It's the story we never get tired of hearing, and today the Los Angeles Times has it. The wives of Wall Street executives are having to scale back spending in the wake of poor economic times, and their mild suffering can become our immoral enjoyment as the previously pampered significant others have to tell their children, "Daddy can't buy you a Sea Doo watercraft this year."Housewife Fran Alvarez' husband was making $250,000 per annum writing software for Credit Suisse. Now things have taken a turn for terrible:

In a mock campaign commercial on last night's SNL, Jon Hamm portrayed hapless Butts, New York candidate Pat Finger. Analysts were predicting an even poorer result for a subject of the show's opening satire, embattled Pennsylvania rep John Murtha. The attention paid to Murtha's recent gaffe (in which he called his constituents racists) will likely cost the congressman his House seat next month, observers immediately began to suggest. Can a few minutes really swing that campaign? Click for the video.Standing in the way of Rep. Murtha's re-election is Iraqi War vet Lt. Col. William Russell, who came into the race with a far smaller profile. After describing the area he represents as racist and redneck in separate recent comments, he was already expecting his five point edge over Russell to continue evaporating. And then this largely unfunny thing happened last night: Observer of the contest Mark Hemingway immediately wrote that the sketch

Dear Mike: Love your site. But Ted Dziuba and I would like to see one little enhancement to your TechCrunch Layoff Tracker. It doesn't list false positives. That is, if someone spamblasts everyone in the tech media on a Saturday night with an email that says "Elance laid off 20% of its staff on Friday," I want to be able to search the Layoff Tracker for Elance and find out if your ace reporting team has broken the story or not. I don't want a match on "freelancer." I want "Elance: TechCrunch has not yet broken the news on Elance layoffs." It's what, ten lines of PHP? I can pop down to Atherton and type it in. No wait: Have Ted do it. He needs something to do in between his new weekly columns for The Register. Watching Pressflip run out of money gets old.

As Maya Rudolph fan clubs weather another couple hours of suspense before her return to Saturday Night Live, TMZ is reporting that Amy Poehler just had a baby boy and will miss tonight's Jon Hamm-hosted spectacular. Hold your breath that she went with the name we suggested: Winston Jammer Poehler. I know, right? In some cultures (don't be insensitive) the birth of a child is best marked by four Amy Poehler sketches to rule them all. And if last week was your swan song at SNL, you earned it, Amy.Who can forget Amy's magnificent satire of her own coming unborn! It's just good to know Steve Holt will have a brother. And think of Will Arnett! When he was on the set of Let's Go To Prison, could he have imagined he'd be able to afford to see this day? It was so real when all the ladies were in the show's open that time. Dratch and Rudolph and Wiig and Poehler! Who could ask for anything more? Lastly, who can forget Amy's poignant run in the legendary sketch troupe Upright Citizens Brigade. This sketch changed the way I view life in general, and Amy 's performance as Charna McMadison is what holds it together. Her acting here in multiple roles is Gilda Radner-worthy. Click to view Then there's Amy's classic Dakota Fanning series. How confusing are these vignettes going to be for young Winston Jammer to absorb? It Must Have Been A Beautiful Baby [TMZ]

Gawker's favorite political pollster Nate Silver has come up with the most likely way that the McCain campaign can win a majority of votes in the electoral college. This graphic from the Sunday's New York Post outlines McCain's tiny chance. Click through to hear the bad news. [FiveThirtyEight]

Since we're such big fans of Time book critic Lev Grossman, this week's review of John Updike's latest book troubles us that much more. Updike apparently has images of Grossman tearing through The Da Vinci Code somewhere, because we can't think of any other reason to toss Philip Roth aside so quickly and embrace John Updike so completely as he does in his review of their latest efforts. The adulation becomes unbearable starting now.Lev Grossman fellates Updike with a knowing look as Updike cradles his bald head in a three part essay that also addresses Philip Roth and Toni Morrison. Grossman's highest praise is for the man from his alma mater:

Politico's Ben Smith is eating a massive helping of crow from Obama supporters angry he and Matt Drudge posted the race-baiting attack falsely described by McCain supporter Ashley Todd in a most uncritical fashion. His lame apologia isn't helping the situation, and Politico GOP blogger Jonathan Martin adds noxiously that it "seems like McCain just can't catch a break." What went wrong here?Texas student Ms. Todd faked a backwards 'B' on her face and alleged a black Obama supporter had attacked her, as you no doubt know by now, causing Politico's comments section to launch into a feeding frenzy over editor Ben Smith's backpedaling. The elephant in the room is Drudge, of course, and critics are equally peeved at him. Since Todd herself has already been discarded by the media, it's time for Obama supporters and Ben Smith fans to express their anguish to the other folks who reported it as fact. In his follow-up to the story, Smith never admits he should have been more skeptical of the story and his colleague is downright depressed the girl wasn't telling the truth. As Smith puts it:

