Cityfile: New York's Most Notable and Influential

Hillary Clinton won't be dressing up for Halloween. (But don't let that stop you from dressing up as Hillary, if you'd like.) When we called Secretary Clinton's press office in Washington, DC, and explained our request, the incredulous woman at the other end of the line said she'd have to get back to us. We later got a call from a press representative from the State Department. "Unfortunately, she's not going to be here to celebrate Halloween," he said. "She's traveling overseas in Asia and won't be back until the first week of November." So will she be dressing up overseas? "Um, I couldn't say," he replied. (MF)

Previously: Rudy Giuliani, The Naked Cowboy, Mario Batali, Anna Wintour

Happy Birthday | Hillary Clinton turns 62 today. Julian Schnabel is turning 58. Dylan McDermott is 48. Napoleon Dynamite's Jon Heder is turning 32. Keith Urban is 42. Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane is turning 36. Rita Wilson is 53. Novelist Marisha Pessl is 32. Times theater critic Ben Brantley turns 55. Singer Natalie Merchant is turning 46. Jaclyn Smith of Charlie's Angels fame is 62. And game show host Pat Sajak turns 63 today.

Hillary Clinton broke her elbow last Wednesday at the State Department and underwent surgery on Friday. Today she canceled plans to travel to Italy and Greece for a series of meetings on Iran and the Middle East since she's still recovering from surgery. Clinton's injury, however, didn't stop her from putting on a brave face and appearing at the White House today for meetings with President Obama. Nor, it seems, did it stop the president's official photographer from snapping photos of the injured secretary of state and uploading them to Flickr either. [White House@Flickr, Washington Post]

• Kimora Lee Simmons and Djimon Hounsou had a baby boy over the weekend. [Us]
• Susan Boyle checked into a clinic on Saturday after suffering a "mental breakdown" following her loss on Britain's Got Talent. [NYDN, NYP]
• Kate Hudson successfully avoided Madonna at Saturday's polo match, which is a good thing since an encounter could have led to a "girl-on-girl showdown." [NYDN]
• Bill and Hillary are househunting, apparently. Per a friend: "There are some really massive estates that are incredibly cheap. Plus, it's a fun way to spend a weekend." [NYDN]
• As for Barack and Michelle, they spent Saturday in NYC, eating at Blue Hill before attending a performance of Joe Turner's Come and Gone. [NYDN, NYT]
• Eminem stormed out of the MTV Movie Awards after Sasha Baron Cohen landed in his lap, either because he was offended or because it was part of a pre-planned stunt. [P6, NYDN]
• Billy Bob Thornton's daughter has been arrested for child neglect. [People]
• Rumor has it Jennifer Hudson is pregnant. [People]

Kennedy's Disastrous Run Now a 'Great Experience' | Caroline Kennedy is denying the suggestion that she abandoned her bid to take over Hillary Clinton's vacant Senate seat because her children encouraged her to drop out. On the Today show this morning, Kennedy told Matt Lauer that her kids had nothing to do with it. "Anybody who knows my children and knows me knows that that is absolute nonsense," she said. You may want to take that denial with a grain of salt, though, especially given how Kennedy went on to sum up what will go down as one of the most mismanaged campaigns in state history: "All in all, it was a great experience for me." [NYT]

Hillary Has a Fallback Plan For You | Hillary Clinton spoke to the graduating class of NYU at Yankee Stadium today. Unlike last year, no naked men ran onto the field and interrupted the commencement exercise. (It may have helped that two dozen cops lined the infield.) But if graduates were a little nervous about heading off into the worst job market in decades, the Secretary of State had just the recipe to put their fears to rest. "For those of you still looking for jobs, we are hiring a new generation (at the State Department)." In other words, if all else fails and you can't find a single for-profit enterprise in America willing to hire you to make photocopies, there's always work to be done preventing nuclear proliferation and making peace in the Middle East. [NYDN]

Caroline Kennedy Is a Mom Above All Else | Why did Caroline Kennedy "abandon" her bid take over Hillary Clinton's vacant Senate seat? It had nothing to do with rumored tax troubles, her uncle's medical troubles, her plunging poll numbers, or the fact she torpedoed her own chances with a series of disastrous performances on the campaign trail. It was because she didn't want to expose her poor kids to the rough and tumble of the political process, naturally. At least that's the spin contained in Edward Klein's new book, Ted Kennedy: The Dream That Never Died. Not that we'd expect this revelation to have an impact on Cindy Adams's assertion that Kennedy will be elected president in 2016. After all, Adams stuck to her claim McCain would win the 2008 election until the beginning of the November! [Vanity Fair]

