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Michelle Fenty watches her husband, Adrian Fenty, in a debate with D.C. Council Chairman Vincent Gray, Washington, D.C., September 1, 2010. (Nikki Kahn/TWP)

The headliners were two men on a stage, debating which of them should be elected mayor of Washington. But the scene-stealer was the emotional woman on the sidelines.

It was the first time that many of the city's veteran pols and reporters had heard Michelle Fenty speak -- not to mention weep -- in an impassioned defense of her husband, Mayor Adrian Fenty.

"The reason he goes out there every single day, moving a thousand miles an hour, is for the people of Washington, D.C.," she told a scrum of journalists, her voice cracking, after the Washington Post-sponsored debate Wednesday between her husband and challenger Vincent Gray at the Newseum. "For them not to understand that the whole point of his actions is for them is very difficult."

The 40-year-old lawyer and mother of three has been an enigmatic figure in Washington -- a glamorous presence on the charity gala circuit, yet largely absent from her husband's political affairs. She arrived at the debate in a white belted sheath dress, with her sister Athena and stylist friend George Worrell. Later, she explained she had chosen to talk because she's hurt by the perception of her husband -- now lagging in the polls -- as aloof and one-dimensional.

"They haven't seen the personal side we see every day," she told the reporters, in the British accent of her London upbringing, reports our colleague Hamil R. Harris. "There are many misconceptions about him and about us."

Will we see more of her on the campaign now? "Absolutely," she said.

Sarah Palin speaks during the "Restoring Honor" rally, August 28, 2010, Washington, D.C. (Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images)

Vanity Fair published another exhaustive profile of Sarah Palin Wednesday ... and caused yet another uproar in the blogosphere.

The article by Michael Joseph Gross contains few verifiable revelations -- Palin and people near her refused to talk, and those who did demanded anonymity -- and portrays the former Alaska governor as angry, manipulative and obsessed with money and fame. Plus: tensions in the Palin marriage, tensions with the McCain campaign, tensions with the RNC over the vice presidential candidate's infamous $150,000 designer wardrobe.

What to make of it all? Politico's Ben Smith questioned many of the anecdotes and concluded that "you can really write anything about Palin." The Alaska Dispatch online magazine found the media bubble around Palin newsworthy itself: "A reporter followed Palin around on a speaking tour through four Midwestern states with apparent back-stage access, wrote more than 10,500 words about his experience, and his story doesn't feature a single new comment from or interview with his subject ..... it's very unusual." The Christian Science Monitor summed it up best: "If you are trying to sell books or magazines or get clicks for your website, Republican Party star Sarah Palin is the gift that keeps giving."

House Minority Leader John Boehner, 2010. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

After four years, Washington Life magazine has revived its "100 Most Invited" list, and it has a preponderance of Democrats. The selections -- A-listers everyone wants to snag for their dinners and benefits -- includes seven senators, but just two are Republicans: John McCain and hunky newcomer Scott Brown. But hey: Not a single Republican rep made the cut? Risky, especially if the GOP wins the House in November. House Minority Leader John Boehner would be poised to become speaker -- wouldn't he and his tan become a "most wanted" on the social circuit? And Nancy Pelosi gently shoved aside? (It's fickle out there, people.) Also, yes, D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty is on the list -- for at least the next two weeks.

Paris Hilton needs to find a new place to hang out in Vegas. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images for Paris Hilton Shoe Collection)

The Wynn resorts are cutting ties with Paris Hilton and her boyfriend, Cy Waits, after their drug-possession arrest Friday in Las Vegas. The company fired Waits from his job as managing partner at two hotel nightclubs --Tryst and XS -- and banned the party girl from Wynn properties, the L.A. Times reports.

Meghan McCain, 2009. (AP Photo/Matt Sayles)

Meghan McCain's new book, "Dirty Sexy Politics," isn't dirty at all -- unless you count all her unwashed laundry on the campaign trail -- or even remotely sexy because the senator's daughter swore off hook-ups during her father's 2008 presidential bid.

"Dirty Sexy Politics" by Meghan McCain. (Hyperion Books)

But the 194-page memoir, released Tuesday (and reviewed here), is about politics through the eyes of a young, moderate Republican and "political prop," as she calls herself. Her job? "Keep a smile on my face, look admiringly at my father, and clap at the appropriate times," she writes. You wouldn't think there would be all that much left to say after two years of blogging, tweeting and multimedia oversharing, but she offers a few new tidbits:

• After her father won the Ohio and Texas primaries, Meghan and her mom were invited to the White House for a "get to know you" lunch. Laura Bush? Not so warm, Meghan says: "For Mrs. Bush, this was one more meeting she had to take during the day." Jenna dropped by and showed off her bedroom ("The size of a dorm room ... there was a creepy painting of two celestial babies -- twins -- that scared me"). Worst of all, Meghan discovered she wasn't seated at the lunch (awk-ward) and left with a doggie bag of enchiladas from the White House mess.

• Campaign advisers told Meghan that she might get to introduce her mother at the GOP convention -- if she got an extreme makeover. Image consultants got rid of her "stripper" (her word, not ours) blond hair and flashy clothes, then billed her, not the campaign, for thousands of dollars. "Embarrassed" now that she agreed, she calls it "one of the worst financial decisions I've made." After all that, she didn't get the introducing gig.

• She's conflicted about Sarah Palin, calling her "the most beautiful politician I had ever seen" but "rather than joining us, and our campaign, she seemed only to begin her own." During the convention, Meghan was turned away by a makeup artist who was busy prepping the Palin kids: "They'll be getting more airtime," explained the stylist.

