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On CBS’s Face The Nation this week, host Bob Schieffer asked Ben Affleck point blank, “Have you ever thought about running for public office?” Although he attempted to deflect the question by noting “the state of Massachusetts currently has two extraordinary Senators,” he ended up saying, “well, one never knows.” Schieffer noted there might be a vacancy for him soon, with Senator John Kerry being tapped to be President Obama‘s next Secretary of State. Affleck said, “I’m not one to get into conjecture,” but then said, “I like to be involved.”

Hollywood star Ben Affleck has revealed he keeps guns at home after his actress wife Jennifer Garner was harassed by a crazed stalker. The 40-year-old actor and director, whose new film Argo is attracting Oscar buzz, admits to owning several guns which he keeps on hand at the $17.5 million mansion he shares with Jennifer, also 40, and their three young children in California's Pacific Palisades. Affleck said that after Jennifer’s stalker, Steven Burky, was arrested in December 2009, it ‘gave me a stronger sense of feeling protective about my family.' He told the Hollywood Reporter that he goes skeet...

Spider-Man star Tobey Maguire is among more than a dozen high-profile Hollywood celebrities being sued in connection with a mega-millions illegal gambling ring that ran high-stakes underground poker games, Star magazine is reporting exclusively. Maguire, 35, won more than $300,000 from a Beverly Hills hedge fund manager who embezzled investor funds and orchestrated a Ponzi scheme in a desperate bid to pay off his monster debt to the star and others, it's alleged. An FBI investigation into Brad Ruderman, the CEO of Ruderman Capital Partners, uncovered how he lost $25 million of investor money in clandestine poker games held on...

Even before "State of Play," his new movie celebrating the watchdog role of newspapers, Ben Affleck was partial to print. He grew up a reader of The Boston Globe and can't imagine his hometown paper going out of business. "I was definitely shocked to hear about the Globe," the actor told us, referring to The New York Times Co.'s threat to shutter New England's newspaper of record unless it gets concessions from the paper's unions. "I fundamentally misunderstood what was going on. Boston.com has 5.6 million readers a month, and yet this hugely successful news gathering operation is going out...

Hollywood stars Ben Affleck and Matt Damon and their pregnant wives turned up at a Miami fundraiser for presumptive Democratic presidential candidate Barrack Obama on Saturday. Both the couples attended the orientation at club 'Set' to pledge their support for Obama. According to reports, the actors also delivered speeches from the stage. "Jennifer Garner gave the first speech supporting Obama, and she was very witty, clever and funny," Peoples Magazine quoted a source as saying. "She was followed by her husband Ben, then Matt Damon. The men gave serious political speeches on how the country needs change," the source said....

What do you do when you're a fat, washed up actor who could never act, is tired of waxing your back, and now can't attract movie-goers? Oh, and you can no longer attract media attention as Mr. J-Lo a/k/a Ben-Lo? Well, if you're Ben Affleck, you become a reporter for ABC News. Affleck has been hired by the network news division to shoot a "documentary" (sounds like Michael Moore, only not as fat . . . yet) for "Nightline," the ABC's latenight news show. Yup, sadly, I had to "read" the July 14, 2008 issue of Us Magazine to learn...

As NewsBuster Geoffrey Dickens has noted, Ben Affleck appeared on yesterday evening's edition of Hardball. And while it's true that the actor/director/Dem activist offered a generally innocuous analysis, he did manage to engage in a bit of religious bigotry. Affleck's foul foray arose in the course of his discussion of the way the various Republican candidates have dealt with the issue of evolution and creationism. Talk turned to the former governor of Arkansas. BEN AFFLECK: I think Huckabee actually framed his position in a much less dramatic way than had been made out. Which was he said it could...

“Gone, Baby, Gone” director Ben Affleck, who tried mightily - but unsuccessfully - to get Sen. John Kerry elected to the White House, said he expects ex-Gov. Mitt Romney to be the Republican nominee in 2008. Chatting about the upcoming presidential race on the season finale of “Real Time with Bill Maher,” the Cambridge homey said he thinks the GOP will end up with Romney because the ex-gov looks good, has nice hair - and the Republicans really don’t have anyone else. “He says he doesn’t like abortion and he’s all clean-cut and he looks like a Ken doll,” said...

If you had any questions about how antiwar liberals were going to respond when the Democrats didn't withdraw American troops from Iraq like they promised during the 2006 campaign, you got your answers last night on HBO's "Real Time with Bill Maher." When the host moved the discussion to what the panel thought of "the Democrats, you know, caving in on this Iraq spending bill," actor Ben Affleck went on a tirade about these "f***ing people," saying that the "Democrats live in fear of basically, you know, being called cowards" and of "looking like p***ies." Affleck concluded his attack on his...

Hollywood, CA - Sony Pictures movie downloads will feature a memory erasing sequence of sounds and flashing light that will cause viewers to forget that they've just watched a movie. Sony hopes the system, called “NoMemory Stick,” will increase the number of repeat downloads for its popular movie titles from online download services like iTunes and Wal-Mart. Memory Erasing“We're masters at getting people to buy the same content over and again,” said Sony Pictures Vice president of Marketing, Kevin Fullbanks. “Look what we did with laser discs, VHS DVD, Blu-Ray and now digital. Now with the NoMemory Stick technology, we...

