Romney prolly wins Minnesota

Unexpected. But he's still a hell of a long shot.

L.A.—Michelle (not Obama) slow jammin' with Barack

The Advocate's Girl Friday Michelle Garcia is at The Avalon nightclub in Hollywood with Obama's L.A. camp. (A place that usually hosts party girls and boys of a different stripe.) She said the mood is mellow in a good way; slow jams are being spun.
Oh, and I forgot to say how Obama's peeps told me (and a few thousand other journos) that Barack did really well in the caucus states. The PR guy whose name I missed said, “This puts us in a real strong position.”

Huckabee takes Georgia

Overheard at the bar in Atlanta as Mike Huckabee was announced as winning Georgia: "Well that seals it. He'll be McCain's running mate."

NY — "Gay marriage isn't the only gay issue"

LGBT organizations and activists have focused much of their energy on legalizing gay marriage, but Lucas Shapiro says it's not the only gay issue—or the most important one.

Shapiro, a 28-year-old gay man who works in community organizing and affordable housing, thinks the gay community needs to work on improving itself and building solidarity. "There are all these marginalized groups within the gay community that need solidarity: lower-income people, immigrants, etcetera," he said. "We need to bring all of those groups together."

The gay marriage debate intrigued Shapiro, an Obama supporter, but the candidates' similar stances made it a moot point in the primaries. "I watched the LOGO forum, and it was shameless how [the Democratic candidates] squirmed on the issue of gay marriage," he said.

Others disagreed with Shapiro. David Alexander, a 31-year-old Obama supporter who works for Lambda Legal, said he paid more attention to the tone of the debates on gay marriage. He appreciated Obama's sincerity in talking about gay marriage. "On most LGBT issues, Obama's responses were sincere, open, and passionate," he said. "Clinton's were more strategic."

Added Alexander: "It's not necessarily the most supportive candidate that you have to watch out for—it's the least supportive."

DC - Dispatches From Across The District

Some more thoughts from a Washingtonian watching the returns elsewhere in the nation's capitol. It's getting late and folks are getting catty.

"We were talking about who we want the Dem to run against (the room is split Obama/Clinton - although maybe slightly leaning Clinton) and some people were saying that Romney is a weaker candidate because of his flip flops, his Mormonism and his general conservative craziness (see: immigration stance). Then someone pointed out McCain's age and how that can be a negative for voters. Those who have met McCain say he loses concentration easily, flies off the handle and has the saggiest face they've ever seen. Point being, he could absolutely implode with a good debate performance from a Dem."

On the phone with Obama's people

The spin doctors are in full force. Obama's people are on a press conference w/journos and they're saying how well Barack did in the race even in the face of some disappointing defeats like Mass. and Tennessee. But Obama's camp had some really valid points--Obama won by a higher margin in his home state than Clinton and he also won Conn. and Delaware which didn't allow independent voters...

Check out the Clinton Camp spin on Mass. and her red state wins here.

DC - Capitol City Cheers Clinton

The GLBT party for Hillary Clinton at Duplex Diner

Hill nabs NJ

reports AP...

DC - The GLBT Hillary Party

I walked into the GLBT party organized in support of Sen. Hillary Clinton tonight just as she won New Jersey. As I made my way through the crowd at Duplex Diner and I ran into a real, live Garden State native.

Jim Nastus, now a marketing professional in Washington, tells me why the former First Lady is his girl. "She's been tested, she has proven herself, and she has experience," he says. Sen. Barack Obama is "new to the scene and the media is too in love with him."

The problem with Obama's campaign is that it's "lots of unicorns and rainbows," Nastus laughs. "I've lived in D.C. long enough to know that this whole hope, change thing is about." The country needs a leader "who has the stones to get things done."

Gay rights is the campaign issue that Nastus finds most crucial. Clinton says all the right things while Obama falls short. Someone who comes from a disadvantaged background and who faced institutional racism should be better for the GLBT agenda, he argues.

If Clinton wins the White House, Nastus says her first priority should be fixing healthcare: "It's such a gross injustice that impacts all of our population. To ignore the health of our children is unconscionable."

Nastus's partner, sitting at a table nearby, muses: "This is like the Super Bowl for Washingtonians."

End of the road for Mittens?

It ain't lookin' good for the homophobic ex-gov. Will he be throwing in the towel tonight??