Fox News Labels McCain a Democrat

Look carefully at the graphic below the image of presidential candidate Senator John McCain of Arizona. Apparently, he's had a party switch since wrapping up the Republican nomination on Thursday with "replicant" Mitt Romney dropping out of the presidential race. Does Faux News really believe that we believe these are unintentional mistakes? (hat/tip Crooks and Liars.)

Today is National Black AIDS Awareness Day

Today, February 7, 2008 is Black AIDS Awareness Day. The Black AIDS Institute will host its Heroes in the Struggle fundraising awards show at the beautiful Walt Disney Concert Hall in downtown Los Angeles at 6pm today.

Former Black, gay blogger Keith Boykin has a new project called The Daily Voice which is intended to "be the leading destination for African American news and opinion" on the web. The Daily Voice has information about Heroes in the Struggle featured on its home page today.

Supervisor Burke To Endorse Parks As Her Replacement?

MadProfessah and other Los Angeles-based political bloggers have been following the race to succeed Yvonne Brathwaite Burke as Los Angeles County Supervisor in District 3, which is a "majority-minority" (primarily African American) voting district. The two main contenders are Los Angeles City Councilman Bernard Parks and State Senator Mark Ridley-Thomas. Kevin Roderick at L.A. Observed is reporting that Downtown News is saying that Burke will endorse Parks.

NEWS FLASH: California Gay Marriage Ruling BY June 4th

Journalist and blogger Rex Wockner just emailed me with the news story that the California Supreme Court has finally set oral arguments in the pending litigation over gay marriage for 3 hours on March 4th. After oral arguments are complete in In Re Marriage Cases, Case No. S147999, the seven Justices have 90 days to issue their ruling, or they dont get paid, so that would mean a final determination on whether same-sex couples can get legally married in California before Summer and gay pride!

Of course, this action will also spur on heterosexual supremacists who are already circulating petitions for a November 2008 ballot measure to amend the state constitution to ban gay marriage and possibly repeal any equivalent statewide recognition of same-sex relationships such as domestic partnerships. To join the fight to preserve Equality for All Californians, visit Equality for All. The other side has already qualified a similar ballot measure in Florida, but much cleverly, that amendment needs a 60% margin in order to become enacted, a public policy I believe that California should adopt as well.

Super Tuesday Results: Obama and Clinton Battle On

Joe.My.God has this great graphic (that I snagged and reproduced here) showing the current delgate counts of the two leading Democratic presidential copntenders. Although Barack Obama won more states (13 to 8) than Hillary Clinton, Clinton won the more populous states like California, New York, Massachusetts and New Jersey. Pam over at The Blend has a slightly different tally (825 to 732).

By states, the Senator from Illinois won Alaska, Alabama, Connecticutt, Colorado, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota and Utah while the Senator from New York won Arizona, Arkansas, California, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma and Tennessee.

In the big enchilada of California, Clinton crushed Obama 52 to 42% (so now we know that Zogby's polls are trash while SUSA and the Field poll are more accurate).

As Joe.My.God points out, according to exit polls (1879 total respondents) 4% of the electorate in California was gay or lesbian and they went for Hillary 60 per cent to 25 per cent.

John McCain won the most states and the most states and the most delegates, ahead of both Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee, and now seems poised to become the Republican presidential nominee.

On the statewide intiatives, they all went the way that Mad Professah endorsed yesterday, except for Proposition 93, which apparently has lost 53.6 to 47.4%. This means that the two most important satate legislative leaders, State Senate Pro-Tem Don Perata and Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez will be unable to run for re-election in November.

CA Polls Have Both Obama AND Clinton Way Ahead

User Devilstower at DailyKos posts about the remarkably inconsistent polls of the California primary race between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton:

California (370 Delegates)

Reuters / Zogby 2/4 Barack Obama 49% Hillary Clinton 36%

California (370 Delegates)

Survey USA Hillary Clinton 52% Barack Obama 42%

We'll know tonight which of these polls was horribly wrong. Will CA be like New Hampshire (Obama ahead in all the polls but lost to Clinton by 2 points) or South Carolina (polling was close and Obama romped with a 27 point victory)

Endorsements for February 5, 2008 Statewide Election

Here is who (and what) I voted for and urge you to do similar in California's statewide presidential primary election today:

Democratic Presidential Primary
PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Barack Obama
Statewide Ballot Measures
PROPOSITION 91 (Sequestering of Transportation Fees): No
PROPOSITION 92 (Guaranteed Community College Funding): No
PROPOSITION 93 (Modifying Term Limits Initiative): Yes
PROPOSITION 94 (Indian Gambling Compact): Yes
PROPOSITION 95 (Indian Gambling Compact): Yes
PROPOSITION 96 (Indian Gambling Compact): Yes
PROPOSITION 97 (Indian Gambling Compact): Yes
Local Ballot Measures
PROPOSITION S (City Tax For Municipal services): Yes

Obama Raises $32M, Clinton $13.5M in January

The fundraising numbers for Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have now been revealed and Obama raised $32 million and Clinton $13.5 million. Clinton's staff claims that she raised more money in 2007 than the junior Senator from Illinois.

Celebrity Music Video featuring Obama's Speeches

Hat tip to Bloggernista.

First Lady of California Endorses Obama

A couple of days after her husband endorsed John McCain, Maria Shriver appeared at rally on Sunday afternoon at UCLA with Oprah Winfrey, Caroline Kennedy and Michelle Obama and endorsed Barack Obama's presidential campaign, saying:

"If Barack Obama was a state he'd be California," Shriver said, drawing roars from the crowd. "I mean, think about it: diverse, open, smart, independent, oppose tradition, innovative, inspiring, dreamer, leader."

More Eye Candy: Ramirez Allender

Another picture of smoking hot Brazilian model Ramirez Allender, courtesy The Boy.

