FishbookDC

From stage-five freak outs and Twitter rants to bizarre YouTube videos and on-air feuds, the finalists for our next category are more theatrical than that gay kid on “Glee.”  But which one of our nominees deserves to wear the cubic zirconia-crusted crown as this year’s Biggest Drama Queen or King?

The nominees are…Emily Miller from the Washington Times, MSNBC’s Chris Matthews, Human Events’ Jason Mattera and WJLA’s Stephen Tschida for his performance as Amtrak passenger 1 in “Cold and Alone: The Stephen Tschida Story.”

A whopping 2,000+ votes were cast in day one of FishbowlDC’s 2011 Summer Superlatives contest.  With such an overwhelming reaction to the first three categories, we can only imagine what kind of fierce competition will come out of the race for Best On-Air Personality.

Finalists for this glorious honor include Fox News’ Greta Van Susteren, CBS News’ Bob Schieffer, CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, NBC/MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell and CBS News’ Norah O’Donnell. But it’s up to you to determine the best of 2011. The candidates are strong and the polls are open so get to voting.

Early exit polls from day one of our Summer Superlatives contest indicate only one thing: these races are too close to call tonight.  With three sets of rock-solid competitors and a slew of die-hard supporters, FishbowlDC glory is still anyone’s for the taking.

To spice up the competition, we’ve hidden the real-time results of each race (8pm).  But don’t let that dissuade you from casting a vote or campaigning for your favorite candidate.  Each poll will remain open for 24 hours from the time it went live today and final results will be revealed in a very special post honoring the winners next week. Until then, here’s your 10pm exit poll snapshot.

Best Sense of Humor:  Julie Mason must have spent the evening shaking hands and kissing babies because Team Mason has managed to pull ahead Semnani and Labash.

Julie Mason: 32.06% of the vote.

Neda Semnani: 31.76% of the vote.

Matt Labash: 28.09% of the vote.

Gene Weingarten: 3.39% of the vote.

Biggest Self-Promoter: Mackowiak and Bardella have pimped themselves into one fierce competition.

Matt Mackowiak: 36.91%

Kurt Bardella: 33.77%

Howard Kurtz: 19.6%

Carol Joynt: 9.69%

Best Capitol Hill Press Secretary:  Boehner’s Michael Steel, who began losing his daylong lead to Morris and Elshami this afternoon,  has managed to pull ahead tonight.

Michael Steel: 44.39%

Vince Morris: 28.7%

Nadeam Elshami: 23.53%

Charles Chamberlayne: 3.39%

We decided to mix things up a little with this category. But who better than FishbowlDC readers to name 2011′s Best Capitol Hill Press Secretary?  From fielding your calls to feeding you tips, these folks can make or break a journo’s day.  So which one of these fine flacks is the best press secretary (or comm. director) on Capitol Hill?

The nominees are….Michael Steel from Speaker John Boehner’s office, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s Nadeam Elshami, Charles Chamberlayne for Senator John Cornyn (R-TX), and Vince Morris from the office of Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-WV).

From talking to tweeting, these media types never miss an opportunity to plug themselves.  But which one’s acts of self-pimping rise above the rest?  The nominees for  Biggest Self-Promoter of 2011 are Daily Caller’s Kurt Bardella, Daily Beast’s Howard Kurtz, Carol Joynt of New York Social Diary and Q&A Cafe and Potomac Flack’s Matt Mackowiak.

Voting is now open for the first category of FishbowlDC’s Summer Superlatives 2011: Best Sense of Humor.  With the help of a secret panel of past winners and avid FishbowlDC readers, we narrowed nominations down to four finalists whose witty tweets, status updates and columns never fail to bring the hilarity.

Voting for each category will be open for 24 hours.  But there’s a catch.   At 8pm every evening, the results of the day’s three polls will be hidden.  Think of the cutoff as early exit polling.  Just because your pick is leading the pack all day, doesn’t mean they’re safe.  After the sun goes down, it’s anybody’s title for the taking.  We’ll announce all the winners on Monday.

So rally your supporters, bus in voters, and campaign like you read about because Summer Superlatives 2011 is officially underway with Politico’s Julie Mason, The Weekly Standard/Daily Caller’s Matt Labash, Roll Call’s Neda Semnani and WaPo’s Gene Weingarten for Best Sense of Humor.

