Made of Straw

"That was the question at the heart of last night's presidential forum in Los Angeles on issues important to the gay and lesbian community, as Democratic candidates wrestled with what marriage means and tried to square that with their views on civil rights."

The Chicago Tribune captures some of the emotional exchanges:

"The leading Democratic presidential candidates struck a delicate balance Thursday evening between showing commitment to expand the rights of gay people and justifying their opposition to same-sex marriage during the campaign's first-ever televised forum focused on gay issues . . .

"Lesbian rock star Melissa Etheridge, one of the questioners, greeted former Sen. John Edwards by bluntly asking him if he was 'comfortable,' referring to a former strategist's assertion that Edwards once said he was uncomfortable around gay people.

"The former senator from North Carolina responded with nervous laughter on Thursday night, assuring the audience he was comfortable and denying as 'wrong' the report of the comment in a recently released book by Bob Shrum, a key adviser to his 2004 presidential campaign.

"Perhaps the most personal question of the evening was posed to Sen. Hillary Clinton by Etheridge, who told Clinton that she had felt personally hurt and abandoned by the Clintons after President Bill Clinton's inauguration. 'I remember when your husband was elected,' Etheridge said, calling it a 'hopeful time' for gays and lesbians. But "in the years that followed, our hearts were broken. We were pushed aside. All those great promises that were made to us were broken.' "

Hillary said they had to battle Newt and the Republicans.

The latest front-loading of the primaries--with South Carolina moving up, which will force New Hampshire to move up, which will force Iowa to move up, which means we could begin voting by next month--is welcomed by Kos:

"This would actually be fantastic. By moving their caucuses before the Christmas season, the Iowa losers would have plenty of time (over a month) to regain their footing and blunt any momentum the Iowa winner might get.

"South Carolina would grab the Jan. 22 spot, which means that NH would have to go earlier, maybe a week or two.

"Again, adding a few weeks between NH and the national primary on March [February] 5 would reduce the impact of a NH victory. SC would be the big winner, with a contest heavily contested by all the top contenders, as a bridge between NH (Iowa would be long forgotten) and the crazy-ass February 5 contests.

"It would be even better if NH moved their contest up to December as well. Then we'd have contests in NH and Iowa that would be little more than glorified straw polls, with most of the rest of America getting a real say in their nominee for the first time in a long, long time."