Barack Obama's once-commanding lead in New York has shrunk to just 5 points, according to a new survey. The Siena College poll shows Obama leading McCain 46% to 41%, down from Obama's 18-point lead in June. [NYDN]

Primary elections took place yesterday. Of course you know that because you went to the polls last night and exercised your democratic rights. Didn't you? In any event, nothing too exciting took place. Assembly Speaker Shelly Silver managed to hold on to his seat. And there will be no former reality TV contestants representing New York in Congress. There's always next time! [NYT, NYDN]

As if this Ben-Hur-esque election season hadn't already been crazy and exhausting enough, along came Sarah Palin on Friday, Republican John McCain's strangely selected (determined by tea leaves? gleaned from the position of the sun? through phrenology? by listening to whispers on the wind?) pick for running mate. She's the governor of a sprawling and empty Northern wilderness, she's a former beauty queen, and she's got a knocked-up outta wedlock daughter. It doesn't get any better, does it? Or, you know, maybe it could. We have some sorta-believable fantasy campaign stories in mind that would ensure that this batshit insane campaign season could finally be deemed complete and, perhaps, the Best Election Season Ever. What if little Bristol Palin (the pregnant daughter) fled to abortion-happy Canada, causing some sort of international incident? Or wouldn't it be terrific if Scottsdale Retirement Community Barbie Cindy McCain was found to be keeping servants as modern-day slaves, paid next to nothing and sleeping huddled and cold under the stairs? Ohh, and what if an old paper of Barack Obama's from Harvard was discovered, and its topic was an avid defense of Huey Newton? These are all sort of wonderfully plausible (in a silly way), and we're curious to see if you can top them (we're sure you can). Send us your ultimate fantasy campaign plotlines and we'll democratically publish our favorites.

Some folks aren't all that happy that Michael Bloomberg has yet to decide whether he's going to try and revise the city's term limit laws and seek a third term as mayor, or find something else to do with his vast wealth and influence when his term runs out next year. So who's unhappy, exactly? All the people who were planning to run themselves, until the mayor mucked up their plans and suggested he might not be opposed to changing the law and serving out another term.

• The Obama campaign is marshalling the full power of the fashion industry to get ahead: A long list of designers—definitely including Derek Lam, Isaac Mizrahi, Tracy Reese, and Diane von Furstenberg and possibly including Beyoncé, Russell Simmons, and Vera Wang—will be creating official merchandise like totes and t-shirts. [WaPo]

On a fundraising event list sent to Barack Obama supporters: "Runway to Change with Special Guests Sarah Jessica Parker & Ann Wintour." We appreciate that running a presidential campaign is a lot of work, but getting Anna's name wrong? Maybe Andre Leon Talley can intervene and negotiate a rapprochement? [NYT]

An Atlanta actuarial firm "which specializes in morbidity and mortality calculations" gives John McCain "a 'healthy expectancy' of 8.4 years, taking into account his four bouts with melanoma of the skin." As for Barack, he can "expect 21.9 years of good health—a forecast shortened by 10 percent or so by his history of cigarette smoking." (Oh, and as you probably suspect, this fave photo of right-wing bloggers isn't real.) [AJC]

She may not be the sharpest knife in the drawer, but Gwyneth Paltrow has taken one very effective PR trick to heart: A good way to stay in the public eye when you're not actually working that much—while also appearing to care about anything other than yourself—is to lend a little time to "causes." There was her recent UNICEF PSA for preventing childhood HIV, her Key For a Cure ambassadorship, and now she's the famous face in this video exhorting American ex-pats to vote for Obama: "I'll be voting from London," she shares, "but you can vote from anywhere. If you live abroad, you've got to do it." Clearly no American in a far-off land will fail to submit to such persuasion, especially as Gwynnie uses the most familiar of her three emote-modes: earnest!

It's official! Barack Obama has no business being president. He's just too damn skinny. According to the Journal: "In a nation in which 66% of the voting-age population is overweight and 32% is obese, could Sen. Obama's skinniness be a liability? Despite his visits to waffle houses, ice-cream parlors and greasy-spoon diners around the country, his slim physique just might have some Americans wondering whether he is truly like them." In case you're keeping score, the presidential contender is "estimated" by "medical experts" to be roughly 180 pounds, or about ten pounds less than he should be for someone his height. [WSJ]

Before he's even gone down in history for doing anything, Barack Obama is enjoying the company of the likes of Che Guevara and Bob Marley as a "statement" t-shirt. "Young people are acting like it's some kind of revolution," says a Union Square vendor who sells T-shirts hand-painted with images of Obama. "He's in demand right now. He's selling better than everybody." Naturally, Urban Outfitters is selling a bunch of Obama-slogan shirts—but we wonder how many of the hiptards snapping up "Obama for Yo Mama" and "Barack 'n' Roll" shirts have any idea that their money is going straight to Urban Outfitters' billionaire owner Richard Hayne, staunch conservative and frequent contributor to Republican causes and candidates like Rick Santorum. Ah, the irony: For every Barack t-shirt an idealistic kid buys at UO, a few pennies drop in the campaign coffers of Republicans like John McCain.