The nominations for FishbowlDC’s Summer Superlatives 2011 have just started getting good so we’re extending the deadline from noon to 5pm today. So dig deep, think hard and help us come up with the best nominees for this year’s 12 categories (below). Nominations can be submitted via email to fishbowldc@mediabistro.com or through our anonymous tips box. Just be sure to include the category, nominee’s name, employer and any info that supports your pick (photo, story, examples, etc).

1. Biggest Self-Promoter
2. Most Underrated
3. Best Capitol Hill Press Secretary
4. Most Likely to Feud on Twitter
5. Best Sense of Humor (or Wittiest)
6. Most Trusted
7. Best On-air Personality
8. Most Cutthroat
9. Biggest Drama King/Queen
10. Most Likely to Attend an Open Bar
11. Sexiest
12. Most Scandalous

August recess is bittersweet for Washington media.  Sure, the break is a good chance to catch a breath but it’s tough to produce headlines when the news cycle is as stagnant as the heavy, summer heat.

Rather than singing the slow news blues for the next few weeks, FishbowlDC is making August our bitch by kicking off another senseless, summer contest.  Now through Monday, August 8th at 12p, we’re accepting nominations for FishbowlDC’s Summer Superlatives 2011 - our twisted take on high school senior superlatives.

You can nominate yourself, a friend, foe, or frenemy  for one of 12 categories (below).  Nominations can be submitted via email fishbowldc@mediabistro.com or through our anonymous tips box.  Just be sure to include the category, nominee’s name, employer and any info that supports your pick (photo, story, examples, etc).

Each day from Tuesday to Friday of next week, we’ll announce the nominees and open up voting for three different categories.  Winners will be determined by earning the most votes in a 24-hour period.   Happy nominating!

1)      Biggest Self-Promoter

2)      Most Underrated

3)      Best Capitol Hill Press Secretary

4)      Most Likely to Feud on Twitter

5)      Best Sense of Humor (or Wittiest)

6)      Most Trusted

7)      Best On-air Personality

8)      Most Cutthroat

9)      Biggest Drama King/Queen

10)   Most Likely to Attend an Open Bar

11)   Sexiest

12)   Most Scandalous

Perhaps we’ve saved best for last in McLatchy’s Shashank Bengali, our final beauty in Fishbowl’s Finest for the week. The exotic-looking Bengali has a single beauty tip: “Moving to DC!” he jokes. “I feel most attractive when it’s not 100 degrees.”

Bengali grew up in Cerritos, Calif., a suburb of L.A. His parents were both born in India. His first name translates to “part of the moon.”

He’s a worldly guy. He was McClatchy’s correspondent in sub-Saharan Africa from 2005-2009, and moved from Nairobi, Kenya to Washington in January.

He was “very embarrassed” about being on this list, but graciously agreed to answer our questions. Asked to name his favorite and least favorite features (on himself) Bengali writes the following: “Steven Strasburg’s arm and Jon Stewart’s goatee.” His celebrity crush is Top Chef Judge and food critic Padma Lakshmi. Other random details: He’s 5’7″, approximately 140 pounds (he suspects) – and single.

It’s the final day of Fishbowl’s Finest…we know, you’re devastated. But don’t worry, we have plenty more lametastic lists and fishy features up our sleeve. Until then, we give you the last day’s picks and we think you’ll agree, Kaylee Hartung is really, really ridiculously good looking. At 5’2″ this pint-sized beauty is the shortest of our bunch – but really, doesn’t that make her good looks all the more potent?

As Bob Schieffer‘s right hand woman and a CBS News/CBS College Sports reporter, we figured Kaylee has probably bumped into her fair share of celebrities so we asked about her celeb crush. She replied, “Ask Bob, he’s embarrassed me in front of both of them.”

Hartung tells us if she had a beauty secret, she wouldn’t share it but her advice for a pulled-together appearance is to “find a hair stylist and a tailor you trust and heels you can walk, run and dance in.” Her favorite feature? “A year round tan.” Least favorite? “I’m 5’2″.”

Oh, and men of Washington rejoice – Kaylee is single!

Video of Hartung in action on last week’s Washington Unplugged with Bob Schieffer after the jump.

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