VegasBeat — Timothy McDarrah: ‘American Idol’s‘ Clarkson for president?

Monday, Sept. 9, 2002 | 12:04 p.m.

More votes were cast for "American Idol" than for an American president.

According to Fox Television, approximately 110 million votes were tallied for Kelly Clarkson or one of the other hopefuls during "American Idol's" smash summer run. That's more than the 103 million votes cast in the 2000 presidential election.

Also, Clarkson's margin of victory over runner-up Justin Guarini was better than George W. Bush's razor-thin Electoral College margin over Al Gore. Clarkson handily beat Guarini 58 percent to 42 percent.

We reached out to Clarkson's new entourage and election officials in her native Texas to find out whether the 20-year-old former cocktail waitress voted for Bush, or if she was even registered to vote in 2000. We didn't hear back from anyone by deadline.

But we'll try to ask her when she comes to Las Vegas on Sept. 18. She and other "Idol" finalists are performing at MGM Grand in a concert to be taped for broadcast on Fox on Sept. 23.

Tickets will be free (hey you get what you pay for; that's why ducats for the Rolling Stones at The Joint top out at $1,000 each) and will be distributed starting Saturday at MGM Grand.

Fame game

Producers of "30 Seconds to Fame," the show that often aired right before "Idol," were in town Sunday to audition potential acts.

Look for a trio of local break dancers who call themselves "Security Crew" to make a broadcast appearance after they wowed Executive Producer Michael Binkow.

"I can usually tell after about, oh, five seconds if an act has the talent to sustain people's interest," Binkow told VegasBeat during a break in the steady flow of acts that came to Flamingo Las Vegas for a shot at stardom.

"These guys were very, very good," he said of Las Vegans Beejay Gallardo, 20; Alfonso Echeverria, 24; and Mike Carrasco, 19.

"Break dancing is a lot more than spinning on your head on a piece of vinyl," Gallardo said. Their act certainly is more than that, as it incorporated everything from yoga to the Hustle in less time than it takes to boil an egg.

Also contending is Human Percussionist Othello Richards , 24.

For the audition, he drove to town from Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, where he is a senior and president of the Honor Society. Richards croaked a unique version of "The Star-Spangled Banner."

Gray comedy

This weekend's first "Las Vegas Comedy Festival" was a great success.

Local comic Carol Montgomery told VegasBeat that hundreds of comics attended the daily seminars, performed and took part in showcases at night.

The celebratory final-night dinner banquet on Saturday attracted a variety, and somewhat veteran, mix of funny folks, including George Carlin, Norm Crosby, Debbie Reynolds, Shelly Berman, Gary Owens, Joanne Worley and Lt. Gov. Lorraine Hunt.

Kinder, gentler Jackson

The tabloids may refer to him as "Wacko Jacko" (among other things), but people around Las Vegas who have interacted with Michael Jackson recently have nothing but nice things to say about the controversial pop superstar.

Saturday night the Gloved One returned to see his new best friends Siegfried Fischbacher and Roy Horn at The Mirage. Jackson had his two older children, Prince, 5, and Paris, 4, in tow, fresh from getting their faces painted at Circus Circus.

Jackson posed for photos with the cast, though he did discourage (read: his bodyguards said "No") photos of his children.

"It is amazing how nice he is to everyone around here," a crew member said.

"It is certainly not what you might expect from reading all the stories about him. Every time he's here he seems humbled that the cast wants a picture taken with him."

Not hard to see why Jackson might sell his Neverland Ranch and move to Las Vegas. As I know from personal experience, the media on both coasts can be brutal. And while no one in the media in Las Vegas offers celebs any free passes, at least he can start with a clean slate, relatively speaking.

Score!

The happiest person late Sunday at the Las Vegas Hilton sports book was definitely Betty Ghedini.

Ghedini is a cocktail waitress, and of course Sunday was the first weekend of the NFL season.

"I think today is my favorite day of the year," she said from under a drink tray piled high with tips, including a healthy one from Jimmy (no last name, please) of North Las Vegas.

"Jimmy" won the day's first fan wager: He had the Kansas City Chiefs as the first team Sunday to score a touchdown.

Bookmark

The newest, hardest place in town to get a parking spot: the brand-spanking new Paseo Verde Library off Green Valley Parkway in Henderson. It was jammed to overflowing for the opening last month and has hardly slowed.

For the record, librarian Vivian Tufano checked out the first book: the James Patterson mystery, "Beach House."

Randy George

Plenty of George Clooney sightings have been reported lately. He has been in town to film a movie with Catherine Zeta-Jones called "Intolerable Cruelty."

Several sightings have the two of them together. Take a closer look, folks. Clooney, a notorious babe-hound, has been out with several dark-haired young lovelies, but not necessarily Zeta-Jones.

She and husband Michael Douglas are trying to add to their family. They have a son, Dylan Douglas, who celebrated his second birthday last month.

Don't know how close Clooney is with any of his old "ER" castmates, but he did drop the news that one of his favorites, Sally Field, has re-upped to appear again late next season as Nurse Abby's ( Maura Tierney) mother.

Small world

Part of the get-acquainted process for me has been meeting folks from the casinos. I had a pleasant lunch the other day with Madeleine Weekley, who handles publicity for Harrah's and The Rio.

As we were talking, it came out she has a sister in New York. "She's a lawyer I doubt you know her," Weekley said, smiling. Well, having covered a few trials, (including O.J. Simpson, John Gotti and New York's infamous "Subway Gunman" Bernhard Goetz), I've met a lot of lawyers, I said, try me.

"She has her own practice and an office on Stanton Street," Weekley said.

The gears in my head started to spin. Could the world really be this small?

"Is her name Pat and does she drive a convertible?" I said.

Weekley looked at me as if I was a clairvoyant who had just told her tomorrow's Lotto numbers. "You know her?"

"As a matter of fact, yes, I do she was my ex-wife's divorce lawyer."

I have never seen a person turn so white so fast.

It was past dessert until Weekley was finally convinced that I wouldn't hold it against her.