Bloggernista heard my pleas and has posted multiple shots of Ramirez at his site. Check them out!

Black Lesbian Mayor elected in Cambridge, MA

Pam Spaulding and Joe.My.God are taking note of the news that the major United States city of Cambridge, Massachusetts has for the first time elected a Black lesbian mayor; her name is Denise Simmons. Previously, Cambridge had an openly gay, Black mayor named Ken Reeves. The mayoral position is selected by a majority vote from the members of the city council, as in West Hollywood, California which currently has an openly gay (and HIV-positive), Latino mayor: John Duran.

Endorsements Flood Obama Campaign Ahead of Super Tuesday Primary

The presidential campaign of Barack Obama keeps getting welcome news on the endorsements front. Yesterday, ex-Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker endorsed Obama, as did the online progressive group, MoveOn.org. Earlier in the week, following the endorsements from U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy, his son U.S. Representative Patrick Kennedy and JK's daughter Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg, Obama was endorsed by the moderate governor of Kansas, Kathleen Sebelius.

Today comes news that the Los Angeles Times and La Opinión have endorsed Barack Obama as well.

Mark Leno Proposes Harvey Milk State Holiday May 22

Joe.My.God alerted me to the news that openly gay Assemblyman Mark Leno is proposing legislation to make May 22 a non-fiscal state holiday in honor of slain San Francisco Supervisor and gay rights hero Harvey Milk. The bill would declare May 22 "Harvey Milk Day" in California. There are currently not one but two Hollywood bio-pics planned on the life story of Harvey Milk, the first starring Sean Penn and Matt Damon and directed by openly gay director Gus Van Sant, and the second based on the best-selling book The Mayor of Castro Street and directed by openly gay director Bryan Singer (Superman Returns, The Usual Suspects) and produced by openly gay producing team of Meron&Zadan (Chicago, Hairspray).

Mark Leno is currently locked in a tight primary race with openly lesbian State Senator Carole Migden, to be decided on Tuesday February 5th.

Microsoft Offers $44.6 BILLION to Buy Yahoo

Microsoft has just announced it is offering $31 a share to acquire Yahoo, valuing the company at $44.6 billion dollars.

Obama and Clinton Possibly Tied In California Poll

The latest Rasmussen Reports poll has Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton within the margin of error of each other in California, with 43% support for the former first lady and 40% for the junior Senator from Illinois. The poll was taken after Florida's primary which Clinton won but before John Edwards dropped out of the race and has a margin of error of +/- 4 points.

I Voted For (and Donated $100 To) Barack Obama Today

Today I received the following email in my inbox:

Ron --
I have some news for you today.
In the hours before Iowans went to their local caucuses four weeks ago, the 500,000th person donated to our campaign.

It took us nearly a year to grow that unprecedented base of individual donors. We rejected donations from Washington lobbyists and special interest PACs and relied on ordinary people to take ownership of this campaign -- and the result was more donors than any presidential primary campaign has had in history.

Here's the news today: so far in January alone, more than 224,000 people have given to this campaign.

If we can reach 250,000 donors for January by midnight tonight, it will show the undeniable strength and incredible momentum of our grassroots movement.
You were part of the nearly 500,000 people who gave to our campaign in 2007 and got us this far. If you give today, another supporter like you will match your donation.

Make your first donation of 2008 now:
https://donate.barackobama.com/match

These 224,000 people are giving whatever they can afford -- more than ninety percent of our donors this year have given $100 or less.
But what's even more inspiring is that they are also making phone calls, knocking on doors, planning local events, and even serving as Precinct Captains in the 22 states that will vote on Tuesday.

These are not just donors -- they are organizers doing the kind of local, grassroots organizing that is the foundation of real change. Together we are seizing this moment to upend the tired politics of the past and usher in a new era of active citizenship in our party and in our democracy.

From our historic victory in Iowa in the first days of 2008 through our resounding win in South Carolina last Saturday, January has been the most critical time of the campaign so far.

Hitting this goal of 250,000 donors will close out this historic month. And the fresh momentum and energy will carry us through the 22 state contests on February 5th and beyond.

This is an incredible moment, and I hope you will take time now to help reach this goal:

https://donate.barackobama.com/match

Thank you for being part of this,
Barack

I have previously donated to Barack and finally decided to endorse him in December. I was moved by this email to donate again, and have filled out my vote-by-mail ballot for Barack Obama. I urge you to do so as well!

Test Your Gaydar!

Pam's House Blend is running a Gaydar Test in light of a recently published study which says that most people can identify correctly the sexual orientation of an individual 70 percent of the time after viewing a picture for 100 milliseconds.

Which of the two individuals above is gay? Mad Professah picked the guy on the right. Pam will give us the answer next week.

Edwards (and Giuliani) Quitting Presidential Race

CNN and The New York Times are reporting that John Edwards is going to drop out of the Presidental race today, and not endorse either Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama. The 2004 Vice Presidential nominee has not won a single primary contest, and his best finish was second in the kick-off Iowa caucuses. Edwards is set to give a speech in Louisiana today, the same place he kicked off his presidential bid well over a year ago. Still, it's surprising that he is dropping out before "Super Duper Tuesday" on February 5th when millions of Democratic voters have the opportunity to make their voices heard in the Presidential campaign. In fact, in California, I know that many people have already voted (by mail-in absentee ballot), and some of them have said they have voted for Edwards.

In other news, Rudy Giuliani (or 9iu11iani as DailyKos likes to call him) is dropping out of the race and endorsing John McCain, who won winner-takes-all the Florida primary ahead of Mitt Romney 36% to 31% wiht 9iu11iani a distant 3rd at 15%.

Eye Candy: Ramirez Allender

Hat tip to The Boy.