Is Chelsea Planning a Wedding? | The always reliable National Enquirer is reporting that Chelsea Clinton plans to tie the knot with boyfriend Marc Mezvinsky "in a lavish $1 million dream wedding" this summer. Of course, she hasn't even announced she's engaged yet, so you may want to take this news with a grain of salt. But you'll be happy to hear that the timing is "perfect" now that Chelsea's mom is "settling into her position as secretary of state," and Marc's father, former Iowa congressman Ed Mezvinsky, "has been released from a halfway house after serving time for investment fraud." Sounds ideal, actually. [NE]

Caroline Kennedy ran a disastrous quasi-campaign for Hillary Clinton's Senate seat before deciding to bow out last night. Initially she refused to answer reporters' questions; when she eventually changed her approach and opened up, she demonstrated such little skill for dealing with the press that even some of her supporters started to wonder if she was up to the job. Kennedy now says she abandoned her bid for the Senate because of "personal reasons," which one Kennedy insider suggested was due to Caroline's concerns about Ted Kennedy's declining health. The much more plausible theory, of course, is that she bowed out when she heard she wasn't going to get the nod from Gov. David Paterson: making the decision herself provided her with a much more graceful exit. It was one of the only wise moves Kennedy and her team have made in the last few weeks. All of the  blunders that have embarrassed her since she kicked off her campaign? Here are two people you can already start blaming: Kevin Sheekey and Stefan Friedman.More

• Kate Moss will celebrate her 35th birthday this weekend with a "four-day marathon of excess." The sight of a bunch of models standing around a giant pig on a spit at a hog roast? Priceless! [DM]
• She's no Michelle, but Oscar will be dressing Hillary for the inauguration. [People]
• Marc Jacobs, Alexander Wang, and Calvin Klein Inc. have all cancelled their Fashion Week postshow parties, alas. [WWD]
• Following in the footsteps of Saks, Lord & Taylor is now laying off staff, too. [Fashionista]
• L'eau de Brooklyn will debut in March. [BS]
• Alexander McQueen and Puma are teaming up on a new line. [Pipeline]
• Goodbye, Bush: Celebrate Bush's exit with a discounted bikini wax. [Racked]

Consolation Prize for the Clintons | Bill and Hillary Clinton are going to be pushing the ceremonial button to lower the ball in Times Square on New Year's Eve! No, it's not quite like as exciting as having your finger on the button in the Oval Office, but the opportunity to make small talk with Ryan Seacrest should more than make up for it. [NYP]

Cindy Adams Thinks Six Steps Ahead | Caroline Kennedy hasn't even been tapped to fill Hillary Clinton's seat in the Senate (yet), but that isn't stopping Cindy Adams from speculating that she's going to become the first female president of the U.S. The logic? "Assume Caroline gets appointed 2009, officially elected to fill out Hillary's term 2010, re-elected to serve her own term 2012. Meanwhile, Barack's elected 2008. Re-elected 2012. Leaves 2016. By then she's a sitting senator, having served longer than Barack. He was in the Senate four years. She'd have been in six years. She'd still only be in her 50s. She can be the first woman president." There you go! Just keep in mind that Adams also predicted McCain would turn the tide at the last minute and end up beating Obama. [NYP]

Caroline's a Longshot | Sorry, fans of scandal-prone political dynasties: "The odds of Gov. Paterson choosing Caroline Kennedy to replace soon-to-be Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton in the US Senate are no better than 20-1, a source close to the governor said yesterday." [NYP]

Spotted | David Beckham walking around town with his sons on Saturday morning and later joining up with Victoria to take them to see Jersey Boys ... Agyness Deyn and Albert Hammond Jr. walking their dog and drinking coffee ... Britney Spears arriving at JFK yesterday ... The Jonas Brothers signing autographs outside their hotel ... Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes buying candy at the M&M's store in Times Square with Suri and Isabella ...  Natalie Portman filming scenes for her new movie ... Hillary and Chelsea Clinton leaving Billy Elliot on Broadway ... Taylor Momsen standing on the Gossip Girl set ...  Liev Schreiber and Naomi Watts walking downtown with cups of coffee in hand ... Miley Cyrus arriving at her hotel, accompanied by her mom and boyfriend, Justin Gaston ... and Tyra Banks leaving dinner with boyfriend John Utendahl.

At last night's opening night party for the New York City Ballet's David H. Koch Theater, guest of honor David Koch and wife Julia mingled with Candace Bushnell, Sarah Jessica Parker, Alicia Keys, Al Roker, Debbie Bancroft, Lisa Falcone, Mary Alice Stephenson, Alexandra Lebenthal, Zani Gugelmann, Annie Churchill, Peter Martins, Veronica Webb, Mark Indelicato, Blythe Danner, Valentino, Rachel Roy, Derek Lam, Peter Som, and Vanessa Williams, who all ate, drank, and danced to inaugurate the new Lincoln Center venue. [Wireimage, PMc, Style.com]More