Seth Rogen had some harsh things to say about his possible participation in Ghostbusters III this week, which reminds me that he's been in like six movies and he's in no position to diss a franchise that's worth more than his life. If he keeps making the "stoner" version of X, whether X is a period romance or Bill Maher-esque documentary, I'm going to take over his representation. Rogen's career choices need to start improving, because speaking as a schlubby Jew, I do not intend for my concurrent increase in appeal to women to decline any further than it already has in the wake of this economic crisis. By the power invested in me by the Torah, we have sketched out the rest of Seth Rogen's career.Seth Rogen is unsure if he's willing to be in a Judd Apatow-produced Ghostbusters 3:

If you're not interested in publishing or Christianity, you may not be aware of William P. Young's wildly successful inspirational novel The Shack. On a marketing budget of exactly zero, this book — about a man who visits the spot of his daughter's murder and finds God — is now common course material for Christians across the U.S. With that big an audience, you have to wonder about the message the book contains. I read it so you don't have to.The 248 page novel was written for William P. Young's close family, and after having no luck selling the manuscript to agents, he and a few friends self-published last summer. That was a good idea, because the book started gaining a cult audience almost immediately. Now it's a staple of most Christian communities, the subject of a film adaptation, and can safely be described as a phenomenon. Crossing Richard Matheson's What Dreams May Come with standard inspirational fare like Way of the Peaceful Warrior and Sophie's World, The Shack is written briskly and intelligently for a novel of this kind.

We're not exactly sure when Middle East scholar Stanley Kurtz became the National Review's point man for hit pieces on the Democratic candidate for president, but we do know the other side has taken great pains to discredit Kurtz every step of the way. Perturbed that the campaign's "Fight the Smears" website attacks his contentions personally, Kurtz fought back today with a pouting missive that just can't help but have the word Bill Ayers in it.Stanley Kurtz is upset that his allegation that Obama was a member of the left-wing New Party isn't being taken more seriously, and he lashes out at the enemy in a post at The Corner:

When I think "Underground Entertainment Writer", I generally imagine A.O. Scott caged in some kind of subterrean shelter. But that's not quite what this exciting opportunity recently found on Craigslist suggests. The folks sending out this employment pdf desire something far different, imploring the applicant to choose a disguise. Click to begin your journey to a place deep within...somewhere.The original ad from Chicago Craigslist asks the prospective applicant, "Apart of the Underground Scene?" One e-mail later, blogger Tyler Coates received this largely incoherent application:

"Another CSI show?" you carp. "Does every show need the article 'The' in front of its name?" you whisper to me while I am trying to watch The Mentalist. Please...shush. You had best be quiet as Simon Baker's psychic mischief fills the deep hole of meaning in my belly. Here's why The Mentalist is one of the biggest triumphs of fall TV.I have no time for your shenanigans because CBS' hit drama has already taken the viewing public by storm. (Check out how it did among seniors, Yes, Simon Baker's appeal to seniors — that, my friends, is terrifyingly real. Even show creator Bruno Heller admits he has a specific audience in mind for the show: "I'd much rather please 10 old ladies in Iowa than one hipster in New York," he recently opined. And then a hero comes along... Unlike the growing raft of series destined to get canceled, The Mentalist has already justly been ordered for a full season. Driven by James Surowiecki's crazy theories, we had to sample the one certifiable new hit show of the season. We expected to be saying, "Why on earth do people watch this show?" but instead we are saying, "You need to watch this show."

This month's Harper's reprints a series of love e-mails between alleged Canadian terrorist Momin Khawaja and his internet paramour Zeba Khan. Sexy, dashing and extremely distrustful of America, Khawaja seduced the Pakistani resident and U.S. citizen through vague militant threats and a shared love of Cat Stevens. Under the weight of this man's considerable charm, who could say no?As if we don't already have enough reasons not to date bloggers, Khawaja e-mailed Zeba Khan after reading her blog post 'Why I Am Never Going Back to America.' The two started exchanging e-mails regularly on a variety of topics before Khan was arrested because of implications he was involved in a London bomb plot. The engagement was dissolved, but the letters are proof of what these two kids had.

