"Gilli" what now? Kirsten Gillibrand does not have a household name like "Kennedy" or "Clinton," yet she somehow got her crafty hands on a New York senate seat, reportedly.
Caroline Kennedy ran a disastrous quasi-campaign for Hillary Clinton's Senate seat before deciding to bow out last night. Initially she refused to answer reporters' questions; when she eventually changed her approach and opened up, she demonstrated such little skill for dealing with the press that even some of her supporters started to wonder if she was up to the job. Kennedy now says she abandoned her bid for the Senate because of "personal reasons," which one Kennedy insider suggested was due to Caroline's concerns about Ted Kennedy's declining health. The much more plausible theory, of course, is that she bowed out when she heard she wasn't going to get the nod from Gov. David Paterson: making the decision herself provided her with a much more graceful exit. It was one of the only wise moves Kennedy and her team have made in the last few weeks. All of the blunders that have embarrassed her since she kicked off her campaign? Here are two people you can already start blaming: Kevin Sheekey and Stefan Friedman.
• Kate Moss will celebrate her 35th birthday this weekend with a "four-day marathon of excess." The sight of a bunch of models standing around a giant pig on a spit at a hog roast? Priceless! [DM]
• She's no Michelle, but Oscar will be dressing Hillary for the inauguration. [People]
• Marc Jacobs, Alexander Wang, and Calvin Klein Inc. have all cancelled their Fashion Week postshow parties, alas. [WWD]
• Following in the footsteps of Saks, Lord & Taylor is now laying off staff, too. [Fashionista]
• L'eau de Brooklyn will debut in March. [BS]
• Alexander McQueen and Puma are teaming up on a new line. [Pipeline]
• Goodbye, Bush: Celebrate Bush's exit with a discounted bikini wax. [Racked]
Bill and Hillary Clinton are going to be pushing the ceremonial button to lower the ball in Times Square on New Year's Eve! No, it's not quite like as exciting as having your finger on the button in the Oval Office, but the opportunity to make small talk with Ryan Seacrest should more than make up for it. [NYP]
Caroline Kennedy hasn't even been tapped to fill Hillary Clinton's seat in the Senate (yet), but that isn't stopping Cindy Adams from speculating that she's going to become the first female president of the U.S. The logic? "Assume Caroline gets appointed 2009, officially elected to fill out Hillary's term 2010, re-elected to serve her own term 2012. Meanwhile, Barack's elected 2008. Re-elected 2012. Leaves 2016. By then she's a sitting senator, having served longer than Barack. He was in the Senate four years. She'd have been in six years. She'd still only be in her 50s. She can be the first woman president." There you go! Just keep in mind that Adams also predicted McCain would turn the tide at the last minute and end up beating Obama. [NYP]
It's kind of comforting that, amid economic collapse and a new political order, Ron Burkle is still a dirty old billionaire luring teenagers onto his jet and caressing distracted girls in clubs. Why, just this weekend he was out with Leonardo DiCaprio again, at Cipriani. Close personal friend Bill Clinton was not in attendance this time, but there's been no public sign of a split. Which, actually, is kind of a problem for president elect Barack Obama, particularly now that another of Burkle's sketchy business ventures has spectacularly exploded in scandal, this one involving large amounts of cocaine.
Supposedly, Governor Paterson is going to appoint Caroline Kennedy to serve the remainder of Hillary Clinton's Senate term. Caroline Kennedy is basically the only Kennedy left who everyone likes.We like her, don't you? The lady Kennedys have historically been much more tolerable than the men Kennedys of course, and now all we have left of them anyway are smug RFK Jr and sad old Ted and some drunk kids and, uh, Patrick Kennedy. So Caroline: the Kennedy it's still cool to like! Unless you're Hillary Clinton.
