As we wait for Philadelphia Magazine to release its story on Ed Rendell and the "elegant blonde" beauty queen he's lately been seen out with -- which Rendell isn't commenting on to the Daily News, saying the matter is "between me and my family" -- we're reminded of two things we might not have an excuse to post otherwise.

The first is one of the greatest lines written by legendary crime novelist Raymond Chandler:

"It was a blonde. A blonde to make a bishop kick a hole in a stained glass window."

Then there are the pathetic scenes painted by Lisa DePaulo in her 1994 profile of then-mayor Rendell, also in Philadelphia Magazine:

But it is equally hard to imagine Mayor Giuliani sitting in a car with a female reporter and casually mentioning, as Ed Rendell did with me on a rather fascinating ride back home, in the presence of Frank the driver and prominent Philly lawyer Tom Leonard, one of Ed's best friends, that he heard "something very interesting" about me. Then proceeding to tell me, in raw and alliterative terms, how he presumes I am in bed. All of which he says I "should find flattering."

How does one respond to such a thing?

. . . It was cute, for example, at the train station — after I noticed he'd forgotten his bag in the car — when he gave me a little hug and said, "Lis, you're a lifesaver I owe you one." It was still pretty cute a few minutes later on the train platform: "Anything your heart desires. No task is too menial, too trivial or too abject." Later in the train, it's a little less cute as he's going through his itinerary: "They didn't schedule any time for me to do whatever you ask me to. Remember I owe you one." Even the following morning, he's still on this rant: He hopes to squeeze in a workout at the Plaza Hotel, he tells me. "Or," he adds, "you can get your favor then."

Graphic: Philadelphia Magazine