Does Judith Regan Have a Smoking Gun?

Axed publisher Judith Regan sees herself as “the prom queen who got tripped up by the vicious meanies at News Corp,” the New York Observer posits, but nobody who knows her underestimates Regan's skills as a fighter. Either she really does have damaging secrets about Rudy Giuliani behind her defamation and discrimination lawsuit, or she's betting really big on her contract. Regan reportedly turned down a $6.5-million settlement this summer.

The Observer's betting on the former. Then again emotions are incredibly high in the affair. Said one anonymous source, the firing “really was something out of 'Dynasty.'” Her spokeman won't reveal any specifics, but Regan is, after all, the queen of hype. Even she proclaims marketing and promotion to be her “finest skills." (More Judith Regan stories.)