Congrats to Dana Stern and Marc Gibber – winners of the first “Power Couple of the Week” poll! Not so fortunate are Erin Samuel and David Brewster, who won for Lamest Couple of the Week.

Meanwhile, enjoy these polls!

Age: 38

Current Job: A lobbyist (you can’t say that! and a director of federal government affairs in Washington for KPMG, the New York accounting firm

Education: Graduated from Lock Haven University in Lock Haven, Pa., and received a master’s in mass communications from Penn State

Parents: Mother is an associate professor of sociology at Penn State. Refreshing to see that the dad was the one left out for once.

Vinay Singh

Age: 38

Current Job: Auditor at Discovery Communications. I couldn’t even read the job description without being bored to tears. He and his father are also owners of CPG Business Synergies, a M&A consultancy in Bangalore, India.

Education: He received bachelor’s degrees, from York College of Pennsylvania and Christopher Newport University in Newport News, Va. (Two bachelor’s? So did he transfer? Is one of them a two year degree? I refuse to look these up because… eew.) He received an M.B.A. from Widener University.

Parents: Father is director of operations at Dilon Technologies and co-owns that M&A consultancy. His mother, a social worker, volunteers as a court-appointed special advocate for children in Williamsburg, Va.

Cute Story Time!

Both kids of immigrants who moved from Southern India to Pennsylvania. Didn’t know each other though. Then they lived only 10 blocks from each other in Washington. It’s SO When Harry Met Sally. The rest of the story is about “spiritual energy” and fate etc etc. Though note to guys everywhere: “In a hotel suite at the Park Hyatt in Washington, where he surprised her with roses, chocolate, Champagne, poetry — and a proposal.” That’s how it’s done boys (for what NOT to do see: Daniel Beery in last week’s Vows column who proposed via text).

Verdict: So so boring… and then a cute story! And then… lame quotes about fate. Torn.

Read the full Times article here!

Age: 31

Current Job: Programmer at CA Inc., the software company formerly known as Computer Associates.

Education: Graduated from Queens College.

Michael Zhang

Age: 35

Current Job: Project leader in sales support at FalconStor Software

Education: Graduated from the State University of New York at Binghamton

Verdict: Paging the NY Times – it’s the weekend of Valentine’s Day! Why is this couple here? I cry.

Read the full Times article here!

Age: 56

Current Job: She was an executive producer of “1984,” a movie based on the George Orwell book that featured Richard Burton. (And John Hurt too!) She is working with an entertainment company on a film remake of the book. (Way to be original – she’s making a remake of her film adaptation? So she’s remaking her own movie based on a book someone else wrote? Really?)

Education: She graduated from the Art Institute of Chicago and received a master’s in visual arts from Northwestern.

Jack Levenbrown

Age: 65

Current Job: Chief of pediatric radiology at North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset, N.Y.

Past Jobs: Was the mayor of the Village of Lawrence from 2002 to 2008; previously he was its police commissioner and a trustee. (While being a doctor? Or did he like… take a break? I guess being chief doesn’t take much, judging from my extensive medical knowledge from the TV Show House. Cameron/Cuddy anyone?)

Education: He graduated from Yeshiva University and received a medical degree from George Washington University.

Verdict: Chief of doctoring and mayor + entertainer who makes remakes of her adaptations. Confused and entertained.

Read the full Times article here!

Age: 25

Current Job: Editor at Bedford/St. Martin’s, a college textbook publishing house in New York.

Education: Graduated from Smith (where they met! too easy)

Parents: The parents have names… and apparently no other distinguishing traits. Huh.

Natalie Sauro

Age: 24

Education: Smith (see above). Currently studying for a master’s degree from the Columbia University School of Nursing, specializing in pediatrics.

Parents: Also have names and nothing else.

Verdict: Impressive only for the lack of information. I do like the matching haircuts and Smith College thing though. You know exactly what I mean.

Read the full Times article here!

Age: 31

Current Job: Works in New York as the beauty director in the advertising department at Self, a Condé Nast magazine.

Education: Graduated from Haverford College

Parents: The bride’s father retired as a partner in the New York law firm Rosenman & Colin. Her mother is the author of “Writing From Personal Experience” and is an adjunct instructor of writing at the New School University in New York.

Edward Owens

Age: 32

Current Job: Casualty of finance massacres

Past Job: Until October, the bridegroom was a vice president in the securities unit of Countrywide Financial

Education: Graduated from Georgetown, where he also received a law degree.

Parents: His father was a partner in the Trumbull, Conn., law firm Owens, Schine & Nicola. From 1979 to 1991, he served on the Easton Board of Education.

Verdict: Meh. Nothing outstanding, but decent filler article. Still expected better on Valentine’s Day though.

Read the full Times article here!

Age: 34

Current Job: She is the director of entrepreneurship programs at the William J. Clinton Foundation. The paper then explains what the organization is… like duh. Now please explain what an apprentice mechanic does.

