In his Beat the Press segment last night (yes, he's still using the name), MSNBC's Dan Abrams showed an angle of the now-fired Fox News production assistant excitedly telling John McCain she voted for him in the primary, then saying "you're going to win," all while holding a Fox microphone.

Here's our story from yesterday...

And here's the video...

Roger Ailes' domination of the Fox News universe is in evidence today.

This morning FNC anchor/reporter Greg Kelly was filling in on Fox5's Good Day New York co-anchoring with one-time MSNBC/NBC News anchor Jodi Applegate. Kelly even brought in his mom for a Mother's Day segment. The co-anchor role has seen several fill-ins since Ron Corning's contract was not renewed last month, including WNYW's 6pm anchor Rick Folbaum (also a former FNCer).

Meanwhile, this afternoon on Fox News Channel, Applegate was a guest on the Live Desk with Martha MacCallum. Applegate had a Mother's Day story of her own, one that the NYPost's Michael Starr thought would make a good Lifetime movie. Applegate grew up thinking she was adopted. She recently found out the woman she thought was her adoptive mother, was really her biological mother. Margaret Applegate died when Jodi was just 17-years-old, taking her secret to the grave.

TVNewser Exclusive: A 24-year-old Fox News Channel production assistant was fired this morning for something she said during the red carpet arrivals at the Time 100 Gala last night.

Insiders tell us the assistant, identified as Jennifer Locke, was on assignment with a camera crew to cover the entertainment angle of the event. When Sen. John McCain walked by, the assistant said, "I voted for you in the primary, you're going to win."

McCain was overheard saying to her, "You're not supposed to reveal that." Locke apparently continued to explain that she is the daughter of a Vietnam veteran.

Insiders who were at the event were surprised and shocked to hear the disclosure, which was recorded on videotape. A Fox News insider called it "journalistically unacceptable." An FNC spokesperson would not comment on the personnel matter but did confirm Locke is no longer with the company, where she'd worked for a couple of years.

If you've ever wanted to know what event could bring together Fox News anchor John Gibson, comedian Jim Norton and...Julia Allison, the question was answered last night, as FNC's Red Eye celebrated its 300th show at Bowery Wine Company.

The "Red Eye Sangria" was flowing (mainly because it's what was free) as FNC personalities mingled with the varied faces that grace the 3amET program.

From the hard news side, besides Gibson, Patti Ann Browne, Rick Reichmuth and Andrew Napolitano were in attendance.

Many of the Red Eye regulars made the rounds, as host Greg Gutfeld celebrated the milestone (and...our interview). Also celebrating were ombudsman Andy Levy and fill-in host Michelle Collins of BestWeekEver.tv — Bill Schultz was sick at home, however, and couldn't make it.

We caught up with Keli Goff, one of the few commentators who hops around all three cable networks. Goff told us an interesting side note to her blow-up with Pat Buchanan on MSNBC — her mother was in New York to visit and was in the studio for the "shut up," comment.

We also spoke with FNC's Courtney Friel, who got a chance to explain what she meant to say during what is Red Eye's most viewed YouTube clip ever (actually, it's #2 — the Christopher Hitchen's interview is #1).

Click continued to see the clip, where Friel explains her problem with, "male horse genitalia"...

continued...

Fox News Channel commentator Karl Rove settled down this afternoon for a Washington Post online Q&A, despite, as he announced up front, "three hours of sleep after last night's excitement."

One of the questions asked during the Q&A was from "Dallas" and pertained to Rove's role with the campaign of Sen. John McCain. "Why does Fox network fail to mention your relationship as an adviser to the McCain campaign?" the questioner asks.

Rove's answer: "I'm not certain that I qualify as an adviser to McCain. I have friends at the campaign who occasionally ask me for reactions, and the Fox network is well aware of that, and similar contacts by some of their Democratic analysts."

The same questioner observantly picked up something else from last night's coverage; when asked why he wasn't wearing his wedding ring last night, Rove said, "When I left my house I accidentally left my ring in the shower."

Developing: Fox News Channel helped News Corp. grow its revenue 16% in the fiscal third quarter. The company announced net profit rose, in part, due to higher advertising sales at Fox TV and Fox News Channel. News Corp.'s profit rose to $2.7 billion from $871 million in the same quarter a year ago.

For those who have yet to catch FNC's late-night entertainment/news program Red Eye, airing weeknights at 3amET, today's mediabistro.com feature interview with host Greg Gutfeld should be a pretty good indication of what to expect.

Gutfeld describes the show:

When people first come to Red Eye, it's a three step process: confusion, revulsion, then love. And you see this in the letters, because the letters are basically, "What the hell is this doing on Fox," "I hate you," "I get it." That's how it works. You will get it. It's a different way of talking; it's a different way of presenting news. Everything about it is different.

Other topics covered include Gutfeld's take on The Huffington Post ("I think they engage the lunatic left, and they're going to stay with it"), the Pregnant Man controversy ("That makes me happy how idiotic people are in their own reactions") and, for magazine industry fans, a great story about Maxim publisher Felix Dennis ("he started telling me about his crack addiction. How he'd hide in this room with hookers all day and do crack").

Gutfeld and crew will be celebrating the show's 300th episode tonight in New York — TVNewser will be there, and we're bringing a stapler (why? read and find out).

Earlier:
• Gutfeld's thoughts on Red Eye's time slot
• Gutfeld takes on Gawker

Gawker's Hamilton Nolan received an email from Fleishman Hillard chief marketing officer Rich Jernstedt, essentially apologizing to Fox News Channel for their March news release which took a shot at FNC's bed bug woes.

The letter explains FH's perspective:

It seemed like a good idea at the time. Sometimes the commitment to generate publicity can get an agency in trouble. As you noted in your post, one of our more aggressive marcom specialists at Fleishman-Hillard developed a news release for a client that made light of the FOX News green room. Understandably, the folks at FOX didn't appreciate it. One of our strengths is maintaining good relationships with major media like FOX. We talked with our friends at FOX, and also made a note to our file on how to avoid these situations in the future.

This comes on the heels of Fox & Friends co-anchor Steve Doocy poking fun at the agency and their CEO last week.

Will the back-pedaling cause FNC to change course? At the time of the March release, an FNC insider predicted, "Good luck with Fleishman Hillard getting clients on the air."

Fox News Sunday anchor Chris Wallace has been busy — so busy that he missed the White House Correspondents Association dinner this year (he had an interview to conduct).

Still, as TV Week's Michele Greppi found out, he was in the loop even without attending. When asked which ensemble from the dinner was the most eye-catching, he responded, "Pamela Anderson."

Greppi discussed the 12-year anniversary of FNS, and the recent Sen. Barack Obama interview. "We got a lot of new viewers," said Wallace, but, "I think there are a lot of people who thought, 'Well, I don't need to watch it.'"

(The aforementioned Pamela Anderson and her "ensemble" at the WHCA dinner, and Washington Examiner/FNC contributor Bill Sammon)

Sen. Barack Obama appeared this morning on Fox & Friends (as did his opponent, Sen. Hillary Clinton).

At the end of the interview, he hinted at a possible appearance on the O'Reilly Factor, following in the footsteps of Clinton's highly-rated appearance: "We're looking forward to it. We're going to see if we can fit it in."

Obama technically does owe O'Reilly an appearance (after all that "block the shot" drama).