Free Republic

Is "shock jock" Howard Stern's voice powerful enough to affect the upcoming presidential election to the extent of sending President Bush packing? That's what the Boston Globe wants to know, explaining that the liberal talk show host the newspaper describes as a "stripper aficionado, champion of misfits everywhere, all-purpose radio provocateur," has turned his raunchy show into a Bush bashing marathon. Writes the Globe's Matthew Gilbert, Stern has been devoting hours of his broadcast every weekday "to impassioned criticism of President Bush and support of Senator John Kerry." Stern, he writes has been "Railing tirelessly against the president, attacking Bush's...

<p>ALEC Baldwin isn't suffering from any lack of self-esteem. In A&E's "Biography: Alec Baldwin," premiering tonight, the bombastic actor compares himself to Black Panther leader Eldridge Cleaver, who wrote "Soul on Ice." Baldwin recalls that when he was younger, "My dad said to me, 'If you were black . . . with your personality,' he said, 'Do you think you would be Martin Luther King, or would you be Eldridge Cleaver? Would you be patient and wise, and kind, and peaceful?' He said, 'Or do you think you'd really, really get out there and . . . exert yourself a little more in order to leverage change in our society?' And I knew the answer . . . I knew the answer was the latter."</p>

<p>For those who are not aware, the NY Post is home to the world's most famous gossip page ... "Page Six." A frequent item there is something called "just asking" where they post a blind gossip item and leave it up to you to guess who they are referring to. The items typically contain clues (some subtle, some not) as to the indentities.</p>

<p>BILL Clinton and his "close friend," sexy Canadian billionaire Belinda Stronach, seem to be enjoying one another's company more and more - and sightings of them together have north-of-the-border media types buzzing.</p> <p>PAGE SIX first reported last fall that the former prez had gotten cozy with beautiful blonde Stronach, 37, CEO of auto-parts giant Magna International Inc., at a birthday bash for rocker Ronnie Hawkins in Toronto. Clinton's rep claimed at the time their relationship was all business, involving the Clinton Library Foundation.</p>

ENDQUOTE to end all!! Ann Coulter boasts the No. 1 best-selling book in American non-fiction, "Slander: Liberal Lies About the American Right." Many read it with slack-jawed wonder, thinking if one simply switched "liberal" to "conservative" throughout, it would make more sense. The vivacious Ann gave an interview to George Gurley in the New York Observer this week. She actually says, "My only regret with Timothy McVeigh (the Oklahoma City bomber) is he did not go to the New York Times building."

Is an aide to former horndog in chief Bill Clinton squiring supermodel Naomi Campbell so that his boss can be near her?A friend of Doug Band has been circulating the story that the 'lawyer' and 'close advisor' of Clinton is dating the dusky diva.But Band, who is merely President Clinton's personal assistant, has apparently been a conduit to Clinton's women in the past.The London Daily Mail and others reported last month that Clinton and Campbell, who'd been introduced at an AIDS fundraiser in Austria in December, has an 'intimate' lunch in the Alps and the 'hooked up' again in London...

STERN SHOW HYPES VILE VIDEO By RICHARD JOHNSON with Paula Froelich and Chris Wilson Howard Stern - Photo by: Jim Alcorn A SHOCKING video that shows homeless people breaking each other's bones, pulling their own teeth out with pliers and drinking urine-laced booze is selling like crazy since Howard Stern started playing the audio portion on his radio show. The makers of "Bumfights: Cause for Concern, Volume 1," claim to have sold over 100,000 copies at $19.95 since Stern featured the disturbing amateur flick last week. "Bumfights" lowlights include footage of a derelict being pushed down cement stairs in...

Bill Clinton wasn't rooting for his old nemesis Paula Jones when she squared off last month against ice-skater Tonya Harding. Newsweek's Jonathan Alter reports the former president remarked: "That Tonya Harding looks like a pretty tough cookie to me." Harding easily beat Jones, the former Arkansas civil servant who sued Clinton for sexual harassment. Newsweek also tells how Clinton called his trusted aide Julia Payne one night at 1 a.m. ranting and raving. "Sir," she interrupted, "have you been watching Fox [News Channel] again?