Suppose the senator is a hawkeye or a dove?

WHEN “THE WEST WING” was starting up back in 1999, Alan Alda was reportedly one of the actors considered to play President Jed Bartlet – the role that eventually went to Martin Sheen. “People have told me that, and it may be true,” Alda says. “I actually can’t remember.”

Now, though, he’s finally taking a run at the fictional Oval Office.

He joins “The West Wing” tonight as Arnold Vinick, a Republican senator from California who announces his candidacy.

Alda, who won multiple Emmys for writing, directing and acting on “M*A*S*H,” says he took the part “as an act of faith” in executive producer John Wells, whom he knows from an Emmy-nominated stint on “ER” five years ago.

He’s appropriately diplomatic about his character’s chances of actually becoming president.

“I have no idea what (the show’s writers) have in mind, and I kind of doubt I would want to do a weekly show,” Alda says. “But before I even get to a decision like that, what would they do with all these Democrats (on the White House staff) they have under contract if I won the election? I think we should all get serious here.”

Guess Craig T. Nelson wasn’t available

Scottish actor Craig Ferguson, who played the boss for many years on “The Drew Carey Show,” will be the new host of CBS’ “Late Late Show,” replacing Craig Kilborn.

Ferguson was one of four finalists along with actor Michael Ian Black, comedian D.L. Hughley and MTV “Total Request Live” host Damien Fahey.

Ferguson, 42, who wrote and produced the 2000 film “Saving Grace,” was a top comic in Britain before moving to Los Angeles in 1995.

Something wicked this way comes

The New York Police Department’s Hate Crimes Unit is investigating threats sent to Taye Diggs and his actress wife, Idina Menzel, over their interracial marriage.

Three letters have been received – postmarked from Ohio, Philadelphia and New York – one of which threatens Diggs with bodily harm, authorities said.

The couple met when they both appeared in the musical “Rent.” Menzel is now starring in the Tony-winning Broadway musical “Wicked.”

Just keep hammering away

Mary Travers of Peter, Paul and Mary is undergoing chemotherapy for a form of leukemia, but a full remission is expected within a few months, her publicist said.

The trio, which released their self-titled debut album in 1962 and put out a five-disc greatest hits box set last year, is scheduled to begin a spring tour Feb. 18 in Las Vegas.

And that’s the Motley motto

The original members of 1980s glam metal band Motley Crue, which made hard living and wild sexcapades a centerpiece of their music and their lives, have announced a world reunion tour.

Vocalist Vince Neil, drummer Tommy Lee, guitarist Mick Mars and bass player Nikki Sixx will hit more than 60 cities in North America and play several festivals in Europe before wrapping up the tour in Asia and Australia.

Said Neil: “We’re still Motley. We still rock.”

The birthday bunch

Actor-producer-director Maximilian Schell is 74. Actor David Carradine is 68. Actor James MacArthur (“Hawaii Five-O”) is 67. Singer-keyboardist Gregg Allman is 57. Actress Kim Basinger is 51. Actress Teri Hatcher is 40. Rapper Bushwick Bill (Geto Boys) is 38. Singer Sinead O’Connor is 38. Actor Matthew Laborteaux (“Little House on the Prairie”) is 38. Actor Dominic Monaghan is 28. Actor Ian Somerhalder (“Rules of Attraction,” “Life as a House”) is 26.