...some others had heard that Ben has also been talking to Paramount about possibly playing a lead role ina new Star Trek film from J.J. Abrams. Apparently Abrams is coming down to visit the set in a few weeks, to visit Michelle Monaghan, whom he directed in Mission: Impossible 3, so that might add some more fuel to the fire. If it comes off, he's apparently playing the hero. Don't know if that's Captain Kirk or some other protagonist...but that's the gist of it.

Actor Ben Affleck has made it very clear where his sympathies lie in the Leakgate affair -- and it isn't with the White House. Appearing on HBO's "Real Time with Bill Maher," Affleck charged that President Bush "probably also leaked” CIA agent Valerie Plame's name and so "if he did, you can be hung for that! That's treason!” He continued: "You could be killed. That's not a joking around Tom DeLay 'I'll do a year, I bribed the state officials with corporate money.' That's like they shoot you in the battlefield for doing that.” Affleck also called DeLay a "criminal."

If you liked him as Bennifer . . . you'll love him as Benator! That's the hot new idea being tossed around by Virginia Democrats, who are desperately searching for a big name to challenge the reelection bid of rising GOP star Sen. George Allen next year, now that outgoing Gov. Mark Warner has ducked out. Why, who should happen to be pondering a move to Thomas Jefferson country but a certain square-jawed media magnet with a taste for liberal politics and millions to spend on it . . . Ben Affleck! Star of "Gigli" and the J.Lo tab romance,...

LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) Ben Affleck is taking another shot at television, closing in on a deal with ABC for a drama pilot about a fractured America. Affleck will write and executive produce a pilot called "Resistance," about a near-future United States that has splintered into separate nations following devastating terrorist attacks. The show will focus on a group of people trying to restore the Constitution and democracy, the showbiz trade papers report.

Call it Bennifer: Part Deux. Nine months after they started dating, Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner are engaged, People and Star magazines are reporting. Citing a "close friend" of Affleck's, People says the "Pearl Harbor" actor has been privately spreading the news. A friend of Garner's told the magazine in February that she expected Affleck to propose. Affleck's publicist, Ken Sunshine, would not comment on the reports. A call to Garner's rep was not returned. As you may have heard, Affleck got engaged to Jennifer Lopez in 2002, but they called it off in January 2004. As opposed to the...

Matt Damon has admitted that he'll probably grow old with Ben Affleck rather than the woman of his dreams. Speaking to German magazine Brigitte Damon said he believed in his long term friendship with Affleck and added: "I can well imagine growing old with him." He also said that it was unlikely a woman would come between them. "My longest relationship with a woman lasted two and a half years. That's very short when I consider how long I've been friends with Ben," he said. The actor, who wrote and starred in Good Will Hunting together with Affleck, also stood...

Remember Michael Kranish, the Boston Globe reporter who is one of the Kerry campaign’s prime boosters in the media, and whose name mysteriously disappeared from the official Kerry campaign book sometime during the publication process? Well, look who’s starring in a new film about John Kerry’s Vietnam service: Going Upriver: The Long War of John Kerry. From IMDB: Credited cast: Ben Affleck .... Narrator (voice) John Kerry .... Himself Michael Kranish .... Himself http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0407263/

Bill Clinton wasn't available to host the premiere of "Saturday Night Live" so the next most ubiquitous Democrat will do - Ben Affleck. Affleck has been tapped to host the 30th season opener of NBC's "SNL" Oct. 2 at 11:30 p.m. Rap star Nelly is the musical guest. Boston-bred Affleck spent a lot of time stumping at the Democratic National Convention in his hometown earlier this summer and has emerged as a political figure. "SNL" producers tried to woo Clinton to kick off the season, but the ex-President and best-selling author turned down the invitation. Now, of course, he's convalescing...

A cast of Hollywoodstarsmay soon swarmBeacon Hill to charm rumpled state lawmakerswhile toutingpublic subsidies for the movie industry. The big-name actors with local roots are ready to lobby for tax ``incentives'' for major movie companies that shoot their productions in the Bay State, film industry supporters Cambridge shooting star Ben Affleck and his pal, ``Bourne Supremacy'' idol Matt Damon; HBO's ``Entourage'' producer Mark Wahlberg, of Dorchester, and fellow Dot guy Neal McDonough of TV's ``Medical Investigation;'' and deadly serious thespian Chris Cooper, currently residing in the Hub's suburbs: they're all ready to make the tax relief pitch, according to state...

John Kerry was in Cambodia on Christmas. I was looking over that famous picture of him and his "buddies" in Viet Nam. You know the one where they look discusted to be in the same boat as him and all have their backs turned to him. Well I was looking at the original one to see if it was a fake in Adobe Photoshop, suddenly with a few dabs here and there it turned out that it was taken in Cambodia! Can you believe it? I sure couldn't. Here is what I found, Simply Amazing! Who knew? John Kerry that...