Seems to us the Clinton campaign still has some 'splainin' to do about recent comments re: Mr. Obama. What with Bill's "fairy tale" and then BET founder Bob Johnson's backhanded reminder of B's youthful pot smoking -- which he later denied in a statement that we find TOTALLY unbelievable, he knew exactly what he was saying -- we just think these folks have sunk too low in an effort to squelch some of the Obama thunder.

Sure, they must energized by New Hampshire, but if they keep it up, they will surely be showing themselves as dirty tricksters capable of anything. Ahem ...

Probably they thought this would be easier and didn't anticipate such a challenge. We hope Obama and some of his people fight back and call them out. Michelle Obama's most recent comments on the "fairy tale" stuff were a good start. (BTW: We would like her to glam up her makeup a bit. The minimalist look is not doing her justice, particularly with her evening look where some color on the eyes -- smoke em up, girl -- a little sparkle on the cheeks and at the very least, some liner and gloss on her lips, would keep her from looking so washed out. We like her practicality, but she could do so much more with her graceful, statuesque presentation! Andre Leon Talley, line 1?) But we digress ...

Back to South Carolina, where we used to live many fun years ago. B should take a panel of high-profile supporters out with him down South, some big names like Johnson who are also well-known in the community. Oprah, ya busy? You need to bring Gayle and Steadman, too. Where is Darius Rucker? (OK, he's in Nashville, but he could come home.)

In other political fashion news: Chelsea Clinton has super-nice shoes. Great boots, little sister.

We predict John McCain will win Michigan. Mittens has worked hard to campaign there and has family ties, but we see McCain taking independent voters who will no doubt turn out for this one. We also predict Mittens will NOT get out of the race, even if he loses to McCain. He's gonna use his money to stay in. Unlike others who are scraping, he's got that luxury. Wonder how much he has truly spent?

We plan to watch "Gone Country," the new celebrity reality show on CMT, starting Jan. 25. This one has serious potential for fun. Bobby Brown, Whitney's ex, in a cowboy hat. See ... already that's funny. We can only hope that the redneck jokes are original.

We were wrong about Mayor Rudy's Mrs. Judy. She has been out campaigning with him in Florida. We must have missed it. We hope to see her out more. We like it that Rudy has spent some major time in Miami (where we also have lived -- holla!) South Florida is NYC lite, so these are his people, no doubt. He needs to step it up some if he intends to stay in it as a contender. A risky deal running a big-state strategy. We understand why, but still. McCain has managed to look far more presidential in the must recent debates, we think.

Speaking of the South Carolina debate: Ole hangdog Fred Thompson did pretty darned good in his last outing. He makes the right points, it's just the delivery that takes the heft out of his message.

We missed the Golden Globe Awards last night, with no red carpets, no afterparties because of the ongoing -- and TURBO expensive -- writer's strike. The Globes are usually better than the Oscars, at least more colorful, mainly because the guests get to imbibe all during the show.

How about that sheriff down in North Carolina in the case of the missing -- and now murdered -- pregnant Marine at the apparent hands of a Marine colleague who reportedly raped her? Did he hafta tell us what he found in the grave? That kind of horrid imagery of bodies is NOT NECESSARY in a national press conference. Murdered is murdered. Keep the gory deets to yourself, Bubba. ICKY.

-- Andrea Billups, The Washington Times