I love when people use their power for good: Liz Smith dishes on her lunch at Michael's with Aaron Brown two weeks ago Aaron Brown (a scoop which was broken by Fishbowl's clutch "Lunch at Michael's" team that very day! Sniffin' out the story over Cobb Salad, that's us). Two weeks later, Liz finally dishes on the meeting, because she can. Ah, MSM.

From the sounds of it, Brown is (er, was) - in high spirits (and having the entirety of your contract paid out until 2007 definitely helps there). He is magnanimous re: Jon Klein and CNN: "'Of course, I think they made a mistake,' laughed Aaron. 'But . . . they're entitled.'" Again, the contract thing? Definitely helpful.

But he's lookin' for work and thinkin' of maybe writing a book (no doubt incentivized to land his own million-dollar deal), and eschewing fries in order to bring the hotness (Liz said he looked "younger and more handsome than he ever does on-air," which Fishbowl inadvertently corroborated by failing to recognize him).

It's better than a want ad and almost as blatant, given Liz's shilling for Aaron at the end (see headline above). She stops just short of providing his agent's number, but we'll pick up that ball: give Carol a shout-out at (212) 765-3040, at superagency NS Bienstock (not to be confused with Bialystock & Bloom), which also reps Diane Sawyer and Dan Rather.