Bryan Stelter of the New York Times reports — based on “three people with knowledge of the call” — that an NBC executive asked CNN’s Anderson Cooper if he would consider replacinng Matt Lauer as host of the Today show. This strategic leak (which the peacock network officially denied to the Hollywood Reporter) may just be an attempt to haggle down Lauer’s reported $25 million-a-year salary on a contract that is up for renewal next year.

Vice President Al Gore somehow didn’t realize that the mainstream media was actually going to ask him questions about his recent sale of Current TV to Al Jazeera for a reported $500 million. Whoops…