The Big Daddy of all Democrats, Bill Clinton, was here over the weekend, giving his 83rd stump speech of this election season and trying to convince the Democratic base that there's reason for hope. This was at a rally for Congressman Mike Thompson in CA's 1st Congressional District (which includes most of Napa, part of Sonoma, and all of Humboldt and Lake Counties), where Democrats outnumber Republicans by 20%. Speaking about the many people who came out to vote for the first time in 2008, Clinton warned "They don't know that everything they voted for two years ago can be wrecked by not voting this time." more ›

One day after California gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown apologized to former President Bill Clinton for calling him a liar, Clinton has officially endorsed Brown for governor. "Clinton issued his endorsement in a statement to The Los Angeles Times, saying, 'I strongly support Jerry Brown for governor because I believe he was a fine mayor of Oakland, he's been a very good attorney general, and he would be an excellent governor at a time when California needs his creativity and fiscal prudence,'" reports Sacto Bee. Clinton went on to call Meg Whitman's latest attack ad "misleading." more ›

Former US President Bill Clinton will come to UC Berkeley on Feb 24 in an event sponsored by the Blum Center for Developing Economies. The Daily Cal reports: "Preparations to have Clinton come to campus have been underway for several weeks with tickets expected to go on sale online Thursday at 7 a.m., according to campus spokesperson Janet Gilmore. A total of 2,000 tickets will be made available for the event which will be held at Zellerbach Hall, 1,200 of which will be made available to students for free." more ›

Former President Bill Clinton was hospitalized today at NY's Columbia Presbyterian Hospital after experiencing severe chest pain which may or may not have been a full heart attack. The AP is reporting that he then had two stents surgically placed in his coronary artery. ABC and Fox were cheekily reporting that Hillary was seen leaving the Oval Office after hearing the news but was "not in a rush." An ABC source now says that Secretary Clinton still plans to leave for the Middle East tomorrow, and that that should "speak volumes" about the former President's condition. more ›

A startling message was delivered during a joint appearance to raise awareness for Haiti relief: former presidents George Bush and Bill Clinton are friends. They chatted on the phone while Bush was in office, they acknowledge disagreements respectfully, and Barbara Bush calls Bill her son's "fourth brother." Really? [YouTube] more ›

This begs for some sort of poll. Here you go: more ›

While some are wildly conspiracy theorizing that Mayor Gavin Newsom will bow out of the gubernatorial race, former POTUS Bill Clinton just gave Gav his official seal of approval. That's right, Clinton has backed Newsom's bid for the Democratic nomination for California governor. If you recall, Newsom was one of Hillary Clinton's biggest supporters during her failed presidential campaign. The Clintons, it seems, are returning the favor. more ›

After almost five months of being held in North Korea for "hostile acts," San Francisco-based journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee arrived back in the U.S. just 24 hours after Bill Clinton negotiated their release with Kim Jong Il. The two flew into Bob Hope Airport in Burbank early this morning, "dressed in short-sleeved shirts and jeans" and appearing "healthy." more ›

Breaking news, folks. "North Korean media say leader Kim Jong Il has pardoned two American journalists and ordered their release during the visit of former U.S. President Bill Clinton," reports the Associated Press. more ›

In an effort to get North Korea to release Current TV journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee, former President Bill Clinton arrived in Pyongyang today to meet with Kim Jong Il. This "surprise" visit. Accordind to , "North and South Korean news outlets reported Clinton arrived in the capital of Pyongyang by charter jet after receiving word through back channels that Laura Ling and Euna Lee might be released to the former President after nearly five months in captivity. No word yet if Clinton managed the release of Laura Ling and Euna Lee. After crossing the border into North Korea, Ling and Lee have been sentenced to 12 years of hard labor. North Korea's chief nuclear negotiator, Kim Kye Gwan, "was among the official greeters on the tarmac," which could perhaps signal "that the Communist nation was also seeking a breakthrough on the standoff with the U.S. over nuclear disarmament." Update: Clinton will meet this morning with Laura Ling and Euna Lee. Fingers crossed. (An ABC source claims that they could come home tonight.) more ›

While a British newspaper may have jumped the gun in reporting that Hillary Clinton would be President-elect Obama's Secretary of State, it certainly seems like it'll happen at some point. Politico reports that "Negotiations between the Clintons and President-elect Barack Obama’s transition team are rapidly moving toward a formal offer of secretary of state" by next week. more ›

Usually when a Presidential candidate announces his VP choice it's either to try and help him win some state or area that could help him win or to try and strengthen an apparent weakness. For example, Bill Clinton chose Al Gore to help him try and win the south. And in 2000, George Bush selected Dick Cheney to help alleviate concerns about his lack of experience and evilness. So with that, we announce that Ralph Nader's choice as his Vice President is our very own Matt Gonzalez. more ›

