To no one's surprise, Senator-turned- actor-turned- presidential- candidate-wannabe Fred Thompson has dropped out of the hunt for the Republican party nomination. Thompson had not done very well in any of the early caucuses or primaries and his exit may actually mean a bump for Mike Huckabee, who has a similar more-conservative-than-the-others platform. Thompson left Law & Order to pursue the nomination, giving Jack McCoy a promotion and giving the public dreams of a Law &......

Photograph of Obama, Clinton and Edwards at the Nevada debate by Charles Rex Arbogast/AP Yesterday the three top Democratic contenders for the presidential nominations debated in Nevada. The debate wasn't as testy as previous ones, in part because Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama were trying to maintain an aura of good will and love for the Democratic party - and not bicker over race or gender. Which meant that Clinton, Obama and John Edwards were......

That just happened! Senator Barack Obama won the Democratic Iowa Caucus with at least 37% of the vote (projections are changing). Former Senator John Edwards got 30% of the vote while Senator Hillary Clinton got 29%. The media is playing this as a huge failure for the Senator from New York, given how powerful the Clinton machine has seemed. Also stunning: There were 82% more Democratic voters in this year's caucus compared with 2004,......

Former mayor Rudy Giuliani visited Barrington, New Hampshire store The Christmas Dove yesterday during various campaign visits in the Granite State and bought a ceramic angel. Perhaps it was an angel of mercy, as he has begun to pull back NH-related advertising in order to concentrate on the Florida primary, implicitly acknowledging that he doesn't have a chance against Republican front runner Mitt Romney and Senator John McCain, who has surged into second place......

Robert Morgenthau's stranglehold on the position of Manhattan District Attorney has lasted 33 years but today's Post tittered that he was mulling an "early exit." Page Six reported that a "well-connected legal source" said the 88-year-old DA was orchestrating a retirement to have Cyrus Vance Jr. installed for a few years. Apparently Morgenthau wants Vance Jr., once an assistant DA, in place to block his former protegee and 2005 Democratic primary opponent Leslie Crocker Snyder,......

Who knew thousands, if not millions, of New Yorkers would agree with presidential hopeful Fred Thompson on something? In this case, the former Senator and former Law & Order District Attorney was talking about Rudy Giuliani's reliance on touting his New York City credentials during a campaign stop in New Hampshire today. Thompson told a crowd at a gun store, Giuliani "relates everything to New York City. Well, New York City is not emblematic of......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a shooting on Utica Ave. in Brooklyn, an attempted bank robbery on East Fordham Rd. in the Bronx, and a large tree down on East 114th St. and 91st Ave. in Queens.. Buzz over the much-anticipated J.J. Abrams feature code-named "Cloverfield" has precipitated to something much more solid: a feature named "Cloverfield." The Internet's been speculating about the horror-thriller with a trailer that includes the decapitation of the Statue......

For an avowed non-presidential candidate, Mayor Bloomberg certainly gets more attention than some of the actual candidates. Newsweek devotes its cover story to "Mike" Bloomberg, "The Billion Dollar Wild Card," a reference to the billion dollars Mayor B has at his disposal, should be decide to run for president next year. That is so much more flattering than the "Lazy Like a Fox" cover Newsweek had of Fred Thompson! Newsweek editor-in-chief Jon Meacham got to......

While they certainly spent time criticizing each other, the Republican presidential hopefuls devoted much time to criticize the Democratic frontrunner Senator Hillary Clinton. Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney said, "she hasn't run a corner store. She hasn't run a state. She hasn't run a city. She has never run anything. And the idea that she could learn to be President, you know, as an internship just doesn't make any sense." And Senator John McCain......

Former District Attorney Arthur Branch - a.k.a. former Senator Fred Thompson - came back to New York City to speak at a NY State Conservative Party event. He made clear he's really conservative, saying, "Some think the way to beat the Democrats next year is to be more like them. I could not disagree more. My friends, I suggest it's not time for psychological flexibilities in terms of our principles. That's the surefire way of......

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is getting a lot of ink in our newspapers today after it was revealed that (A) he had requested a visit to Ground Zero - to lay a wreath, no less - and then shortly later that (B) the city had denied the request. Way to work fast, city agencies! Iranian mission to the United Nations says that Ahmadinejad still wants to go to Ground Zero, but the Daily News sends......

Fred Thompson was never an actual Manhattan District Attorney, he just played one TV. He used the same medium to announce that he was running for President by pursuing the Republican nomination Wednesday night on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Unlike California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who announced his gubernatorial candidacy by appearing on The Tonight Show in person, Thompson made his announcement via a taped message that Leno aired. Speculation about the possibility of......

This week's big election news will likely center around former Senator and former Law & Order actor Fred Thompson, who will finally announce his presidential campaign this week. Newsday reports that earlier this summer, Rudy Giuliani's fund-raisers were "pleasantly surprised" that Thompson hadn't announced his candidacy, with one source saying, "They though they were getting a break that he didn't get in." The NY Post's DC bureau chief Charles Hurt says that once Thompson makes......

"Islamic terrorists are at war with us," Rudy Giuliani told about 300 people at a synagogue in Rockville, Md., one evening in July. He likes to say it that way — that they are at war with us, not the other way around. "They want to kill us," he warned a group in New Hampshire the same month. "They hate you," he told a woman in Atlanta. That's the first paragraph of the new Time......

Senator Hillary Clinton has never been on the cutting edge of fashion. Nor was she ever meant to be (okay, she was on the cover of Vogue in 1998) and she's poked fun at her fashion choices (have pantsuit, can rule the world) before. But this past week, everyone's got an opinion about her style. During the Democrats' YouTube debate, when asked what he didn't like about the junior Senator from New York, Senator......

