Overnight Briefing & General Reality Check

Grace notes:

LADY GAGA serenaded a newly married couple from New Zealand at a bar in London over the weekend. Britain's Sun newspaper says Ewan and Julie Searle were celebrating their wedding by knocking back a few when Lady Gaga just happened to walk in and ask what was going on. She offered to sing if someone knew how to play guitar. One of the guys they were drinking with had one and Gaga serenaded the happy couple with the ROLLING STONES' tune, "Gimmie Shelter." But, Gaga's people demanded that no one record the performance. Ewan and Julie kinda wanted to preserve the moment, but no such luck. (Marino)

LADY GAGA's concert rider from In Touch magazine:
   --two bottles of white wine, ideally Kendall Jackson or Robert Mondavi
   --small plate of non-sweaty and non-smelly cheese
   --vegetarian hotdogs
   --Muscle Milk
   --Organic salsa (Myers)

Wasted away again in Margaritaville:

A court in Sweden let a drunk driver off the hook after he argued he was actually sleepwalking the whole time.
   The Local says the unidentified 51-year-old man had a blood-alcohol level of ten times the legal limit when he drove his car into a ditch. Cops say he was behind the wheel, dressed in slippers and pajamas.
   The man's doctor appeared in court, testifying that he had been known to sleepwalk in the past. The judge dismissed the case, saying "It cannot be shown beyond a reasonable doubt that the man was aware of his actions when he drove his car." (Still)

Making the rounds in Tinseltown:

"James Bond' is getting a makeover. Writer JEFFERY DEAVER tells USA Today the international spy is going through some big changes in the new novel set to hit store shelves next May. Apparently he's gone back to "007's" roots and says the late IAN FLEMING's original character was very dark and edgy. The fictional studmuffin still works for the British secret service, but is a twenty-nine-year-old Afghanistan war vet. This may not be good news if DANIEL CRAIG wants to keep his plum role --he clocks in at a cool forty-two-years-young. (Lee)

Reality Round-Up:

ABC announced the cast of it's "Skating with the Stars" reality show last night on "Dancing With The Stars." They include:
   --Daytime Emmy Award nominee REBECCA BUDIG ("Greenlee Smythe" on "All My Children").
   --"Real Housewives of New York" star BETHENNY FRANKEL.
   --Olympic skiing gold medalist JONNY MOSELEY.
   --MöTLEY CRüE frontman VINCE NEIL.
   --Disney Channel star BRANDON MYCHAL SMITH ("Nico Harris" on "Sonny With A Chance").
   --Actress SEAN YOUNG.
   The show cranks up Nov 22 following "Dancing With The Stars."

Winners & Losers:

The Washington Post got hold of a copy of the Democrats official talking points heading into yesterday's midterms --points that you'll likely hear recycled today as a postmortem. The short version:     
   --The party of the President historically loses seats in midterm elections
   --Too many people are looking for work or struggling to get by as a result of 8 years of irresponsible economic policies (and despite creating more private sector jobs in the last 8 months than President BUSH did in 8 years)
   --The sheer number of seats we're defending this year as a result of the successes of 2006 and 2008, including 49 Democratic Representatives on the ballot this year whose districts JOHN McCAIN won in 2008. (Pacelli)

Other Democratic excuses for losing (Maiman):

--Thought election was first Tuesday in December
--Too worried about economy to concentrate voting
--Osama bin Laden endorsement less help than expected
   --Extensive campaigning in Belgium was waste of time
   --Wasted money buying unseen ads on MSNBC
   --Should have shook hands and kissed babies --not vice versa
   --Shovel ready jobs included digging our own graves
   --Fell for GOP's old "you-vote-for-me-and-I'll-vote-for-you" trick
   --Ill-advised pledge to "tax you bastards back to the Stone Age"
   --Everywhere we looked --tea parties!