After running back to Washington with a sack of cash weighing in at about $15 million from that party at George Clooney's house, President Obama is scheduled to come to the Bay Area next week for a couple of private fundraisers down on the Peninsula. Next Wednesday he'll be at a $250-a-person fundraiser at the Fox Theatre in Redwood City, followed by a smaller, $38,500-a-person dinner at a private home in Atherton. more ›

There weren't any Louboutins flying, but there was an upturned chair, accusations of living in the Marina, and references to 'Mean Girls' following a recent gathering of the eighteen women who are all running for seats on the Democratic County Central Committee, for which there's an election on June 5. A couple of self-described progressives on what was to be a "womens' slate" of candidates ended up storming out of the meeting because they had failed to come up with the $1,000 apiece that was agreed upon to print up slate cards, and then were made to feel bad about it. more ›

With full support from Republicans (and none from Democrats, naturally), the House voted today to subpoena the White House for any and all records regarding Solyndra, the Fremont, California-based solar company that imploded this year after receiving a $535 million loan from the Obama administration in 2009. more ›

Amongst the estimated 1,000 people who showed up outside the W yesterday to protest/holler at President Obama was prominent local Democratic fundraiser Susie Tompkins Buell. A good friend and major campaign supporter of Hillary Clinton, Tompkins Buell has had it up to here with Barack! And she's not going to take it anymore! Rather than lend her money in support of his fundraiser yesterday, as the Chron reports, she was outside with demonstrators waving signs that said STOP KEYSTONE XL, referring to an oil pipeline project from Alberta Canada to Texas that is now her pet project. more ›

"At 70 years old, her political career is likely over. Congress is a funny, insular place. Mastering it the way Pelosi did is an art that is much more a liability than an asset with voters. Her outspokenness, her unapologetic liberalism, and -- yes -- her gender, made her a rich target for Republicans, especially when the economy collapsed. But she refused to back down." -- Steve Kornacki writing a political obituary for the old gal today on Salon. more ›

The NYT, the Christian Science Monitor, and the Chron are calling it for Boxer, with a 4-point spread and 30% of precincts reporting, ending a bitter fight with Republican Carly Fiorina that might have ended Boxer's 18-year run in the Senate. more ›

After a menacing political battle -- which, before President Obama's speech on Saturday, included Tea Party protesters shouting "faggot" and "nigger" to members of Congress, like Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) and John Lewis (D-Ga.) outside the Capitol... more ›

Yes, everyone! It's the big news this pre-Xmas Monday morning. The U.S. Senate wanted to give everyone a present this week, and in the wee hours of this morning a whopping 60 of them voted to end debate on the thoroughly compromised health care bill that's been the talk of the nation lo these many months. As the NYT reports, the vote concluded "a long day of acid, partisan debate" in which Democrats blamed Republicans for pulling out every last stop they had to delay the vote, and Republicans blamed Democrats for everything under the sun, including destroying America and keeping poor, 92-year-old Robert Byrd up way past his bedtime (Democrats, in turn, blamed Republicans for this too). more ›

This is why getting violently ill sucks. You miss wonderfully uncomfortable stuff like this. See, at last night's Democratic County Central Committee gala at the San Francisco Fairmont, a surprise guest showed up. Who, you ask? None other than Governor Schwarzenegger, making a surprise appearance to speak to the left-leaning crowd. After being introduced by former SF Mayor Willie Brown, Arnold was "greeted by an awkward combination of polite applause, hisses, and shouts." more ›

The Minnesota Supreme Court has just declared, in a 32-page unanimous decision, that Al Franken won the state's seat in the U.S. Senate in the contested November election against Republican Norm Coleman. The governor, Tim Pawlenty, has already said that he was ready to certify the comedian and liberal pundit just as soon as the court made up their mind, however there is still a 10-day period in which Coleman may concede or in which a federal court could issue a stay. So long as Coleman doesn't care to spend more than the $11 million already spent on the recount or the $50+ million spent on the campaign, this would give Democrats their coveted, filibuster-proof 60th vote in the Senate. more ›

Senator Arlen Specter, reborn as a Democrat, appeared at the White House with President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden and said, "I think that I can be of assistance to you, Mr. President. ... There are a lot of big issues we're tackling now that I've been deeply involved in." Specter and Biden are good friends; the NY Times reports that Biden had been pressing Specter about switching parties lately: In the past 10 weeks, "Mr. Biden and Mr. Specter had spoken 14 times — six times in person and eight in telephone conversations. [Each time] Mr. Biden argued that the Republican Party had increasingly drifted away from Mr. Specter since the election and that ideologically, he was closer to the Democratic Party." Today, Obama said, "I don't expect Arlen to be a rubber stamp. In fact, I'd like to think that Arlen's decision reflects recognition that this administration is open to many different ideas and many different points of view... I'm eager to receive his counsel and his advice, especially when he disagrees." more ›

Progressives scored a big win on Wednesday night. SF Board of Supes Prez Aaron "Payback's a Bitch" Peskin was elected to head the San Francisco Democratic County Central Committee last night, inching out former chair Scott Wiener and giving "a boost to progressive candidates for supervisor in the November election." Peskin, according to SFBG, won on an 18-16 vote. The real vote, because political committees inexplicably love several rounds of voting on anything, will happen later. But? Peskin, it seems, is pretty much a shoo-in. more ›

