What happens when you take publicly available data and mix it with your Facebook friends? It could be a recipe for disaster between friends. more ›

Last month, when President Barack Obama announced his town hall-style meeting in Los Angeles, thousands of locals scrambled, as directed, to enter their names in a lottery to win free tickets to the "public" event. But, while "it was free [...] it wasn't exactly public," points out the Daily News. more ›

LAist likes to think of Democratic National Committee member Ed Espinoza as LA's Superdelegate. We chatted with him last week. more ›

A rollercoaster ride may resemble Democratic National Committee member Ed Espinoza's 2008 but it doesn't paint the whole picture. Rollercoasters don't quite peak like Espinoza's year. He was part of the process which saw his party’s historic candidate elected to the country’s highest office. more ›

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. more ›

An Op-Ed follow up to this morning's news... more ›

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. more ›

Photo by xxjetlab via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr more ›

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... more ›

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... more ›

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... more ›

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... more ›

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. more ›

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. more ›

Villaraigosa was the second speaker, mentioning the 44,000 dogs and cats killed at city shelters each year. This number differs from statistics provided by the L.A. Times, as well as those offered by Daily News, and are different yet from numbers thrown out by city employee Regina Adams at a meeting I had with her and the General Manager of Animal Services (GM) Guerdon Stuckey a month ago. The true number of animal deaths in the shelters seems to be a carefully guarded secret. more ›

Candidates are going to need full coffers in order to pay for the heavy TV advertising necessary to compete in this spring's election. more ›

Day 3 Recap: more ›

Day 2 Recap: more ›

When the pomp back East is over, Mayor Hahn (along with the throng of challengers eager to unseat him) can resume the usual political bustle in advance of next year's race. more ›