As Yahoo continues to be in limbo, pressure is sure to mount heavily on its CEO and Co-Founder Jerry Yang, and it is not a stretch to imagine he will not remain in the top job at the troubled company for the long term.

So who would be good to replace him?

I have six candidates I like, so here’s my short list (and remember, the last time I made one for the job of the No. 2 leader for Facebook, its current COO Sheryl Sandberg was high on my list).

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So what will Microsoft’s next quarry be?

Facebook? AOL? A series of small Web 2.0 stars like Digg (probably too late, as Google is already first in line there again), Spot Runner and others?

That is, if there will be one after the Yahoo takeover debacle or if the software giant somehow screws up the courage and, despite the constant rejection, goes back again to try to scoop up Yahoo.

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Here are two pieces this week, from the multitude of them about the continuing turmoil at Yahoo, that really stand out for me.

Both encapsulate the dicey situation that the troubled Internet company finds itself in now–which is to say very dicey.

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Look, it might be the biggest poker bluff in history and analysts are once again chattering that Yahoo’s ad outsourcing deal with Google might force Microsoft back to make another offer for the Internet portal.

Sorry to be the skunk at Carl Icahn’s garden party, but BoomTown doesn’t think so.

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Oh, they’re plenty irked in Redmond today, in the wake of Yahoo’s picking of the Google ad-outsourcing deal over a proposal by Microsoft.

And what exactly was that offer?

Well, according to people familiar with Microsoft’s thinking, the goody bag Yahoo turned down was substantial.

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With the ad-outsourcing deal between Yahoo and Google finally announced–in a press release so parsed and careful, it makes me immediately suspect–one Microsoft source joked to me:

“Let loose the dogs of war.”

Translation: Bite me!

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Jeff Weiner, as BoomTown reported in a story broken by BoomTown Tuesday and also yesterday, will be leaving Yahoo to become an entrepreneur in residence at both Accel Partners and Greylock Partners.

But, despite a lot of speculation, sources at the company said that Weiner will not likely be replaced as Network division head by one of his four direct reports.

Instead, sources at the company think much of Weiner’s organization could be headed by Hilary Schneider, who is EVP Global Partner Solutions, in order to better align Yahoo’s ad revenue-producing units with its products, software, search and services side.

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Yesterday, writing about executive stress at Yahoo, BoomTown posted about the swirling speculation around the fate of Jeff Weiner, the Network division EVP, who many at Yahoo think will soon be headed out the door after his recent paternity leave of four weeks.

Now, several sources in Silicon Valley’s voluble venture community confirm the high-ranking exec has been offered and seems likely to accept a spot splitting his time as an executive in residence at two firms–Accel Partners and Greylock Partners.

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One might have hoped that the Apple iPhone 3G media Hypestar that descended on the tech news arena would have been able to drown out the irksome bickering that has seemingly become a daily occurrence between billionaire investor Carl Icahn and Yahoo via dueling public letters.

But no! And, unless Microsoft mercifully steps in and forks over $34 a share to rebid for all of Yahoo, it’s likely this playground-level of fighting will go on until August 1.

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Imagine this:

Google starts buying up a series of promising and innovative Web 2.0 companies that Microsoft is either partnered with or clearly is or should be interested in.

It starts with Digg, moves onto, say, Spot Runner and others (Meebo, FriendFeed, iLike and even Slide?), focused especially in the online ad, messaging, online apps and mobile spaces.

And, just to stir up the pot, why not take a gander at some bigger Internet fish?

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Because BoomTown always has a lot to say, getting a call from American Public Media’s Marketplace Morning radio show pontificate on the Microsoft-Yahoo-Carl Icahn takeover drama was too tasty to pass up.

We also talked a bit about the upcoming Apple unveiling of its 3G iPhone.

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Recently, BoomTown, along with a passel of press, was invited to an outreach dinner, set to be held on June 9 at a San Francisco venue, with some top Yahoo execs.

This was somewhat of a big deal, given the typically cave-dwelling mentality of the company in recent days, due to the drama of the Microsoft takeover bid that has jacked Yahoo’s typically skittish approach to press relations up to dangerously shy levels.

Then the dinner was canceled last week suddenly, with organizers blaming scheduling issues.

That move set tongues wagging at Yahoo’s Sunnyvale HQ, of course, and sources inside the company began to pepper BoomTown with two key theories.

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Break out the sedatives, because Carl Icahn is getting mighty tetchy with Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang and the board of directors of the troubled Internet company!

In yet another letter to Yahoo Chairman Roy Bostock, the ever-grumpier billionaire investor, who is waging a proxy fight against Yahoo and seeking to oust Yang and crew, he stepped up the volume to Crazy Eddie levels.

It’s almost too juicy to require translation, as the veins practically pop out in Icahn’s letter from all the agita he seems to be experiencing over this botched takeover.

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You would have to have been under a rock not to have heard about the controversial piece in Vanity Fair magazine this month about the troubling personal and professional escapades of former President Bill Clinton since he left office.

And the reason for these disturbing developments, besides Clinton himself? The piece actually placed a good bit of the blame on Clinton’s close friend, grocery magnate and billionaire Ron Burkle, who also has been one of the key directors at Yahoo in its takeover fight with Microsoft.

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While Microsoft’s CEO Steve Ballmer and Yahoo’s CEO Jerry Yang hemmed and hawed about what had happened in their disastrous takeover battle that ended not with a bang, but a whimper, everyone else who appeared onstage at the sixth D: All Things Digital conference last week was a bit more definitive about what should occur now:

Get it done.

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