“Pardon me while we wait a while longer for my ego to enter the room.”

Let’s get the obvious out of the way: anyone who thinks about running for the White House has the type of ego us mere mortals don’t possess. You name the candidate, from top tier to no tier, a person who thinks he/she can run the country is operating on a level of self regard that would impress Narcissus.

As you might know cranky old man Mike Gravel has left the Democratic Party to join the search for the presidential nomination of the Libertarian Party. Well it looks like Mikey might have some competition from former Georgia representative Bob Barr, the guy who proudly sponsored the Defense of Marriage Act.

What has got into Barr’s bonnet to make him think anyone wants to see him run for the White House? Blame it on the Internet, peoples. Blame it on the net.

“There’s been a tremendous [interest] expressed to me both directly and indirectly on the Internet,” Barr said in an interview.

Technology is a terrible thing.

John & Jay are very serious this week. Until the discussion turns to “Grab & Grin,” Barney Frank and kiddie pools. Enjoy!

In this week’s “Gay Agenda,” Jennifer Vanasco and John Polly try to figure out what “Gay marriage doesn’t matter” (paraphrasing there…) means when spoken by a Democratic presidential candidate.

Plus, why it sucks to be gay come tax time, and the truth behind the candidate’s first jobs. Who was the kiddie pool enforcer? Who hurt themselves scooping ice cream?

Last night, I attended the monthly meeting of the Stonewall Democratic Club of New York City, of which I have been a member for several years. SDNYC is one of the three leading LGBT Democratic Clubs in the city, and its endorsement is sought by Democratic candidates for elective office throughout the five boroughs.

The big draw at last night’s Stonewall meeting was U.S. Rep. Anthony D. Weiner (D-NY), who represents the 9th district in the House, which includes parts of Brooklyn and Queens. Weiner ran for mayor of New York City in 2001 and acknowledged at the meeting last night that he may run for mayor again in 2009; most observers think another mayoral run is a certainty and that Weiner will be one of the leading candidates for the Democratic nomination.

Weiner is also a superdelegate and — like most elected officials who are superdelegates from New York — has endorsed Hillary Clinton for president. Not surprisingly, Weiner ardently argued for his candidate with members of the club, which also has endorsed Clinton. But when the Congressman from New York was asked if he would vote for the senator from New York even if she fell short of the senator from Illinois in pledged delegates and in the popular vote, Weiner stopped short of making a firm commitment. Read more…

A less combative Bill Clinton now discusses the origins of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” with the students from MTVU’s Editorial Board (the same folks featured in that riveting DoMA clip from a few days ago). But remember, “DADT” was the compromise that followed Clinton’s initial plan to remove the ban on gay in the military… Oh, how politics changes things.

There are other good clips of Clinton talking about candiates’ drug use, his own college memories, and more great discussion. Props to the students. And for Clinton for meeting them head on…

This will be a bad morning for the partisans. The bias charge will be in the air, hyperbole in warp drive, and moral outrage in the red zone. Let’s start with the bad news for Obama: As the April 22 primary gets closer, Clinton is shoring up gay endorsements in Pennsylvania. Philadelphia’s largest gay political group, the Liberty City Democratic Club, gave its endorsement to Clinton this week.

“Her record of accomplishment is proof positive that she’ll be a fighter for the LGBT community in the White House and that’s what we need,” said Matthew Woodcock, a spokesperson for the group.

Read more…

Watch your back, Barack; Hillary’s closing in on you, and she may have a crowbar.

You don’t have to be a figure skating aficionado to remember Tonya Harding and the notorious incident in which one of her henchmen took a crowbar and kneecapped her rival Nancy Kerrigan to try to put her out of the competition for the in 1994 Olympics in Norway. January 6 was a day that will live in infamy in the annals of Olympic sports competition. Only two months later, on March 16, Harding pleaded guilty to hindering the investigation of the Jan. 6 attack on in a plea bargain to avoid prison time, and on June 30 of that year, Harding was stripped of her 1994 national championship and banned from the U.S. Figure Skating Association (USFSA) for life. The attack and the subsequent legal drama made national news and made Harding possibly the most hated sports figure of the decade.

Harding’s ex-husband, Jeff Gillooly, also pleaded guilty, implicating her only after discovering that she had tried to blame the attack on him. On March 17 of that year, Washington Post reporter Johnette Howard wrote, “The intervening three months have been an almost unrelenting soap opera, with Kerrigan being portrayed as America’s sweetheart, Harding a ruthless competitor who just might be capable of anything, and hit men Shawn Eckardt, Derrick Smith and Shane Stant revealed as bumbling goofs.”

America’s sweetheart? Ruthless competitor? Bumbling goofs? Sound familiar…?

“Her securing the nomination is certainly possible - but it will require exercising the ‘Tonya Harding option,’” a Democratic Party official said of Hillary Clinton. Speaking to Jake Tapper (ABC News senior national correspondent) on condition of anonymity, the official asked, “Is that really what we Democrats want?” Read more…