While the Democratic primary raged on and on and on, something that felt as long and grueling as sitting through the latest Indiana Jones movie-- twice in a row, and almost as painful-- two of the big questions were whom homegirl Nancy Pelosi supported (supposedly she was an Obamamaniac) and when she, along with the rest of the Democratic leadership, were going to get off their asses and end the damn thing. more ›

Well, frankly, neither had we. That is, until we read this crazy -- yet, not so crazy -- article on Republicans in Ohio switching party alliances and voting Democratic. 16,000 Republicans, to be exact. more ›

SFist's dear neighbor's, Wired, came across this racially explosive internet meme on the Daily Kos, which is set to have Democrats duking it out online. According to the Daily Kos, someone in the Clinton campaign took Obama's image from this video and darkened (a la OJ Simpson gracing the covers of Time and Newsweek) for this commercial. According to the Kos: more ›

Well, you'll probably all be as relieved as we were that the proposal to adopt an SF policy to buy back Alcatraz Island from the feds for a billion dollars in order to build a peace center was thoroughly trounced in the polls, losing at a rate of almost 3:1 (72% no). You can continue telling your friends back home that you'll take them on the ferry ride to the prison if they'd ever come out and visit you out here! more ›

-- Those rectangular glassy lofts on Folsom and Fourth Streets are, in fact, award-winning rectangular glassy lofts. Also, love the windows. [Curbed] more ›

-- Why, it seems to be election day. [SFGate] more ›

After House Democrats rescued him from censure today, Fremont Democratic Representative Pete Stark then apologized to members of the House and President Bush for his recent remark about "'soldiers getting their heads blown up...for the President's amusement." more ›

Here's a video posted on YouTube by the San Francisco State College Republicans. Yes, boo, hiss, etc. -- BUT they were trying to co-host a peaceful memorial for 9/11 victims with their democratic counterparts. Extending the olive branch and, according to the speech the guy gives, trying to whitewash this of political partisanship to whatever extent possible. Of course, some protesters showed up, once again proving that there are just too damned many opinions constrained within this predominately two-party system of ours. more ›

In case you missed it, President 25% Approval Ratings was able to ram through some legislation revamping all those FISA laws you keep hearing about. It's hard to make heads or tails of what the bill says as the administration, in a surprise to no one, won't tell anyone what it says, but it involves making warrants kind of unnecessary, the monitoring of anyone suspected as a "terrorist" and-- get this-- the oversight by one Alberto "Fredo" Gonzalez. That's more than letting the fox guard the hen house, that's letting Michael Vick run the SPCA. more ›

So California is pretty much a Blue State, right? And it'll probably be bluer than blue over the next few decades or so considering the Republicans have been hell-bent on pissing off every Hispanic voter lately, right? So what's a Republican to do to change all that? Better ideas? Better Presidents? Better wars? How's about changing the rules so that the Republicans can get some of that California's electoral gold. more ›

The Governor's annual May budget revision was rolled out yesterday. The document still shows a net operating deficit of $1.4 billion, but represents this as "major progress as compared to the $4.4 billion that was anticipated for 2007-08 at the time the Governor signed the 2006 Budget Act." The revised budget includes plans for early debt payments as well as to avoid tax hikes, and shows Arnold's intent to restrain spending growth and maint adequate reserves, among other things. Democrats are concerned, though, that it's doing so at the expense cuts social services and public transit -- which could have a direct affect on BART and other orgs. more ›

Here's the daily wrap up of the news 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 ›

We really dread to be doing this, again, but here it is, your recap of the reaction to Gavin's admission that he's seeking counseling for booze. Or, as the NY Post puts it, "S.F. Sex Mayor In Booze RX." You know, we used to joke with our fellow -ists about how exciting our Mayor is compared to their boring, dreary Mayors (Gothamist's biggest scandal concerning Bloomberg was that he has bad fashion sense) but we're kind of over it. more ›

Nancy Pelosi stepped up her fight against the White House over the surge, escalation, augmentation, whatever the hell they're calling it these days. On the place where most major policy discussions are held-- in between cooking segments and celebrity interviews on "Good Morning America" Pelosi accused the President of rushing to send off the troops in a rush to circumvent congressional oversight. In a response, the White House said, oh who cares what the White House says. more ›

So yes, we have a predilection for hitting up Fox News occasionally. We like to look at it as testing our mental fortitude, a way to see how far we could go before our blood pressure rises to the point we have to throw things. Somehow, this weekend we missed Matt Gonzalez appearing on Fox's "The Lineup" to talk about the Yale Choral Group story (Yalegate? Doughgate? Choirgate?). Oh, and your host of the Lineup? The former Mrs. Gavin Newsom, Kimberly Guilfoyle. more ›

A few photos of the MLK Breakfast at the S.F. Hilton, Monday morning, 1/15/07 more ›

Last night, Arnie wheeled himself out on his crutches to give everyone the State of the State speech. How is the state doing? Fabulous, as always. Why? Because we're all working together. And because we, not the children, are the future. In fact, he said California could be the shining example to the rest of the country on how to move forward on everything from health care to the environment. In his speech, he called us the "modern equivalent of the ancient city states of Athens and Sparta" which is high praise indeed. But who is Sparta and who is Athens? We think we're more Athens than Sparta but would that mean LA is Sparta? San Diego? Bakersfield? Or maybe we're Sparta and LA is Athens. We always preferred Athens over Sparta, but then again, if we were Sparta we could go up to some interloper and kick them into a giant hole while yelling "We are Sparta!!!!" at the top of our lungs like in that scene from the trailer for 300. Man, that movie looks awesome. more ›