Michelle Obama's team is desperately counteracting the "angry black woman" role Republican commentators have cast her in, with strategies like today's guest appearance on The View during which she demonstrated what a warm and chummy everywoman she really is. Republicans will continue to take their swipes at Mrs. O., of course. But she may not have to worry about her fashion judgement getting called into question, as she's getting one of the best weapons any high-profile woman could ask for: Andre Leon Talley wants to take control of her wardrobe! As the fashion industry's sole African-American superstar, the Vogue editor-at-large clearly considers it his duty—his right!—to decide how the hopeful First Lady should dress. He'll no doubt do a fine job, assuming he doesn't go all Jennifer Hudson on her. One small caveat, ALT, if we may: We know you're fond of turbans for yourself, but perhaps that sort of thing should be avoided for Michelle—it will only lead to all manner of silly misintepretation!

A black man's in the running for president: It's a historic event, a crucial time for the Democratic party, and for the American people. Yet if you're Scarlett Johansson, naturally it's all about you! Barack Obama's got a vocal supporter in the zaftig blonde actress, who's discovered that his campaign is the perfect opportunity to direct even more media attention toward herself, while purporting to be not just another narcissistic starlet. "I don't want to seem like I'm holier than thou," she rhapsodizes to Politico.com (we think she can rest easy) but "if the spotlight is on me, I might as well try to direct it on things and causes that I believe in." If you believe, Scarlett, then what more does the electorate need to hear?

As predicted, Yazmany Arboleda—the publicity-seeking artist hastily shut down by the Secret Service yesterday for his exhibit about the "Assassination" of Barack and Hillary—made a clean sweep of the New York media. He is truly a master of his craft. The stories run the gamut, from the Post's throwaway one-off to the Sun's cautious warning that this whole art project might be a big hoax. And let's hope it is; it would be worthwhile comeuppance for the equally publicity-seeking New York Police Commissioner, who really should have had better things to be concerned about yesterday:

If any other news anchor flirtatiously informed a renowned political strategist that he wanted to be her "boo," he'd probably get fired. But it's Anderson Cooper, therefore it's adorable! Watch it for yourself, after the jump.

Ricky Martin is officially living La Vida Pantsuit. Four days before the Puerto Rican primary, the has-been boricua pop star has announced his support of Hillary Clinton. Expressing gratitude, Hillary issued a press release commending the Gandhi-like Martin for his committment to "improving the world through his philanthropic work." It's safe to say this is the most politicized day of Martin's life, between endorsing Hillary and Gov. David Paterson's decision to recognize marriages between Ricky-type people in the Menudo alum's adopted home of New York.

In 1960, American author and member of the designated ruling class Gore Vidal wrote a little play about how his good friend John Kennedy managed to fuck over intelligent wimp Adlai Stevenson and gain control of the Democratic party (and eventually the presidency). The play was called The Best Man, and it was made into an entertaining (and out of print) movie of the same name in 1964. It's the story of a hotly contested fight for the nomination that goes down to the wire, and all the smears and dirty tricks that make this country great. Do you see the parallels? DO YOU SEE? Well, they're actually kinda tenuous and not that informative, but it's a gripping little movie. Here's a clip, taken from a '90s BBC documentary on Vidal.

So! Tonight! Pennsylvania's Primary! The current CW sez Clinton will win—her internal numbers have her 11 points ahead, public polling has a slightly narrower margin. But she needs a HUGE win to, uh, overtake Obama in the popular vote. The delegate thing? Well, that's a much harder gap to close. Hey, remember how Hil was inevitable? Anyone? It was less than a year ago that she was the unstoppable presumptive nominee. What happened? We went back in time, with our magic Googling time machine, to dissect 18 months of campaign spin, media narratives, and pundit bullshit to figure out how Senator Hillary Clinton went from our next President to this increasingly desperate-looking figure.

Dude. Did you know that the deadline to mail in your registrations to vote in the February primaries is tomorrow? It totally is, man. Not afraid to be servicey! [NY Board of Elections]

Despite a surfeit of youth-oriented clothes for young people being youthful from nearly all the Presidential candidate's official stores, Mike Huckabee is apparently the only candidate to offer his face on an American Apparel shirt. Because all the rest of them have crazy ideas about "unions" or something. Or is Huckabee just that hip? If you're wearing the AA Huckabee tank top and you put on a "Wellesley Women For Hillary" button would the universe collapse in on itself? [NYT]