Citing the fact that Baquet would become the first black executive editor if he rose to the top, and Jill Abramson the first woman were she to reach the post, one staffer dubbed them the "Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton of The New York Times."

TIMELY MONIKERS: Though the presidential race is heating up, there's another campaign garnering attention in the hallways of The New York Times. Managing editor Jill Abramson and ousted Los Angeles Times editor in chief Dean Baquet, who returns to the Times in March as Washington bureau chief, are favored candidates to succeed Times executive editor Bill Keller, 58, who is seven years away from the company's mandatory retirement age of 65. Though Keller's got some time, insiders jokingly refer to Abramson as Hillary Clinton and to Baquet as Barack Obama."