The Trail

PRETENDING TO BE SARKOZY

Prank Callers Hoodwink Palin

A pair of Canadian pranksters yesterday tricked Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin into believing she was on the phone with French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

The fake Sarkozy buttered up Palin by telling her he hoped she would be president some day. "Ha ha, maybe in eight years," Palin replied.

"One of my favorite activities is to hunt, too," the fake Sarkozy said. "Oh, very good, we should go hunting together," Palin answered, adding, "I think we could have a lot of fun together as we're getting work done. We could kill two birds with one stone that way."

"I just love killing those animals! Taking away life, that is so fun," the Sarkozy impersonator said.

Palin laughed politely. "As long as we don't bring Vice President Cheney," the jokester said. "I'll be a very careful shot, don't worry," Palin said, laughing.

At one point, the phony Sarkozy asked Palin if Joe the Plumber was her husband.

"That's not my husband," Palin said. "He just works hard and doesn't want the government to take his money."

The fake Sarkozy touched on an array of topics and offered that "from my house I can see Belgium," before eventually letting Palin in on the joke.

The Montreal-based crank callers, Sébastien Trudel and Marc-Antoine Audette, who call themselves "the Masked Avengers," have pulled similar pranks on a number of celebrities, including Mick Jagger.

-- Mary Ann Akers

HARD FEELINGS IN OBAMA CAMP?

Slow Progress Retiring Clinton Debt

Hillary Rodham Clinton and her husband continued to work the campaign trail on behalf of Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama this weekend, having put the bruising primary battle behind them.

But efforts by Obama's fundraisers to help retire the $22 million in campaign debt that Clinton piled up during the primaries have been moving slowly. The New York Democrat's October filing with the Federal Election Commission showed her debt had been shaved to $7.9 million.

Perhaps the most notable detail about the debt filing is that the vast majority of the remaining debt -- $5,279,535.40 -- is owed to Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates. While other vendors have been paid in part or in full, the amount owed to former chief Clinton strategist Mark Penn's firm has not changed since July.

Asked to explain this, several fundraisers for Obama said there was a strong conviction inside the Obama camp that they did not want their efforts to benefit Penn, who was Clinton's chief strategist and advocated the toughest attacks on Obama, according to published reports, during tense internal Clinton campaign debates on strategy.

Clinton campaign officials have said their goal has always been to pay small vendors first. When Penn will be paid remains unclear, but for now, the controversial strategist appears to be keeping his cool.

"We've been assured -- and reassured -- that the Clinton campaign will pay in due course," a spokesman for Penn, Schoen & Berland said.

-- Matthew Mosk