After twenty or so minutes of calm debate on the economy, Wednesday night’s CNBC Republican Presidential Debate turned ugly, as moderators Maria Bartiromo and John Harwood asked embattled frontrunner Herman Cain about the sexual harassment allegations being leveled at him, then followed by asking Mitt Romney if he would have retained Cain as a CEO in one of his businesses. The debate crowd booed both questions loudly.

Former President Bill Clinton appeared on CNBC and revealed for the first time to Maria Bartiromo his thoughts on the Osama bin Laden raid. Clinton admitted he worries about Pakistan given that there are enough Pakistanis who buy into Al Qaeda to cause damage, yet at the same time he still considers Pakistan, as a country, to be a partner with us in the war on terror.

The January ratings reveal some cause for concern at CNBC, which is notably under new management after the arrival of Comcast. The business network’s overall ratings among key viewers 25-54 has fallen versus last January, and several key programs are slumping–most notably the network’s best-known star, Maria Bartiromo. As Benzinga’s Scott Rubin reports, Bartiromo saw [...]

Fox Business Network anchor Brian Sullivan sat down with T. Boone Pickens and Ted Turner at the Milken Global Conference in Beverly Hills today. CNBC did too – they called their interview with Pickens a “First On” but it aired after the FBN one.

In the conversation, Turner got a little animated about energy – and dropped a “bs bomb.”

CNBC financial reporter Maria Bartiromo is on a publicity tour of sorts for her new book 10 Laws of Enduring Success, doing interviews and hitting the promotional party circuit. Some are now questioning why, in a book about her own rise to prominence, why Bartiromo neglected to include the man who gave her her start, Roger Ailes.

Revelations that Obama’s adorkable budget director Peter Orszag was getting married to one woman and having a baby with another elicited advice and scorn, but raises the question: what is it about business nerds that attracts female reporters?

Who’s prettier, more conniving and more ambitious: the characters from the CW’s Gossip Girl or the media elite? Both live in worlds of ambition, access, even backstabbing, and some might say it’s all one big popularity contest. But it’s not just beauty and a knack for spreading news quickly that unite our favorite teen-soap and the media figures whose every move we track. Spotted: Our favorite Gossip Girl characters and their real-life media counterparts.