ALSO OUT WEST . . . GETTING HUFFY ON ILLEGAL ALIENS

Michael Huffingtonhas based much of his Senate campaign against Democratic incumbent Dianne Feinstein on combatting illegal immigration, but now he admits employing an illegal alien in his posh Santa Barbara home for five years. Early Wednesday -- right after he reaffirmed his support for the anti-illegal immigration Proposition 187 -- the GOP nominee was asked whether he'd had ever employed an illegal alien, a violation of federal law. His answer: no problem he knew of. But last night, the Huffington camp issued a terse confession -- plus a so-far unsupported accusation that Feinstein had done the same thing. The Huffington campaign released papers indicating that the candidate and his wife had sought unsuccessfully to get the employee a green card. The woman, who cared for Huffington's children, left her position after the family moved to Washington when Huffington was elected to Congress.