• Names & Faces:Cher visits Bethesda Naval Medical Center. . . Burning cat featured in Loretta Sanchez's holiday card. [WP]

• Rush & Molloy: For inaugural, Laura goes with Oscar de la Renta while Jenna, Barbara choose Badgely Mischka for "slinky and sexy" dresses with "slits and sequins and decolletage.". . . GOPer: "Rove used Rudy and Kerik to tout Bush as the anti-terrorism candidate, but Rudy is too socially liberal for the true-believers. So they let him shoot himself in the foot. Rove knew about Kerik's baggage - and that he could never be confirmed. But he went along with the nomination, betting that the heat would come down on Rudy, which it has." [NYDN]

• Page Six: "Which pol with an eye on higher office is getting a reputation as a gal who likes to party? Word is she's an oenophile who isn't too picky about the vintage." [NYP]