Democratic candidates are having a field day with the past eight years all over America, putting double digit leads together in swing states in what's shaping up as the beginning of a vast Democratic majority. Things are going to be a little tighter in comedian Al Franken's race against longtime Minnesota conversative Norm Coleman. Though Coleman held a lead in the early-going, Franken has closed fast. Still, is there a chance Franken could walk away empty-handed on his big day?After the lead Coleman started with, it's heartening for Democrats to see that Franken has closed the gap in some polls. Since polling is a dangerous art best practiced by Nate Silver, you can judge for yourself here:

Although Barack Obama can count on one hand the number of houses he and his wife own, the candidate's first real financial security was derived from his success in the publishing world with his memoir Dreams from My Father. The powerful agent who helped turn Obama into a literary franchise is lawyer Bob Barnett, who gets profiled in today's Financial Times. The mysterious Barnett also boasts the Clintons, the Cheneys, and most of Bush's cabinet as loyal clients. How exactly did he become the guy behind the guy?Locking Obama up before he even arrived in Washington turned into a brilliant steal for publisher Crown, but at the time the income from Obama's three book deal was crucial for the senator's rising star. Barnett made it happen for the young pol, and he did it far cheaper than most agents. Indeed, much of Barnett's success in attracted big-time clients can be traced back to his unusual practice of forgoing the usual commission on a book, and just billing his clients hourly for their time. Barnett's influence doesn't end in the publishing world, as last decade he was given the unenviable task of informing Hillary Clinton about her husband's indiscretions with Monica Lewinsky. Despite being employed by friends on both side of the aisle, Barnett isn't universally admired. His first big sale was Geraldine Ferraro's autobiography Ferraro: My Story, and literary agent Esther Newberg doesn't recall Barnett having an impressive debut or career:

We knew roughly that David Foster Wallace's lifelong struggle with depression pushed him to take his own life at 46 last month, but the details haven't been put together as comprehensively as they are in David Lipsky's feature in the Nov. 30th issue of Rolling Stone. Yes, Wallace hung himself in a dark room while his wife left the house for a few hours, but as Lipsky tells us, he was already dead.Excerpts detailing Wallace's difficult time fitting in at Amherst were already released, but the longer print version reveals that Wallace had a similar reaction to pretty much everything that happened in his life. His instructors at The University of Arizona MFA program didn't help:

Terminated Radar employee David Cho posted a glimpse of what direction RadarOnline.com would have gone if it wasn't about to be taken over by former National Enquirer editor David Perel. Hopefully this will get Mitch Albom started on his next book project, The Five Blog Layouts You Meet In Heaven, although we can't help feeling the full version looks sort of familiar...

The Office still offers plenty of laughs, but a certain reckless need to humiliate the characters has been missing from the show lately. This week that will change when the show's Halloween episode will feature a Dark turn from office perv Creed. The full episode preview, along with the latest information on Angela and Andy's nuptials, comes after the jump.The show hasn't abandoned the pure torture of its characters entirely: it was depressing and sort of appropriate that we found out Pam's ex-fiance Roy now works at the Vitamin Store — but come on, you should see his employee discount. And yes, the developing chemistry between Michael Scott and his HR rep makes a place deep inside of us cry out in pain. But it's time the show's writers got back to doing what it is they do best: really screwing with these people until the viewer can no longer comfortably watch what occurs. The coming blessing of Angela and Andy's wedding website should hopefully signal a return to that form:

· Did you hear the one about the View hosts who went at it backstage before denying the whole thing ever happened? Well, you have now. · Aaaannd on your undercard, William "Shining Ego" Shatner vs. George "Psychotic Gay Bridezilla" Takei. · Are Democrats better at political satire than Republicans? We wouldn't be so sure about that; Elisabeth Hasselbeck killed with that McCain shirt. · On the seventh day, the actual Sarah Palin went on Saturday Night Live. And for NBC, it was good. · We said farewell to Mr. Blackwell and Dolemite, motherfucker. · As this week's drug stories went, it's a photo finish between Carrie Fisher's homo-making Codeine and Gary Busey's canine-hooker coke-binge. · Just for the record: That's not a corpse in the Roosevelt Hotel pool — he's just sleeping. · We have lots of ideas for making the perfect celebrity PSA, and a Happy Days reunion is probably somewhere near the top. · It was a tough week for new James Bond films and overcooked Guns N' Roses albums. · You be the judge: Did or did Sarah Silverman not bomb in London? And has Wheel of Fortune ever offered a dumber group of contestants than these three? · Miley Cyrus's naughty-photo hacker spoke out; her underwear-model boyfriend's own naughty-photo leaker seethed with jealousy. Have a great weekend, everybody!

Valleywag's publisher, gay-owned Gawker Media, has yet to take a public stand on Proposition 8, California's proposed gay-marriage ban. But that's okay! Neither has Yahoo. But we're always in favor of man-on-man action — like the sweaty seat-wrestling that will come after Forbes.com merges with its print-magazine namesake. What other stories made us feel gay?The Valley's least essential blowhards all boarded the same jet for a Hawaiian vacation, courtesy of their investors, at VC David Hornik's faux conference, The Lobby. Yahoos buzzed about layoffs (while Valleywag lurked in the airwaves). Google boss Eric Schmidt, aka America's CTO, may have gotten his own fighter jet — while some Googlers went hungry. (Photo of Justin Rudd and Rosie via HauteDogs)