Of course, first up was Barack Obama. How could he not be man of the year, decade, century just for being the first black man ever elected to the office of President of the United States?

So who else competed?

This year, in Hollywood, “Mad Men” star Jon Hamm was the belle of the ball for his sleakly cut suits and non-stop smoking, which was sickeningly romantic in its own way.

He was joined by Leonardo DiCaprio just for being Leo and swimmer Michael Phelps for kicking the sh– out of everyone at the summer Olympics.

With that, GQ was able to say seeya to Time and Newsweek.

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Still, ripe material for bloggers like us.

As for the L.A. Times, which refused to do the story, but did the story about the Enquirer doing the story, the paper only wrote that “Barack Obama’s VP shortlist may have gotten a little shorter.”

Them’s good eats for a hungry beast like the L.A. Times.

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“From this hyper-developed brain center come stories about the certain demise of some politicians (John McCain), the inevitable success of others (Hillary Rodham Clinton) and the extreme probability that hostilities, once started, will never end.”

Rainey takes political reporters and their discordulums to task for “often firing on the same overheated synapses, even when conflict is waning.”

“For discord-centric members of the media, it’s not so easy to give up the last story line. So expect another moment of cognitive dissonance on the near horizon: It will come when Clinton concedes, embraces Obama and begins working furiously for her onetime rival.

It’s what Clinton has promised all along. It just didn’t register in the media discordula.”

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In case you’re a Philly transplant with a mail-in ballot and only three working brain cells, HuffPo helps you decide whom to vote for with this handy-dandy guide to which stars are endorsing which candidates.

Obama is supported by Jennifer Aniston, Sam Jackson and Chris Rock.

Clinton has Natalie Portman. And a lot of old people.

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Larry Sinclair claimed to have performed oral sex on Barack Obama in the back of a limo, and later in a hotel room while smoking crack cocaine. Oddly, the New York Times has ignored this important story.

He’s now suing Obama, David Axlerod, the DNC, and FBLA. (Okay, we made that up. But if he knew of our secret plans for world domination, he would have sued us.)

Sinclair had been claiming to be a big-spending drug dealer, all the while living in Duluth on welfare. He’s been sparring with Dear Murray, the dean of LA River bloggers.

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Slate’s Jacob Weisberg read from his new book The Bush Tragedy at a Domino-sponored shindig in Brentwood. 300 guests stormed Arianna Huffington’s mansion house. (Or home, as the invitations read.)

Adrian Grenier, sporting a beard that would have been a bushy tragedy on anyone else, Tracey Ullman, who does a wicked Arianna herself, and Christine Lahti represented SAG; Dale Launer and Stephen Gaghan were the WGA/DGA guys, and producers were thick on the ground with Lawrence Bender, Mike Medavoy, Irina Medavoy, Sam Goldwyn and George Stevens. Matt Groening had the animation arena all to himself.

Jim Ledbetter gave Arianna a copy of his new collection for Penguin–Karl Marx’s Dispatches for the New York Tribune, stopping her as she was enroute to her office. Gabe Snyder got the story behind her distracted expression: book deadline! (Who else was in the study, anyway?)

Usual coterie of LA media types–Mickey Kaus, Carla Hall, Kevin Roderick, Nick Goldberg, Kim Serafin, Ruth Shalit, Rob Barrett, Roman Genn–let’s move on, shall we?

Weisberg’s clever wife, Deborah Needleman (she edits Domino) brought her Conde Nast cohorts along–Clemmy Closson and Beth Brenner.

Oscars were discussed perfunctorily, Obama enthusiastically (Rachel Sklar’s cries of plagiarism! were dismissed as business as usual which means those dissing her didn’t read very closely. Or else they were drunk.) Plenty of food and drink, which is unusual for book parties–and lots of copies of the book which looks like a fast read. No need to send it out for coverage.

(photos by Stefanie Keenan for Patrick McMullan)

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That’s … Show Biz? There is a very interesting story on the LAT’s site about a British intelligence agency denying responsibility for death of Princess Di. One question: Why is this on the Entertainment section of the site? Is this part of some LAT policy to help Hollywood find stories to turn into screenplays?

NBC Tones It Down: It’s the austerity. NBC cancels its fancy upfronts in favor of small presentations in three cities. But don’t fret, Sam Waterson, you and other NBC stars will still get to rub elbows with advertisers at a big party on May. 12.

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Big Day For Bob and Harvey: Weinstein Co. signed an interim deal with the Writers Guild of America, which will allow the companies projects to go ahead and get a few more writers back to work. We wonder what this piecemeal approach to negotiations is going to mean in the long run.

Stars Are Just Like Us! They don’t know who to vote for in the primaries. Tina Daunt notes that “Half the town was ready to run off with Obama last week after that Iowa cornfield joyride. Some sobered up a bit with Clinton’s win in New Hampshire. Now, like most of the nation’s pollsters, they’re just confused.”

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