Barack is looking for votes in Clinton’s neighborhood

The sun is a little bit brighter today because Barack Obama is in NYC. After last night’s New Hampshire debate, Obama is sponsoring a rally in Washington Square Park.

Have to give the Illinois senator props for coming to New York, the back yard of his rival Hilary Clinton. In fact, for the past week he has become almost a city staple.

From what the polls are saying Obama is running second to Clinton. Some find this a bit troubling and keep looking for Obama to make a dent in the Clinton express. From where I stand all of this hand wringing seems a bit premature, especially when not one primary and/or caucus vote has been cast. Also approximately four years ago Howard Dean was flying high in the polls. How did that campaign turn out?

Because all we do is give Pauline Park, my visiblevote08 colleague, and I will cover the Obama affair and post some photos later tonight.

Show some love to the Garden State

You gotta love New Jersey. There’s the Turnpike, relatively cheap gasoline, beaches, and any state that can lay claim to Count Basie, Sarah Vaughn, and William Carlos Williams is a-okay in my book. The Garden State gets more props now because of Lynn Newsome.

Newsome, the president of the New Jersey State Bar Association, spoke to the state’s Civil Union Review Commission, a bunch of serious people who are evaluating how the state’s civil union law is working. According to Newsome, the news ain’t very good.

“They have been shown to perpetuate a second-class legal status,” Newsome said.

Because most lawyers have this thing about second-class citizenship, Newsome said her 17,000-member bar association sees same-sex marriage legislation “as one of its highest priorities.”

So it’s official: jokes about New Jersey are now officially banned! Find a New Jersey barrister and give him, or her, a big wet one.

Good news - Word is that the Matthew Shepard Act has passed the Senate.

President Bush has threatened to veto, but since it’s tacked on to a defense spending bill the White House desperately wants, it’s not clear whether he’ll follow through.

Joe Solmonese, the head of HRC, which battled hard for the passage of the bill, said:

“For over a decade our community has worked tirelessly to ensure protections to combat violence motivated by hate and today we are the closest we have ever been to seeing that become a reality.

“Congress has taken an historic step forward and moved our country closer to the realization that all Americans, including the GLBT community, are part of the fabric of our nation. The new leadership in Congress fully understands that for too long our community has been terrorized by hate violence. And today, the US Senate has sent a clear message to every corner of our country that we will no longer turn a blind eye to anti-gay violence in America.”

It’s a good day. Celebrate and enjoy it.

Hey! Right now, the MTV/MySpace Live Presidential Dialogue (the first of a series, it seems) featuring Democratic Pres hopeful John Edwards is beginning online. Wanna ask him something??? Go to the event’s homepage and fire away!

Or just watch and see if you’re feeling the North Carolinian politico…

You can go there now.

Is Hillary’s nomination inevitable? The Clinton campaign would certainly like you to think so. The creation of the impression of the inevitability of her nomination is part of a calculated strategy to generate a ‘bandwagon effect’ to get voters as well as unions and elected officials to jump on the Clinton bandwagon, thus making it a self-fulfilling prophecy.

National polls show Hillary Clinton ‘consolidating’ her lead over her rivals, to use the pundits’ favorite word of the moment to describe the race as it currently stands. The Rasmussen Reports tracking poll (taken on Sept. 24), for example, has Clinton at 39% nationally, with Barack Obama at 25% and Edwards at 14%. The survey conducted Sept. 13-16 by Thom Riehle and RT Strategies for the Cook Political Report has Clinton at 36%,Obama at 23%, and Edwards at 18%.

But do the national numbers mean anything?

Read more…

Richardson: Earning his merit badge for gay support?

Okay, that’s not what Bill Richardson said at last night’s Democratic Prezzy Debate in New Hampshire. But that’s my take on it. (And listen, I was a boy scout myself way back when. And my Mom was a scoutmaster for years! She even won the “Silver Beaver” award–I’m not kidding–for her years of scouting service. But I majorly digress…)

Last night, New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson was asked by MSNBC debate moderator Tim Russert if he were to win the White House, would he accept the post of chair of the Boy Scouts of America, a position traditionally offered to the President (which no Prez has ever declined). To his gay-supportin’ credit, Richardson replied: “No, I wouldn’t, because I think as president I would commit myself, number one, that I will be a leader that prevents discrimination on the basis of race, gender and sexual orientation.”

Attaboy, Bill!

As you may recall, In 2000 the Supreme Court turned down an appeal from James Dale, a scout leader from New Jersey who was fired when the organization learned he is gay and in a longterm relationship. The high court ruled that the Boys Scouts and its affiliates could prohibit gays because it is a private organization. The ruling said the Constitution gave scouts the right to choose its members. (The Scouts also prohibits atheists.)

See? Lame. Like I said.

Thanks, Bill.