Sitting in the media center on the final day of the Conservative Political Action Conference was the relatively discreet Paul Mulshine of the New Jersey Star-Ledger.

Conservative comedian Steven Crowder had just taken the stage to introduce the next speaker. “Are you ready?!” Crowder yelled into the microphone three times as a way to warm up the crowd. That’s when Mulshine turned around in his seat and said, “I hate that. I’ve been to a lot of CPACs. That is the worst fucking thing when they do that.”

Mulshine isn’t keen on crowd warming or the people who do it. “I want to strangle them,” he continued. “I’ve been to 10 of these things. Certain lines you hear over and over. And that is the fucking worst.”

Asked about himself, Mulshine told us… Read more

It took a lot of “courage” for MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” host Joe Scarborough to wear his searing red Brooks Brothers sweater on set Friday. That’s what he told FishbowlDC Saturday at the Omni Shoreham hotel where he was speaking on a panel for the National Review Institute summit.

“We were talking about courage on stage,” Scarborough said. “Do you know how much courage it took to get that red sweater out of my closet?” Asked if it was a gift, he said no. “Am I supposed to be ashamed that I bought it on my own? I bought it on my own.”

His co-host Mika Brzezinksi has said in the past that Scarborough is “like a gay stylist.” However, she’s not a fan of the red sweater. “She usually speaks out against the red sweaters,” Scarborough said, “but fortunately she was off that day so I thought I’d give it a test ride. It worked out well.”

He acknowledged that it’s a way to keep things fresh on set… Read more

Forbes released it’s annual “30 under 30″ lists today. Featured on the media list are names you’d expect and those for which you’d need to suspend critical thinking to comprehend how this could’ve happened.

But for better or worse, we’ve picked our favorite additions to this year’s list with our own reasoning.

WaPo’s Ezra Klein– Because it’s become increasingly clear that you can’t have a list about media figures without including Klein. Hell, we even made our own entirely dedicated to Klein and his evolving hairstyles.

HuffPost Live‘s Abby Huntsman– Because when you make a list of highly-accomplished media professionals, Abby leaps to the forefront of America’s conscious. But not that America. The other America that former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards was always talking about… Read more

On MSNBC last night, WaPo‘s Ezra Klein sat in as a guest on Rev. Al Sharpton‘s Politics Nation. We have no idea what he was talking about because we couldn’t stop looking at his freshly buzzed head.

Klein has had some pretty fashionable styles over the years. Some good. Some bad. Some lasting longer than others. Some that appear to have happened by complete accident.

In honor of the many hairstyles of Ezra Klein, a comprehensive look at his fun ‘dos.

The Klein Part: A simple comb back, finished with an off-centered part

The Klein Lick: It’s like a cowlick, but at the front of Klein’s head

The Klein Slick: Sort of combed back, sort of combed forward, fused with a hair product that offers shine

The Klein Static: Haphazardly combed backward and then rubbed with a balloon near the back

The Klein Mix: A combination of previous Klein ‘dos

The Klein Toss: Flipped, switched, swooshed and tossed

The Klein Thick: Grown out, feathered to taste

The Klein Cover: For those bad hair days

Despite being fired, unemployed and absent from the FNC airwaves for the last two months, Michelle Fields is included in Details magazine’s “Next Wave of Political Pundits.” The list was published online yesterday.

There’s little reason to doubt that once Fields is once again gainfully employed that she’ll be back on FNC and it’s quite possible she has a bright future there. But Details has her listed as a “Guest Commentator” when she hasn’t been seen on the network since she was let go from The Daily Caller in August.

Fields appears to spend her time these days tweeting and updating her personal blog.

Others who made Details‘ list seemed to make more sense apart from a certain senator’s daughter… Read more

Politico released its list of “50 Politicos to Watch” last night. Included in the list are timely power players in the presidential campaign such as President Obama‘s traveling press secretary Jen Psaki, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney adviser Eric Fehrnstrom and Beth Meyers, who is heading up VP candidate vetting for Romney. There are also a few journalists and celebrities.

But a list so comprehensive couldn’t possibly go without criticism. “Seriously, Politico?” avid politics tweeter pourmecoffee wrote last night, linking to musician Kid Rock‘s entry on the list. The write up on Kid Rock and his all-important contribution to this election cycle: “[He] gave Mitt Romney the go-ahead to use ‘Born Free’ as his campaign anthem and performed for the former governor at a campaign rally in February.”

Even more bizarre, in a press release Politico called both Kid Rock, whose heyday passed over a decade ago, and well-known actress Jane Lynch “New Hollywood Faces.”

Despite Vogue Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour generating most of the buzz around a fundraiser for Obama last month, she’s not named on the list. Actress Sarah Jessica Parker, however, is because the fundraiser was hosted at her home.

And as noted by Google Senior Politics Project Manager Anthea Watson Strong, out of the 50 names on the list, 14 are women; four of which are celebrities. An intense commenter on the list echoed the sentiment: “Just like the male-heavy Politico. Put the [Beth Meyer's] picture in the middle and then save her for last. Just know this, morons. We women are coming for your jobs. We’re done waiting.”

