Overnight Briefing & General Reality Check

Best and Worst Drivers, by State:

Which state has the deadliest, least-skilled drivers? The Daily Beast website crunched new government data and ranked all 50 states. Curiously, there is a visible gap between how Republicans and Democrats drive, or at least how they drive in traditionally blue and red states.
   The editor's averaged driver-caused fatal crashes by the number of total number of drivers licenses issued in each state. And since more driving happens in some states, they also factored in how many miles each driver in the state logs, and how much time they spend in their car, adjusting the numbers accordingly.
   As it turns out, nine of the 10 worst-performing states went for McCain, while nine of the 10 best performers voted for Obama.
   And neither California, New York or Florida made either list, so there. (Maiman)

Most dangerous drivers:
10. Texas
 9. Idaho
 8. Delaware
 7. Missouri
 6. Alaska
 5. Oklahoma
 4. Louisiana
 3. Kentucky
 2. Montana
 1. North Dakota

Safest drivers:
10. Illinois
 9. Maryland
 8. Oregon
 7. Ohio
 6. Mississippi
 5. New Hampshire
 4. Massachusetts
 3. Rhode Island
 2. Virginia
 1. Connecticut

Grace notes:

Just in time for the holidays...it's the JUSTIN BIEBER doll!
   Bravado and The Bridge Direct announced yesterday that they have teamed up to release a line of collectible figures based on the singer's look and style. The Justin Bieber Music Video Collection Singing Figures will be dressed like he was in the clips for "Baby" and "One Less Lonely Girl."
   Plus, those two dolls will play 30-second bits from those songs. The other set is called The JB Style Collection featuring dolls wearing Justin's best "street" looks.
   There will also be a toy microphone, plush bears dressed in hoodies, fitted caps, and of course "Team Bieber" t-shirts. All of that stuff will be available December 4th. (Marino)

The Reel Deal:

Geeks, rejoice! The big movie news is that Lucasfilm will be re-releasing all six "Star Wars" movies in 3D, and will be out in theatres beginning with "Episode 1" in 2012.
   GEORGE LUCAS said recently that he'd been looking "for years and years and years" to add 3D to the "Star Wars" saga but felt the technology hadn't measured up until he saw "Avatar" earlier this year and it changed his mind.

Reality Round-Up:

"Deadliest Catch" Captains JOHNATHAN and ANDY HILLSTRAND along with Cap't SIG HANSEN have left the Discovery channel show. The trio released a statement to the Hollywood Reporter yesterday, which said they wouldn't be able to do another season of the show because the Hillstrands were being sued by the cable network for not doing a spinoff special following the sudden death of Cap'n PHIL HARRIS last season.
   The Hillstrands were captains on the crab boat Time Bandit, while Hansen was captain of the Northwestern.
   Filming is due to begin on the seventh season in October --the start of crab season.