As the country waits to see what the future holds for crusader turned illicit copulater Eliot Spitzer, it is worth examining what impact his prostitute predilection might have on the Democratic Party. Spitzer, the once immensely popular governor of New York that swept into office with 70 percent of the vote, was an early and avid supporter of Hillary Clinton. He is a Clinton superdelegate and helped solidify the support she enjoys in the state......

An Op-Ed follow up to this morning's news... Via The LA Times, it seems all is not well with LA's super Tuesday results: Across Los Angeles County, many nonpartisan voters who cast ballots in the Democratic primary have learned to their dismay that their votes in the presidential contest did not matter. ... {California Democratic Party spokesman} had harsh words for L.A. County's voting system. "It's a terrible ballot design," he said. "It requires the......

Sen. Hillary Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, have spent the past couple days traipsing around the Golden State uncomfortably responding to allegations that their campaign is connected to a lawsuit brought last week by the Nevada teacher's union that would prevent casino workers from caucusing on the job. Many casino workers and hotel employees are members of the powerful Culinary Workers Union Local 226, which endorsed Barack Obama. The Nevada Democratic......

Carole Meyers, the first female rabbi to lead a congregation in L.A., died at age 50 of bone cancer this past Thursday. A month-old wildfire in Santa Barbara County continued to grow and burned through another 1,000 acres, prompting evacuation orders for a dozen homes. An LAPD officer was killed earlier today after crashing his motorcycle on the 101 freeway. The Belmont Shore team won the 2007 ViewSonic Long Beach Dragon Boat Festival yesterday.......

As Bill Moyers and his guests, constitutional law expert Bruce Fein and political journalist John Nichols, made abundantly clear in their discussion on PBS' Journal (catch the whole episode here), the question that ought to be asked isn't, "should we be discussing impeachment?" but, "why haven't we seriously started discussing impeachment yet?" Even though a recent public opinion poll from the American Research Group revealed that 45% of Americans favored impeachment hearings for Bush......

Now that his extramarital shenanigans with Telemundo newscaster Mirthala Salinas have firmly supplanted his other accomplishments in the eyes of many Angelenos, pundits' tongues are a-wagging over the potential ramifications to his long-term mayoral career. Or, put more simply, can he move beyond Mirthala? While some commentators, such as San Jose State's Larry Gerston, have already written off Villaraigosa's future prospects, advising him not to "make any plans to run for the Democratic nomination in......

LAist doesn't belong to a political party. We believe that the Republicans are idiots and the Democrats are cowards and the rest of parties seem comfortable being perpetual losers. Today, for example the President signed a so-called anti-terror law that the ACLU deemed "one of the worst civil liberties measures ever enacted in American history." "The president can now - with the approval of Congress - indefinitely hold people without charge, take away protections......

Let me start off by saying that I am, in fact, a Democrat. So, that gives me free license to not only criticize the Republicans and their policies but also my own party as well. Not that there is anything wrong with the Democratic Party. No, not them. They are just fine. They totally have their shit together. Sorry, the Democratic Party as a whole is really a subject for another rant. Not this......

hello guvner Over the weekend, the California Democratic Party made Phil Angelides their choice to run for Governor against Arnie. Angelides, who is State Treasurer, appears to be a solid liberal democrat. We just wish he didn't look so much like Ben Stein. whose LAUSD? Superintendent Roy Romer is expected to depart LAUSD this fall. Does this mean Mayor Villaraigosa has the perfect opportunity to set his takeover plans in motion? Well, one watcher......

With general consensus being that our own little local election is essentially over, LA went national this weekend with the California Democratic Party Convention. The biggest democratic star not named Clinton -- Party Chair Howard Dean -- was everywhere to mixed reviews. The Angelino tells us very little about what Arianna Huffington said but we do know this: democratic faithful find the left-leaning independent sexy. Our current favorite Dem, however, is California Senator Barbara......

As all the blogs are reporting today, Jessica Garrison's 1/10/05 Los Angeles Times piece, "Hahn Rivals Court Pet Lovers" informs us that the mayor's challengers sought animal advocates' endorsement last Sunday at the Citizens for Humane Los Angeles mayoral convention. Some see it as evidence of the activists' increasing political clout. Garrison wrote, "In a sign of the growing political influence that animal advocates wield in Los Angeles, the top challengers to Mayor James......

As noted in LAObserved.com yesterday, the Los Angeles Times published a story this weekend about Los Angeles mayoral candidates wooing various financial backers for support. Candidates are going to need full coffers in order to pay for the heavy TV advertising necessary to compete in this spring's election. Reporter Michael Finnegan wrote: The top contenders for mayor of Los Angeles have jostled for months to make a favorable impression on Eric Bauman. Four have......

Day 3 Recap: - It was revealed last night that the undisclosed location Dick Cheney has been known to frequent was actually the dark side of the moon, so removed from reality was his assessment of the successes thus far of the Bush administration. After polishing the President's non-existent laurels, he launched into a mean spirited attack on John Kerry that was dishonest, dishonorable, and, alas, highly effective. - Zell Miller completed his conversion......

Day 2 Recap: - Der Governator (looking ever more plasticized) trotted out his stale "girlie-man" line and name-checked Richard Nixon(!) in his speech extolling the virtues of George Bush, while Maria Shriver looked on, and Joe, Jack, and Bobby rolled over in their graves. - Laura Bush tried her best to put a compassionate face on her husband the "wartime president," and the Bush twins sobered up long enough to deliver a few flaccid......

Along with many of our local lawmakers, the Hahn-Villaraigosa rivalry has been transported to Boston this week. Both the Los Angeles mayoral gig and convention stage time are highly sought-after, and so far Villaraigosa is in the lead — by one minute. (LAist previously discussed the attention given to L.A. mayoral wannabes at the DNC.) Villaraigosa’s connections to presidential hopeful John Kerry and his position as co-chairman of the Democratic Party platform committee nabbed Antonio......