening night of her show, and later heading to the after-party with Tom Cruise ... and Clay Aiken signing autographs outside the Shubert Theatre.

Do you recall the Great Keening of September 24, as if a million Claymates cried out at once, and then were silenced? That was the dark day that American Idol alum Clay Aiken broke the devastating news that he was, in fact, a "gay," sending his dumbstruck fans into a tailspin (as NClayolina memorably put it, "I will never be able to listen to him sing, 'O Holy Night,' knowing he desires unholy nights"). Now, as the tears on so many Garfield pillowcases begin to dry, Aiken has finally blogged to his fans about the revelation, and instead of self-flagellating, he has one polite message for the Claymates: "Deal with it."

Madonna carrying son David into the Kabbalah Center on East 48th Street ... Whitney Port walking in SoHo ... Blake Lively shooting a scene for Gossip Girl in Times Square ... Pete Wentz leaving the SoHo Grand with a coffee in hand ... Denzel Washington and wife Pauletta leaving lunch at Nello's ... Clay Aiken leaving the Shubert Theater ... Jennifer Hudson posing for photos outside MTV in Times Square ... Anne Hathaway standing outside outside the Letterman show ... Katie Holmes leaving her apartment en route to the Schoenfeld Theatre ... and Britney Spears making her way into the Fragment jewelry store on Prince Street, then checking out In The Heights on Broadway later that night.

♦ The TV Guide Channel is for sale if you happen to be looking for junky media properties to purchase this afternnon. [Variety]
♦ What's Tom Brokaw been up to? It seems he's been playing peacemaker with the McCain campaign on behalf of NBC News. [NYT]
♦ There are 336 magazines devoted to food and cooking, believe it or not. [WSJ]
♦ How People snagged its exclusive with Clay Aiken. [Jossip]
♦ Follow the money: Doubledown Media, which owns Trader, is launching a second title in Dubai. [WWD]
♦ Just three days after Ogilvy & Mather won the account for Wachovia, the bank went bust. [NYT]
♦ Some 52 million Americans watched the debate last Friday; ABC led the pack with 11.04 million viewers. [TV Week]

• People snagged those Clay Aiken baby pictures for $500,000 after newly-frugal OK! dropped out of the bidding. [P6]

Anne Hathaway chatting on her cell phone in the West Village and then hopping into a cab ... Philip Seymour Hoffman smoking a cigarette and pushing his bike ... Richard Gere and Chris Rock leaving ABC studios ... Tom Brady and Gisele Bundchen holding hands ... Jude Law crossing the street ... Dexter's Michael C. Hall arriving at JFK ... Sarah Jessica Parker holding her son's hand as they walk down the street ... Katie Holmes carrying a doll alongside Suri ... George H. W. Bush walking to lunch ... Taylor Momsen on the set of Gossip Girl ... Alec Baldwin holding an iced coffee outside NBC ... Helen Mirren pushing a cart on the sidewalk .. Clay Aiken leaving the Shubert Theater ... and Ivanka Trump outside the Waverly Inn.

♦ Natalie Portman is single. She's split up with boyfriend Devendra Banhart. Best of luck, guys! [People]
♦ The son of famed architect Richard Meier says his dad is gay and he was forced into a mental hospital and disinherited for saying so. Richard's friends, meanwhile, say he's definitely not gay and he's actually quite the ladies' man. [P6]
♦ Clay Aiken pocketed roughly $500,000 for his coming-out cover story deal with People. [MSNBC]
♦ Sarah Palin might make a cameo on Saturday Night Live. Also, Hugh Hefner would love to give her a spread in Playboy. [OK!, Daily Star]