This might be the first time a British actor has played a Law & Order regular: Linus Roache will be playing the new Executive District Attorney. (Sam Waterston's Jack McCoy is getting a promotion to DA, since Fred Thompson has left the show to pursue a presidential campaign.) We foresee sexual tension between his character and Alana de la Garza's Connie Rubirosa! Is it a coincidence that Roache is the second star from short-lived NBC......

Given that news that Mayor Bloomberg had heart surgery before he was mayor was slipped into a Newsweek article, the Post suggests Mayor Mike was behind the leak. Strategists say that candidates rather have information out there in the open, versus than it coming out to bite candidate later. Republican strategist Dan Schnur told the Post, "This is the sort of thing Fred Thompson did" (Thompson announced his non-Hodgkin's lymphona - which is in emission......

For better or worse, thanks to Mayor Bloomberg's assertion of political independence, we'll be hearing about an all-New Yorker presidential race for months to come. Last week, a Quinnipiac poll found that New York State would go to Democratic front runner Senator Hillary Clinton, over former Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Bloomberg. Clinton would get 43% of state votes, Giuliani would get 29% and Bloomberg would get 16%. If Bloomberg's not in the picture, Clinton still......

Bravo to the Daily News for pulling out the Photoshop for today's cover: Rudy Giuliani as Moses, after the presidential contender unveiled "twelve commitments to the American People" yesterday in New Hampshire. The Daily News puts them on stone tablets in a graphic. The former mayor said, “I believe America solves its problems best from strength, not weakness, and from optimism, not pessimism. My Twelve Commitments are a promise to this generation and generations to......

Presidential hopeful John Edwards targeted New York son Rudy Giuliani during a speech. The Democratic candidate had earlier called President Bush's "war on terror" a "bumper sticker," which prompted Giuliani to say, "This is not a bumper sticker; the war is a real war." Yesterday, Edwards laid into Rudy by saying, "If Mayor Giuliani believes what President Bush has done is good and wants to embrace it and run a campaign for the presidency saying,......

Former mayor Rudy Giuliani mugged and joked when lightning struck as he was going to discuss remarks a bishop made comparing Rudy to Pontius Pilate during last night's third Republican debate. His sound was cut and the other Republican presidential hopefuls also got into the act - Mitt Romney pointed at him - and Giulani said, "Look, for someone who went to parochial schools all his life, this is a very frightening thing that's......

Now that Law & Order has been renewed for four more seasons, shakeups to the cast have been expected. And the most notable one is that Fred Thompson, who plays District Attorney Arthur Branch, is leaving the show to pursue a presidential campaign. We hope the writers work that in! Law & Order producer Dick Wolf said, "I've spoken to Fred today, and although he told me he has not made a firm decision about......

It's fun with poll numbers time! Quinnipiac University released results of a poll that shows Senator Hillary Clinton besting former Mayor Rudy Giuliani 50-42 in New York State. Here are the match-ups Quinnipiac asked about:- Clinton beats Sen. John McCain 55-34 percent - Giuliani ties Illinois Sen. Barack Obama 44 - 44 percent - 2004 vice presidential candidate John Edwards tops Giuliani 47 - 43 percent; - Clinton over former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney 61......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: serious assault in a school in Hudson Square, pursuit/police car crash in the Bronx, and an all hands "suspicious fire" on Warren Street and 5th Avenue in Park Slope (pictured above). Weiner for Mayor? We kind of like the sound of that. New in LES: a ping-pong parlor with a single table. New on the internet: a weblog that covers ping-pong parlors in LES. A development at Park Slope's......

Remember that insane Asian-bashing in Queens last year? The perps just got sentenced-- 3 years in jail for one, 5 years on probation for the other. Happy ending? Jennifer Chow, a 30-year old Harlem resident, got mugged and put in a headlock in October. She went to get her injuries checked out, and the CAT scan revealed cancer in her thyroid gland-- which the doctors were then able to cure. Eric Brown is famous......

Adam Sternbergh, Co-Founder of Fametracker...

Gothamist knew that someday Law & Order will filter to the highest levels of government. We just didn't figure that it would be in this way: Fred Thompson, who plays District Attorney Arthur Branch, has agreed to be an adviser to President Bush for the Supreme Court justice selection process. Apparently, one term in the Senate and a role on America's longest running cop-and-lawyer show can launch you into guiding one of the most important......

Today Gothamist Weather introduces a semi-regular (i.e. when we remember to do it) feature in which we compare the various forecasts for our area. Since we are easily confused we'll keep this simple and just look at one element of the forecast. In honor of our hot, humid weather here are today's predicted maximum temperatures: National Weather Service (NWS) � 90 (redistributed by Fox 5, WB 11, and Weather Underground) NWS Model Output Statistics �......

In the land of media moguls, stars, and hangers on, most seem to sway towards wanting to get President Bush out of the White House. The Times looks at how recent television shows have criticized Bush. Of course, the best example is from Law & Order:One of the wise-cracking detectives on the NBC show "Law & Order," played by Jesse L. Martin, referred to the president as the "dude that lied to us." The character......

Gothamist is still trying to get to the bottom of the Law & Order episode that Mayor Bloomberg will be appearing in. Reader Matthew tried to help us out by noting a key paragraph in a Wall Street Journal article about that Martha Stewart thing: Just blocks from the courthouse, yellow police tape blocked off the crime scene of an armored-car robbery, a dead body and swarming investigators -- all part of the set......