According to the Sentinel: more ›

Hillary Clinton's Inner Tracy Flick more ›

OK. Hmm. We're not sure if politicians and public servants count as society folk, regardless of their top-drawer Getty connections. (We think once you're in office, we at SFist must then considered you the help, even if you can buy and sell us into sexual slavery.) Granted the image is old and last-year, but here's Gavin's tongue (which is fresh and tasty, we're sure), in case you’ve been kept up at nights wondering about its... more ›

More Carole Migden driving news! The Sacramento Bee (which, we'll admit, we were only perusing to see if there were some more pictures of the whales) has found a woman who's still angry about the time Carole Migden totaled her car back in 1996 (Migden's first year in the State Assembly, and a year before Migden was diagnosed with leukemia). "It's really odd at my age that I just can't get over it," the woman said. more ›

and is credited with modernizing and popularizing crossword puzzles with witty clues, aesthetically satisfying designs, and pop cultural awareness. Folks like Jon Stewart and Bill Clinton (above, with the puzzle he made in yesterday's paper here) swear by Shortz's puzzles, and you will too (if you don't already) after tonight! more ›

, Morgan's movie for the BBC about the unusual power-sharing arrangement and strained friendship between Tony Blair and chancellor of the exchequor Gordon Brown to let Blair lead the Labour Party first, and then hand it off to Brown next. more ›

Number of people pictured in this week's Swells society column: 67. more ›

Hey, there's lots of stuff going on this weekend! And in exchange for telling you about it, we're going to ask again for a favor in return -- if you go to any of these events, would you mind terribly sending us your pictures of them, and we'll show them off on the site for you? Tag 'em SFist on Flickr, or mail them to editor-at-sfist.com! more ›

Ralph Nader is in town this week to promote his new book, The Seventeen Traditions. He did an interview with KGO radio criticizing Democrats such as Nancy Pelosi and 2008 Presidential Candidate Hillary Clinton. more ›

As previously reported on SFist, today is the day the official, real Question Time is supposed to happen. Sometime today, the Board of Supes will read off all the names of people who should be in attendance and add one name to the list, that being Gavin's. Gavin won't be there, of course, because he will be at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, hobnobbing with the stars, both poltical and movie. His attendance at the confab, however, isn't going over very well with some people. more ›

On Tuesday, the American -ists will be celebrating democracy and hitting the polls, letting politicians know what they really think. It just made us wonder: if it were up to the -ist-a-verse, what would we be voting for? more ›

--Cal Alum fights the good fight to keep view of Memorial Stadium free. more ›

Yay, Civic Center Mike's back from Palm Springs! And what should he stumble upon while wheeling his suitcases out of the BART station but Bill Clinton's Yes on 87 Rally! (87 is the tax the oil companies for alternative energy proposition. Yes arguments here, No arguments here.) more ›

In the time of chimpanzees there was a monkey.... -Old stuff coming to U.C. Berkeley more ›

Since we've been doing a bunch of postings about our super-exciting congressional race, we'd love to come up with some clever title along the lines of "Everybody Hates Chris" but we are coming up with nothing. Sorry-- we're a little jet-lagged these days. Needless to say, we do have some Pelosi & Pals news today as the Washington Post has a big feature on some anti-lobbying bill she's been working on for awhile that could see the light of day if she does become Madame Speaker. Lots of bans on travel and gifts are involved and we'll see what happens the moment she does become Madame Speaker. Our guess is that it'll pass with loopholes a' plenty. more ›

Here we were, worried that this whole Congressman Mark "NAMBLA" Foley story wouldn't have any sort of Bay Area connection so we wouldn't be able to comment on it, but we were wrong. When your representative to Congress is the House Minority Leader, there's a connection to anything in politics. And there is a connection indeed to this story. more ›

He's in New York! Tuesday he took off to the Big Apple to attend a three day event for the Clinton Global Initiative conference. That's Clinton as in Bill Clinton, not George Clinton. The Clinton Global Initiative is some big huge three day conference in which various political and governmental big wigs gather to discuss the environment and helping the poor people and Africa and all that stuff that George Clooney and Angelina Jolie talk about. more ›

For whatever reason, politicians like to record themselves for reasons of "posterity." Like someday, some historian or what have you, will find the tapes and be so dazzled by the intellectual fortitude of the office debates that they’d write positively glowing reviews of their administrations. This despite the fact, it never goes well. For anybody. Your latest victim of taped recordings is our Governor who is occasionally taping himself for all the future historians out there to document his governing genius more ›