Aug 13, 2004   | COMMENTS     

Too bad for lesbian politico CHRISSY GEPHARDT that the apple didn’t fall far from the tree, at least in terms of her political aspirations. Like her dear old dad, U.S. Rep. RICHARD GEPHARDT (D-Mo.), Chrissy lost her bid to become president on “American Candidate,” a new political reality series on Showtime, hosted by Montel Williams.

On the premiere show Sunday, Aug. 1, Gephardt earned the dubious distinction of being the first contestant voted off the program, which airs Sundays at 10 p.m.

“American Candidate” has 10 “regular” citizens competing in a number of political contests. The last one standing will be crowned the “President of All Reality Television Universe” or some malarkey like that.

Just like “Big Brother,” the candidates voted for which of the two with the lowest number of people at their gathering should be eliminated — and it was a tie. The candidate who got to cast the tie-breaking vote was the person with the most people at his rally. Unfortunately for Gephardt, it turned out to be Park Gillespie, a conservative candidate who posed a question to her and Strock about abortion. Not surprisingly, Gillespie voted to boot Gephardt off the show.

But all is not lost. The show’s other gay candidate, political activist and author KEITH BOYKIN, is still in the race.

Kissing sisters
Poor LYNNE CHENEY. The wife of Vice President DICK and mother of lesbian MARY writes one little gay romance novel 23 years ago, and it haunts her for the rest of her life.

Internet sex and erotica Web site Nerve.com recently announced plans to display photos inspired by Cheney’s out-of-print novel “Sisters,” a lesbian romance and a Western set during the turn-of-the-century.

Photographer Glenn Glasser was scheduled Aug. 7 to complete a photo shoot inspired by the same-sex scenes in the novel. Of particular interest, Nerve.com officials said in a written statement, was a passage in the book that reads: “The women who embraced in the wagon were Adam and Eve crossing a dark cathedral stage — no, Eve and Eve, loving one another as they would not be able to once they ate of the fruit and knew themselves as they truly were.”

Stick to your day job, sister.

The photos will be part of Nerve.com’s annual “Pulp Issue,” and can be viewed on the Internet starting Friday, Aug. 13. In April, New American Library, the original publisher of the book and an affiliate of the Penguin Group, scrapped plans to reissue the out-of-print edition after Cheney’s lawyer told NAL that she didn’t think it represented her best work.

Bombshell bomb
Screen legend MARILYN MONROE did many racy things and, apparently, one of them was having an affair with Hollywood legend JOAN CRAWFORD, according to Sky News, which is part of media mogul Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp.

Sky News says tapes made while Monroe was in therapy with a psychiatrist reveal that she had a lesbian fling with the star who inspired the movie “Mommie Dearest.”

“She described an intimate moment in some detail and told how she and Joan had sex,” says Matthew Smith, who is writing a book about Monroe and claims to have the tapes.

Monroe, apparently, did not like her Sapphic fling very much.

Smith alleges that on the tape Monroe says, “I told her straight out I didn’t much enjoy doing it with a woman.”