• Five weeks before the election, McCain's team kicked Meghan off her dad's campaign, relegating her to a series of pep talks at campaign offices. Good times in Nashville, where she bar-hopped with country singer John Rich and danced all night "with great joy and abandon and happiness, I'm told, but which I am sad to say I was too drunk to remember."

• After McCain lost to Barack Obama, the family retreated to their Arizona cabin where they ate, slept and decided that Cindy McCain should try out for "Dancing With the Stars." Sure enough, Bristol Palin beat her to it.

Read also: Review of "Dirty Sexy Politics" by Meghan McCain

Darrell Issa, rich guy. (Sandy Huffaker/Bloomberg)

• The richest guys in Congress are doing just fine in this economy: According to the Hill's annual rankings, John Kerry ($188.million) remains the wealthiest, thanks to his marriage to heiress Teresa Heinz. Rep. Darrell Issa, who made his fortune in car alarms, stays in second, followed by Rep. Jane Harman and Sen. Jay Rockefeller. New on the list: Rep. Michael McCaul at No..5, the only rookie to crack the Top.10; he married into the Clear Channel radio fortune.

• Caroline Giuliani, the 20-year-old daughter of former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, was ordered Tuesday to perform one day of community service for shoplifting $100 of makeup from Sephora in Manhattan.

Carlos Allen, 2010. (Bill O'Leary/TWP)

Those taking advantage of D.C.'s early primary voting may have noticed the sad news: White House "third crasher" Carlos Allen did not make it on to the Democratic ballot. The uninvited state dinner guest not named Salahi actually got far enough in his quixotic mayoral campaign to submit petitions bearing 2,000-plus signatures -- which, alas, did not hold up under the scrutiny of a challenge.

But wait! Allen is now angling to get onto November's ballot as an independent ("I'm not beholden to the Democrats or the Republicans") and has just submitted another petition toward that goal. His strategy: "I'm laying back and waiting to see who [of the other candidates] beats up each other the most."

So, uh, you watching "Real Housewives of D.C."? No, he told us. "It's not relevant to what I want to do for the District."

Nas at Eden Lounge, 2010. (Marc Labison)

• Nas and friends breezing into Carmine's on Monday night before his 9:30 Club show -- party of nine, no reservations. No trouble, though, getting seated in one of the Penn Quarter eatery's private rooms, where they ordered enough family-style platters of pasta, seafood, etc., to sate 60 people. The rapper resurfaced post-show (after 1.a.m.) with opening act Damian Marley and their entourage at Eden Lounge (six bottles of Moet Rose, five bottles of Grey Goose and Ciroc). When cohort DJ Green Lantern started spinning reggae, Marley jumped on a couch and waved a lighter.

• Michelle Obama dining at the W Hotel's J&G; Steakhouse on Monday night with two friends (the White House wouldn't say who -- private dinner), hair pulled sleekly back.

D.C. Mayoral candidate Vincent Gray dances with Cora Barry at her 65th birthday party last May. (Roxanne Roberts/TWP)

Adrian Fenty or Vincent Gray for D.C. mayor? Aside from all the serious issues, voters in the Democratic primary will be choosing between the photogenic family man . . . and the candidate who would be the first single guy to hold the office.

Gray, 67, has been a widower for the past 12 years. His wife of 27 years, Loretta, died of cancer in 1998. He has two grown children: Jonice Gray Tucker, 35, and Carlos Gray, 33, and two grandchildren.

But there's no girlfriend right now.

"Yes, I date, but have not found a woman I am ready to marry," Gray told us via e-mail Monday. "My work ethic, lifestyle and the spontaneity of serving the residents of the District of Columbia have made personal relationships difficult because I do not like to disappoint people, among other reasons."

Gray calls campaign chair Lorraine Green his "closest friend" -- the two met years ago while working for Sharon Pratt when she was mayor -- but she's a "good friend-friend. We are not in a romantic relationship."

Good news for all the single ladies. Gray is hardworking, religious (a lifelong Catholic), and kind of a metrosexual: He's a huge fan of "Sex and the City" and loves old-fashioned hand-dancing -- at Cora Masters Barry's 65th birthday party in May, he displayed some impressive moves on the dance floor.

If he wins both the primary and general election, Gray will be the first single mayor in 20 years. Sharon Pratt was divorced when she was elected in 1990 -- she married James Kelly the following year.

And even with all his romantic escapades, Marion Barry was a married man every time he ran for mayor. He was wed to Effi Barry when he was elected to his first, second and third terms and to Cora when he won his fourth term in 1994.

Paris Hilton and Cy Waits, 2010. (AP Photo/Donald Traill)

Hey, those aren't my drugs! Paris Hilton is the latest celeb to offer the time-honored explanation for inconvenient proximity to contraband. Arrested Friday in Vegas, the heiress told cops the purse that they saw cocaine fall out of during a traffic stop wasn't her purse, according to an arrest report obtained by the Associated Press. Such a frequent misunderstanding!

• Not my pants: Lindsay Lohan in 2007, on the cocaine found in her pocket during a drunk-driving stop in L.A. She said she was wearing a friend's pants; later pleaded guilty to cocaine use and DUI.

• Not my luggage: Former "CSI" star Gary Dourdan in 2008, on being found asleep in his car in Palm Springs, Calif., with a bag full of drugs, which he told reporters must have been left behind by someone he'd given a ride to at the Coachella music festival; later pleaded guilty to possession.

• Not my prosthetic penis: Tom Sizemore in 2005, when accused of cheating on a court-mandated drug test with something called the Whizzinator; also said that wasn't his underwear in which authorities found the device.