Education: Graduated from Brown and received a law degree from Columbia

Parents: Her father is the president of Paris Enterprises in Orlando, which develops residential properties in central Florida. (I’m sure he was thrilled that his daughter chose to get married NOW. Cough:: $$ and Cough:: Real estate)

Ted Zagat

Age: 34

Current Job: Vice president for franchise development and strategic partnerships at Univision Communications, the Spanish-language media company in New York

Education: Graduated from Harvard, from which he also received an M.B.A.

Parents: Parents are the founders and the chairman and the chairwoman of Zagat Survey in New York (OMG!) , which publishes guides to restaurants, hotels, spas, shopping and movies. (Again, DUH NY Times, we know what Zagat is. Also these people totally founded a company based on critiquing other people and then retired to Florida. <3 <3 <3)

Verdict: I love them. All-Ivy, law and business degrees, and the founder of Zagat! Win.

Read the full Times article here!

Age: 31

Current Job: Umm… based on past jobs, probably hoping for something with the new administration? Hope she enjoyed that super-fun application process!

Past Jobs: Until November, she worked in San Francisco as the director of member outreach and of communications for Cleantech and Green Business for Obama, an organization that worked alongside the President’s campaign staff and brought together members of the business community who advocated for an increase in the development and use of clean technologies. Before that she was the Midwest political director for the John Edwards for President campaign.

Education: Graduated from the University of California, Davis

Parents: Her father is a history and photography teacher at Live Oak High School in Morgan Hill, Calif. Her mother, who is retired, was a registered nurse in the Pajaro Valley Unified School District in Watsonville, Calif.

Oliver Gottfried

Age: 31

Current Job: Works in Oakland as the California area political director for the Service Employees International Union

Past Job: Until January 2008, he served as the Nevada state director for the John Edwards for President campaign. (News of Edwards’ affair was released by the National Enquirer in Nov 2007… hmmm)

Education: Graduated from Haverford College.

Parents: The bridegroom’s mother is a professor of comparative literature and gender studies at Columbia. His father is a professor of English at Vanderbilt. The bridegroom’s stepmother, Mary Stevens, is the assistant director of admissions at Vanderbilt. His stepfather, Leo Spitzer, is the Kathe Tappe Vernon professor of history at Dartmouth and a visiting professor of history at Columbia.

Verdict: They fall outside the green-yellow-red scale because all I can think is LIBERAL. SO LIBERAL. I reserve judgment while I wait and see what Ms. Kelly does next.

Read the full Times article here!

Age: 33

Current Job: A reporter in Washington for Dow Jones Newswires

Education: She graduated from Princeton and received a master’s degree in international affairs from Johns Hopkins.

Parents: The bride’s father, who is retired, was an executive vice president in charge of strategic planning and corporate development at Chase Manhattan Bank in New York. Her mother retired as a social worker at New York-Presbyterian/Columbia hospital.

Hans Nichols

Age: 33

Current Job: White House correspondent for Bloomberg News

Education: Graduated magna cum laude from Cornell; he received a master’s in political theory from the London School of Economics and a law degree from George Washington University. He was a Fulbright scholar in international justice in Sierra Leone in 2005.

Parents: His father, a radiologist, retired from Seattle Radiologists, a group practice.

Verdict: Badass educational credentials. Fulbright scholar. White House access. Win.

Read the full Times article here!

Age: 31

Current Job: Works in New York for the Swedish publisher Bonnier, as the business manager responsible for the budget and accounting for a magazine group that includes Parenting and Babytalk.

Education: Graduated magna cum laude from Georgetown and received an M.B.A. from New York University.

Parents: Father works at the Stennis Space Center in Mississippi for the Smith Research Corporation; he is a vice president responsible for construction management and testing of rockets and aircraft engines. Her mother retired as the chief executive of Medical and Business Services, a medical billing firm in Nashville.

Edward Perez

Age: 33

Current Job: Apprentice mechanic in a Con Edison steam plant in Manhattan

Past Jobs: Until 2005, he was a currency trader in Manhattan for Global FX, and now trades for his own account. (Why did the NY Times print that he trades for himself now? Is that supposed to redeem the fact that he was in finance and now is like, learning to be a mechanic?)

Education: Received associate’s degree from Johnson & Wales University in Providence, R.I.

Parents: His father is an optician with 21st Century Optics, an ophthalmic laboratory in Long Island City, Queens. No career info for the mother, who probably spends her time whining to her son about how he used to be a trader and is now an almost-mechanic.

Cute Story Time!

The story goes like this: the first date sucked, but they still went out again. Then one day the girl told the guy she had allergies to food that made her face turn weird colors. He has the same problem with different food and his face turns green! (LOLZ OMG…Zzzz…) Then his face turned colors when he proposed. (This waste of space made MY face turn colors)

Verdict: Not terrible credentials (still recovering from last week’s selection) but the story was a total waste of space. Why not write about the person who is bffs with Obama? I want a story from THEM.

Read the full Times article here!