• "Nice work on that windsurfing stunt. Kerry in '08!" TNR's Michael Crowley bitchslaps John Kerry's spokesman, David Wade, who took issue with Crowley's piece in GQ saying that Democrats aren't behind Kerry for the 2008 nomination and "wish he would just go away." Wade sniffed to Lowdown via email: "You read GQ to pick suits and ties, not to pick a commander-in-chief," displaying an uncanny knack for press savvy and not insulting readers across the country. The rest of his misguided commentary deserves to be printed in full: "As a GQ fashionista would say, the magazine's political coverage has the longevity of the Soul Patch and the sophistication of The Mullet." He then says that Crowley is "too young to shave" (Wade is 30, Crowley is 33); Crowley responds, rightly, by noting that "A juvenile response like that is what you get from someone without a real defense." Either way, we can't wait to read it (though we wonder how it can be a "hit" article when it hasn't yet come out). Update: Aha - no more wondering, it turns out that Fishbowl was unaware that "hit piece" was parlance for an attack piece. Thank you, anonymous tipster. Here at Fishbowl, we love to learn. The smarter we are, the more effective we are as a hit blog! [NYDN]

• Philandering: Sells more clothes in cartoon form? Funny, I never saw Perry Ellis as the playboy brand; they always seemed to be craggy husband and father-types in sweaters slung casually over their shoulders. Still, as Julie Bosman reports in today's NYT, Perry Ellis has embarked on a major campaign styled like a comic book, with the handsome everyman hero outfitted in Perry Ellis-like attire. The accompanying graphic, though, is a cartoon panel picturing our hero approaching a beautiful woman in a bar, despite the fact that he has a beautiful girlfriend. Which, you know, is another kind of marketing strategy for your brand. Pic included after the jump. [NYT]

• Things that aren't OK by most mags are OK by OK!: WWD's "Memo Pad" reports that OK! EIC Sarah Ivens is taking an all-expenses-paid trip to a beach resort in April in exchange for a two-page spread in the mag. Iven's says that's the way they do things in the UK, which, in other words means "I'm UK, it's OK." [WWD]

Side note: Previously on Fishbowl we noted a feature by Giant Magazine tapping into the comic book Zeitgeist; still worth a look (don't have it online, sorry). A pretty interesting move by Perry Ellis, even if I don't approve of the main character's intentions.