Ashley Judd intrigued by calls to run for U.S. Senate
By Bill Zwecker November 6, 2012 5:22PM
Ashley Judd & Rodney Crowell - Tennesseans For Obama Benefit
Updated: December 10, 2012 6:08AM
Not to sound sexist, but if Ashley Judd really does run for the U.S. Senate — as is being rumored — she arguably would be the best looking member of what has been called the “world’s greatest deliberative body.”
A Judd candidacy seems to be taking some traction in the actress’ native Kentucky, where the Louisville Courier-Journal reports a number of key Democrats are warm to the idea of her challenging GOP majority leader Mitch McConnell for re-election in 2014 — clearly an ambitious undertaking, especially in Kentucky, long a reliably “red” state.
That said, Democratic U.S. Rep. John Yarmuth of Kentucky told the paper a Judd-McConnell contest “would be as high-profile a race as [Massachusetts’] Elizabeth Warren and Scott Brown.
Judd long has been active in Democratic and liberal causes and served as a Democratic National Convention delegate this past summer — though from neighboring Tennessee.
She has told Hollywood pals that the idea is intriguing, and at a September forum about women in politics, sponsored by EMILY’s List and Marie Claire magazine, the actress said, “I do receive a lot of encouragement to run … and my sincere desire is to be useful.
“I want to serve … and I may be doing that to the best of my capacity … in the space I’m already operating in. Or, it may be time to look at possibly running for office.”
LOHAN UPDATE: It seems like Lindsay Lohan’s legal problems just won’t go away — even as her longtime assistant Gavin Doyle claims the Santa Monica, Calif., police twisted his words, making it seem he claimed Lohan was driving at the time of her crash on the Pacific Coast Highway this summer. TMZ cites a source close to Doyle as saying the assistant insists he never confirmed it was Lohan driving the car at the time of the accident. Doyle now believes it was his non-committal “OK” that the cops used to get the city attorney to file a misdemeanor charge against the actress.
Michael Arndt (“Little Miss Sunshine”) has been tapped by the Mouse House to pen a treatment for the next three “Star Wars” flicks. Deadline.com reports Arndt — who also wrote the Academy Award-nominated “Toy Story 3” and the upcoming “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire,” is already busily working on “Star Wars —Episode VII,” the first of those three future “Star Wars” movies.
Biden reportedly had a fun time doing his “Parks & Rec” bit — even ad-libbing a few of his lines. On the show about local politician Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler), a running gag is her infatuation with Biden. This new episode will air Thursday on WMAQ-Channel 5.
† Former Chicagoan Maeve Quinlan has been busy lately — both acting and producing. While she waits to hear whether the reality series she created — “Beverly Hills Nannies” — gets picked up for a second season on the ABC Family channel, the former “The Bold and the Beautiful” co-star called to chat about “Teenage Bank Heist,” debuting at 8 p.m. Friday on Lifetime.
In the telefilm, Quinlan plays a single mom whose teen daughter works part-time with her in a bank. When the girl gets taken hostage during a robbery, Quinlan’s character then spends the rest of the film desperately searching for her.
“I usually get cast as the lead’s best friend these days, so it was great to be part of something like this which was all action,” said Quinlan. An added bonus was working with young actress and “Suburgatory” star Abbie Cobb (who plays her daughter), a former colleague from “90210.”
Quinlan is especially passionate about her new role as Hollywood ambassador for the Go Girl energy drink, which donates a percentage of sales to the fight against ovarian and breast cancer. “What I like is that they donate all year long, not just for one or two months that focus on ovarian or breast cancer,” said Quinlan, whose own mom, Mary, is a 14-year ovarian cancer survivor.
