We were at work, surfing the Web when we noticed that Wonkette just posted some crazy story that Sean Penn is offering Matt Gonzalez $5 million dollars to run against the Gavster. Apparently, Sean would give Matt the money if Matty G. switched to the Democratic Party. What, Sean doesn't think a naked guy and a man named Grasshopper are good enough candidates? more ›

Yes, it’s the high-end Italian bike shoes of SF Weekly’s longtime area commentator Matt Smith gracing the very nice carpet of a swank local hotel. He was there yesterday hobnobbing with the likes of Howard Dean, Carole Migden, and craigslist founder Craig Newmark at the Democratic Party’s aptly-named “Join the Party” party. Unlike other members of the media, Matt seemed to have an all-access pass at the event. Why? It’s got to be the shoes.
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We were driving to work the other day and heard an oh-so-familiar voice on Live 105's Morning Show. Sure enough, it was Gavin, making his way to yet another morning radio show. That dude sure does get around. After talking about all the boring stuff like issues and homelessness and his new Project Connect, the conversation finally got around to the juicy stuff and he was asked about life as a single guy. Apparently, from what he said, it's hard to out there to be a Mayor in the dating world. He even jokingly said he should put up a profile on Match.com. Of course, it sounds like he might have been fronting, but you know how it is when Gavin gets all earnest and puppy-dog'ish-- how can you not take what he's saying at face value? more ›

Recently, the Senate voted on the Republicans biennial attempt at saving America from the horrible threat of flag burning. Goodness gracious, imagine the hullabaloo if a bunch of gay Mexicans ever decided to burn a flag. Anyways, we hoped that the bill would fail miserably and the Democratic Party would have nothing to do with it but it didn't happen. Instead it came a vote short of passing. We did happen to notice, however, that the bill was labeled as "bipartisan" as it was co-sponsored by a Democrat. And the particular Democrat who cosponsored it? Our very own Diane Feinstein. Which we knew about but totally forgot because what with the war still raging, government eavesdropping programs going unfettered, and our complete and total obsession with "Battlestar Galactica," had moved onto bigger and more important things to concern ourselves with. more ›

One of our readers just forwarded along an email announcing the creation of a new political animal in town -- not the Green Party, not the Democratic Party (and the press release seems to assume without saying that it's certainly not the Republican Party), but the SF Party Party. Check out their leader, Crash, to your right. The motto is: "Like the Green Party.... without that funny smell. ....Like the Democratic Party without all that money." more ›

Saturday, Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean and about 400 Democratic Asian American party activists and officials filled the halls of the San Jose Marriott to attend the Asian American and Pacific Islander Democratic Leadership Summit (.pdf). Howard Dean was the keynote speaker and spoke on Saturday morning at around 9:30. He gave the DemocraticMessage, or what we perceived as the "Together, we can do better" speech. [Ed. note: is that the same or different from the "yeeeeaaaaargh!" speech?] For those who weren't there, and are interested, it is similar to the speech he gave to the Jewish Council of Public Affairs. The conference was energizing and uplifting with speeches from the first Asian American Boston City Council member Sam Yoon and from the first Asian American San Jose City Council member Madison Nguyen. The Saturday lunch speaker was Mike Honda, who spoke on leveraging an Asian American background to run for political office. Of course, no conference is without handouts. Consequently, there was an organizing tip handout given out in the late Saturday afternoon titled, "Democratic State Party Structures - How to Navigate and Move Ahead, Four Important Things to Know." This handout did not talk about how Democrats can win elections, but instead focused on the finer points of the Party such as becoming familiar with Robert’s rules of order. Who said that politics was all fun and games? Do not despair though, as another rule from the handout was to "ESTABLISH Political Convictions and Strength." (capitalization in original). Well, Asian-American Democrats, go change the world! Just make sure to do it according to Robert’s Rules of Order and only after establishing your political convictions.

Well, it's not quite Bush stealing Florida or anything, but due to circumstances out of our control, the previous Gavin-Sofia couple name election has hit some woes -- it looks like the polling program we were using has crashed. Not only has it crashed, it appears to crash the whole site (at least on Internet Explorer) as well. Darn it! Here, though, because we're San Francisco, we're going to make the Democratic Party's 2000 dreams come true -- we're going to vote again! (There are so many free poll hosting sites out there!). Click away and we'll announce the winner on Monday!

