The First Lady's First Lady?

Right-wingers hoping EdKlein’s latest hatchet job, The Truth About Hillary (excerpted in next month's Vanity Fair), contains new revelations about the former first lady’s sapphic past will have to look elsewhere. In a clumsy clip job meant to kneecap the New YorkSenator’s presidential campaign, Klein rehashes allegations around sinceBill Clinton’s 1978 gubernatorial term that Hillaryengaged in hot girl-on-girl action with college pal Nancy“Peach” Pietrafesa. At the very least, Klein’spublisher, the conservative Penguin imprint Sentinel, could have hired afact-checker—Pietrafesa’s name is misspelled throughout the book,an error Klein would have avoided had he actually contacted thenow-married woman for comment, we hear.

"Let me break it down like this," snipes a former Bill Clinton staffer. "Ed Klein is desperate for some exposure and resentful of the fact that he's no longer part of the Kennedy circle and no longer on Washington's A-List. He'll do anything to get on TV, even if it means touting his book on Fox News."

Meanwhile, with the Battle for Barack instalemate, Hillary has been courting another Democratic comer to add some colorto her projected ticket. At a private dinner last week at Westwood One CEONorm Pattiz’s Beverly Hills mansion, Hillary schmoozedsome of L.A.’s biggest Dem donors but saved her best moves for thecity’s mayor-elect Antonio Villaraigosa. A guest at thedinner says Clinton “gushed” over Villaraigosa and grabbed multiplephoto ops with the rising Latino pol. “The fact is,” says the guest,“Hillary knows she’ll need Villaraigosa to capitalize on theHispanic vote. She’s getting her licks in way before any of the otherDems.” Hill’s West Coast jaunt also generated some much-neededgreen. Combined with proceeds from a young Hollywood fundraiser earlier thatevening—attended by Christina Aguilera andLindsay Lohan—sources say Hilary walked away with a cool$1 million for her “senate re-election” campaign. The dough willmost likely be put toward an exploratory committee in 2006 when Clinton isexpected to officially declare her candidacy.