Then there’s actress and outspoken Democrat Sigourney Weaver. She’s starring in the new mini-series Political Animals and showed up at Politico‘s party last night celebrating the list. But she wasn’t actually on the list.

Hmmm…more head scratching.

(A Sprinkling of Things we Think you Ought to Know…)

Mitt Romney “Poo-Poohed” with Politico’s Mike Allen — Allen filmed an interview Monday with Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney in New Hampshire at the “grubby French-Canadian diner, Chez Vachon.” Allen said Romney “pooh-poohed the idea that this is a white-knuckle season for him or his team.” On the hot topic of  Newt Gingrich‘s marital affairs, Romney said his campaign had “no plans” to make it an issue “at this point.”

Ailes on First Draft? — FNC CEO Roger Ailes is reportedly working on an autobiography. He’s set to receive between a $3 and $4 million advance for the book, says New York Mag’s Daily Intel. Depending on when the book is released, it could be real juicy. Ailes is already loose lipped on some of the dirty details at FNC. In an interview with The Daily Beast in September, he said Bill O’Reilly was “scared” Glenn Beck would outshine him when Beck was still at the network. He also called Sean Hannity “predictable.” Imagine what Ailes, 71, will say when his contract with FNC is over in 2013.

Up, Down, Left, Right and in the Middle with Chris Hayes — Mediaite‘s Tommy Christopher is in a man crush haze with Hayes and is running a series of posts about Chris Hayes with Chris Hayes . If you want to know Hayes’ thoughts on President Barack Obama, the 2012 election and politics in general, you can just torture yourselves and watch his MSNBC show “Up” in which the bouncy host slows down for no one. But if you want to see Hayes’ stark white office, his personal wall calendar that’s nearly blank and his perfectly organized desk, watch the interviews at Mediaite. Please, Tommy, find out what kind of shampoo he uses.

Here’s one of them:

People are searching for Anderson Cooper. Online, that is. A lot.

Marketing agency Zeta Interactive released its annual “Most Buzzed Report” and Cooper comes in at number one for most-searched media personalities, according to FishbowlNY.

MSNBC’s Chris Matthews came in at number four. Joe Scarborough didn’t make the list, though he came in at number eight last year.

For fun, we took a look at some of the top Google search suggestions that accompany their names.

Anderson Cooper: “girlfriend,” “boyfriend,” “mom” “laughing.”

Chris Matthews: “show,” “hardball,” “wiki,” (and sure to make him proud) “kennedy book.”

Joe Scarborough: “song,” “intern,” “glasses,” and um, not surprisingly, “politico.”

The takeaway: People want to know about Cooper’s personal life, Matthews’ professional life and Scarborough’s eyewear.

And the final four…

In a pool of sex machines like The Hill‘s Hugo Gurdon and Daily Caller’s Tucker Carlson it’s tough to imagine anyone winning FishbowlDC’s Sexiest Male of 2011 title by a landslide.  But believe it or not, the boyish good looks of Politico’s Patrick Reis clobbered the competition with over 50% of the popular vote.  Capitol Hill Ken Doll aka Kevin Madden came in a distant second with 16.3% of the vote.  Tucker Carlson, just shy of the silver, trailed Madden by only three votes.

The stress of the spotlight proved too much for Coral Davenport, Amy Harder and Olga Belogolova.  Citing migraines and lack of sleep, NJ’s Energy trio accidentally moved sexy forward when they should have been bringing it back.  The slip bumped them into second place while WUSA-9′s Kristin Fisher took gold and the title of Sexiest Female of 2011 with 38.5% of the vote.  In case you’re wondering, sultry senior seductress Helen Thomas finished third.

The title of Most Underrated went to Ryan Grim of the Huffington Post.  The rock-solid reporter earned 36.61% of the vote, pushing him ahead of Roll Call’s Paul Singer who snagged  a respectable 28.5% of the vote.

Winning by only a hair, Cabbage Patch lookalike and 2011′s Biggest Self-Promoter Matt Mackowiak upset Daily Caller’s Kurt Bardella and stole all the glory with 36.36% of the vote to Bardella’s 34.93%.  Ouch!

Congrats to Reis, Fisher, Grim and Mackowiak!   And there you have the FishbowlDC Class of 2011!

Although she’s mysteriously MIA, Ana Marie Cox still managed to win the Most Scandalous category of FishbowlDC’s Summer Superlatives competition. Rivaled only by the Daily Caller’s David Martosko, Cox pulled in an impressive 37.72% of the vote, edging out Martsoko and his rap sheet who earned only 28.74% of your votes.

It was a campaign promise that pushed Emily Miller ahead of Chris Matthews for glory in the Biggest Drama Queen category.  She snagged 48.96% of the vote after pledging to tweet a photo of herself wearing a Jason Mattera-style wife beater and rhinestone-studded tiara if Fishbowl crowned her the winner.  To help Miller make good on her promise, we purchased the tiara this weekend (we’re not kidding).  *Stay tuned for the photo.

CNN’s Candy Crowley had no problem taking the title of Most Trusted with 42.33% of the vote.  While the Biggest Open Bar Fly category went to the Examiner’s Nikki Schwab who beat out Brendan Kownacki by only 4 votes for the distinguished honor.

Congrats to Cox, Miller, Crowley and Schwab!