Dan Gillmor bows out of Bayosphere in Businessweek -- reactions from JD Lasica, Jonas Luster and Thomas Hawk. Blogger Tom Foremski says he's doing just fine, claiming to be more popular with PR folks than the Wall Street Journal's Walter Mossberg. Hey, at least no one has had to resort to astroblogging (astroturfing + blogging, natch). more ›

KQED listeners and Howard Deaniacs patiently lined up in the on-again off-again drizzly evening outside the Roxie, reading complimentary copies of Mother Jones and blocking the entrance to Dalva, as a sodden and trodden election flyer featuring Matt Gonzalez endorsing Calvin Louie for treasurer looked forlornly up from the sidewalk. Before Howard Dean vowed to take back the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party, there was Paul Wellstone. The voluble and ebullient Carleton political science professor was advocating against both Iraq wars before it was cool, and fought tirelessly for universal health care and energy reform in the 12 years he spent as the senior senator from Minnesota, and is reputed to be one of the inspirations for the West Wing's President Bartlet (down to their diagnoses of multiple sclerosis). Tragically, Wellstone, his wife and daughter, three other campaign staffers, and two pilots were killed in a plane crash 11 days before the 2002 election, right as the Democrats were pulling ahead of Republican (and now Senator) Norm Coleman. We all know how the rest of that election turned out. Now, Wellstone supporters have put together Wellstone!, a documentary about Wellstone's life and the power of idealism to make a positive change, which showed as part of the Mother Jones Agitators and Instigators series of the 21st Film Arts Film Fest Saturday night at the Roxie. more ›

Maybe Nancy Pelosi is getting a little too comfortable with the support in her district. Seems that while on the congressional delegation to attend the funeral for the Pope, she made nice with Democratic Party uber-villain Tom DeLay. The Hill reports that she even presented him with a cake for his 58th birthday on the flight back from Rome (in the same piece they note that Linda Ronstadt is invited to the wedding of Jerry Brown and Anne Gust). We got the link via Wonkette, which is currently being rocked by EssEff-local Greg Beato. more ›

After being blamed for the re-election of W., made a virtual pariah in the Democratic Party, and befriended by Angelina Jolie all for letting a few gay people marry, you would think that the Gavster would go quietly into that good night on the issue. After all, there’s nothing the Democratic Party hates more than some Democrat standing on principles and scaring off all those Red State types. Turns out he’s not going quietly. In fact, he has been pumping up both the jams and the volume on the issue. In the past week, he gave a speech at Harvard where he called out his fellow Democrats and yesterday, totally dissed New York Mayor Bloomberg over Hizzoner’s little problem with the issue. more ›

This Saturday, there will be a big abortion protest taking place in the city in response to it being 32nd anniversary of Roe v. Wade. We know- big yawn. Except it’s not what you think, it’s an anti-abortion rally. At first, when SFist heard about this, we thought it was a joke, you know ironic- kind of like all those Billionaires for Bush protests. But it’s not a joke, it’s real. There will be a rally at Justin Herman Plaza at 11 A.M followed by a walk along the Embarcadero from Justin Herman Plaza to the Marina Green in an event called Walk for Life West Coast. Upwards of 3,000 people are expected to attend, although most are being bussed in from the Central Valley. In deference to this being the Bluest of Blue States, march organizers Eva Muntean and Dolores Meehan have told all the folks at Operation Rescue to leave their aborted-fetus billboards at home. Asked why San Francisco, Roman Catholic and fourth-generation San Franciscan Dolores Meehan said that the point of the protest is to try and show pro-choice woman that abortion isn’t the only answer and that “there are other options.” Adds Muntean, also Catholic, “I want everyone to know that San Francisco is not a modern-day Sodom and Gomorrah." But isn’t that why we love San Francisco? more ›

>...or is it a DCist cameo on SFist? Our sister site notes that one of our local boys, Adam Werbach, and his new group, the November 3 Theses have invaded their town to wheat-paste flyers on the doors of the DNC. Kind of like Martin Luther, except he had 95 theses and the November Thirders only have nineteen. more ›

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Yesterday the Democratic Caucus of the California State Senate voted to replace termed-out senator John Burton [D-San Francisco] with Don Perata [D-Oakland] as the new President Pro-tempore of the senate. Considered the 'second most powerful' political position in Sacramento, Bay Area lawmakers breathed a sigh of relief - an appointment of his rival for the post, Martha Escutia of Whittier, would have signaled a complete shift in power to Southern California (sorry, LAist). Perata is a former teacher in Oakland's public schools, having earned his credentials at the University of California, Berkeley. Generally considered left-of-center even within the California Democratic Party, he has fought for gun regulation, improved funding for public schools and even has a pet-project website, OaklandSchools.com, set up for students, teachers and parents to report problems and lobby legislators on behalf of their beleaguered school district. He's currently working to oppose the huge new casino in nearby San Pablo. This appointment comes on the heels of allegations, investigated by the Chron, of improprieties during his campaign related to business relationships with his son, Nick Perata, and local businessman and college friend Timothy G. Staples. It's also interesting to note that Perata was Burton's pick, and coincides with a number of political moves that Burton has made as his stint in the State Senate draws to a close. EssEffist would like to point out that they don't call it the "Brown-Burton Machine" for nothing. more ›