Open Season on Hillary

"But his campaign still wants to make sure people know who he is.

"The Republican presidential nominee-in-waiting begins a 'biography tour' next week, visiting schools and military installations 'that have played a significant role in shaping who I am today,' as McCain put it in a fundraising letter."

The L.A. Times is apologizing for its botched story on the shooting of Tupac Shakur, which relied on fake documents, but could be facing lawsuits from the likes of Puffy Combs. I've got the latest.

At long last, a D.C. angle -- better than the Mayflower, at least -- on the Spitzer scandal:

"The former Senate aide who scandalously blogged about sleeping with Washington, DC's elite for cash -- and later posed nude for Playboy -- is among the inner circle of a Manhattan call-girl ring that counted Eliot Spitzer as a client, The New York Post has learned.

"Four years after her blog 'Washingtonienne' shocked the Capitol with salacious details of sex with married sugar daddies, Jessica Cutler has re-appeared as a 'model' on alleged madam Kristin 'Billie' Davis' Web site."

So what does Jessica have to say about this?

"Cutler admitted it was her face on the Web site but said 'they were Photoshopped.' . . .

"Asked yesterday if she worked as an escort, the temptress said: 'I can't talk about that.' But in two days of conversations with The Post, she owned up to partying with Davis and even to living for a time in her posh apartment at 235 E. 40th St."

Some day I want to write a story where I get to describe someone as a temptress!

But the spoilsports at the Daily News say Spitzer wasn't a client of this ring after all.

There isn't a reporter on the planet who hasn't used information from a press release, but usually you put it in -- what's the phrase? -- your own words. But Gawker calls out the New York Post's gossip page:

"Here's the lead to Page Six's item about Dr. Pepper's Guns N' Roses PR stunt: 'TIRED of a world in which Americans idolize wannabe singers, and where musicals about high school students pass as rock 'n' roll, Dr Pepper is begging Axl Rose to finally release this year his 17-years-in-the-making album, 'Chinese Democracy.' Such powerful language! Now here's the lead to the press release announcing the same event:

" Tired of a world in which Americans idolize wannabe singers and musicals about high schoolers pass as rock 'n roll music, Dr Pepper is encouraging (ok, begging) Axl Rose to finally release his 17-year-in-the-making belabored masterpiece, Chinese Democracy, in 2008.

"Awesome work."