The New York Times may have scooped The Washington Post on the Alberto Gonzales resignation story by several minutes, but U.S. News’ Washington Whispers gossip columnist Paul Bedard had everyone beat by a whole day.

“The buzz among top Bushies is that beleaguered Attorney General Alberto Gonzales finally plans to depart and will be replaced by Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff,” Bedard wrote yesterday. “Why Chertoff? Officials say he’s got fans on Capitol Hill, is untouched by the Justice prosecutor scandal, and has more experience than Gonzales did, having served as a federal judge and assistant attorney general.”

Nary a news outlet has given Bedard credit for his scoop, but he’s taking it in stride.

“Oh well, I used to get worked up about that stuff but not anymore,” Bedard told Big Head DC this morning. “I mean, it’s not like they stole my winning Powerball ticket. I kind of like that Washington Whispers is the tip sheet the bigs go to for ideas.”

CNN confirmed earlier this morning that Chertoff is a possible candidate for replacement.

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Which journalist with the durable DC-based news magazine was spotted downtown last night getting a little too tipsy AND pinching the bottom of a frisky young blond? We’ll never tell. But YOU can always guess.

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Alex Kingsbury, a U.S. News reporter who is currently covering the Iraq war from the front lines, sent us the above image just now.

“[H]ere’s an exclusive shot I took on a raid last night in a farm area in a city south of Baghdad,” he wrote via e-mail. ”Pictured are soldiers from the 2/3 Stryker unit, based out of Washington state. The soldiers are from C company, 3rd platoon.”

The soldiers’ work will be the subject of a big article in the magazine set to publish March 12. The reporter has been shooting some video, too, which will likely be included on the U.S. News Web site. Stay tuned, kids, and join us in wishing Alex a safe return.

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Alex Kingsbury is leaving today for Baghdad, he tells BHDC. “I’ll keep you up to date on published stories and videos, which will be posted at www.usnews.com,” says he. ”The focus of the stories will be the progress of the war and the troop surge.” 

He expects to return to DC in late March.

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The U.S. News-er does not appreciate WaPo’s Style musings on the Rest of Virginia (or RoVa) compared to oh-so-elite NoVa. (Examples of the Post’s “humor” from yesterday: “In NoVa, a lab is the family dog. In RoVa, a lab is the family meth business” and “In RoVa, they like freshly killed venison. In NoVa, they like Alfred, Lord Tennyson.”

Paul Bedard said on his blog yesterday that he’s proud to live on the West Virginia border as a “camo-wearing, gun-toting, deer-hunting, blackberry-growing, Cracker Barrel-loving” Washington, D.C. gossip columnist.

Oh, God, Paul, that sounds really bad now that we read it over. Rush & Malloy are so gonna start laughing at us.

Never mind. We agree with the Posties.

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