NAMES & FACES

Life on the GOP Fringe

The Meghan McCain media train rolls on. The 24-year-old daughter of John McCain has scored a six-figure deal with Disney-owned Hyperion to write a book exploring what it means to "love the Republican Party, while not always fitting in," the publisher said. The deal comes after McCain's blog postings last month on the Daily Beast Web site criticizing conservative commentators Ann Coulter and Laura Ingraham. Her first book, a children's book called "My Dad, John McCain," was published last September.

Zombies at LaGuardia?

Not one to lose out on a promotional opportunity, Woody Harrelson blamed zombies for his attack on a TMZ.com paparazzo at a New York airport Wednesday night.

"I wrapped a movie called 'Zombieland,' in which I was constantly under assault by zombies, then flew to New York, still very much in character," Harrelson said in a statement to the Associated Press. "With my daughter at the airport I was startled by a paparazzo who I quite understandably mistook for a zombie."

A cameraman for the Web site, who declined medical treatment, accused Harrelson of shoving him and damaging his camera at LaGuardia.

Living the Fab Four Life

Swept off her seat: Sir Paul McCartney's girlfriend of 18 months, Nancy Shevell, a voting board member for New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority, has the worst attendance record on the board after blowing off meetings to travel the world with the 66-year-old former Beatle, AP reports.

Two of the most grievous absences? On Sept. 24, when the MTA voted 7 to 6 to have city emergency vehicles pay tolls, the 49-year-old trucking heiress was photographed with McCartney in Israel. And on March 23, when the MTA's Finance Committee approved raising a subway ride to $2.50 and cuts to major services, Shevell attended the London premiere of the 1960s period comedy "The Boat That Rocked."

The MTA has defended Shevell, a cousin of Barbara Walters who began seeing McCartney in the Hamptons in late 2007.

End Notes

Spotted: President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton meeting at 4:15 p.m. Thursday at a table outside the White House, next to the swing set installed for the Obama girls last month, TheRoot.com's Dayo Olopade reports. . . . Dying to know where Harrison Ford and Calista Flockhart (and her son Liam) ate Thursday night? Al Tiramisu in Dupont Circle got the nod.

Quoted: "I certainly hope NASA does the right thing. Just kidding. I hope they name it after me." -- Stephen Colbert to AP on NASA's decision to reveal the name of a new module of the space station on his show Tuesday. In an online poll, the write-in choice "Colbert" beat out NASA's four suggested options: Serenity, Legacy, Earthrise and Venture.

-- Christian Hettinger, from staff, wire and Web reports