Starchild would have my vote.

It's sad in such a "liberal" town, and such a in "liberal" paper like the Guardian that Starchild is a fringe candidate, when he is the only real liberal in the race.

What happens to the money I and others donated to her campaign?

Starchild isn't a liberal, he's a libertarian. Big difference. I like the guy, but I believe in government; I think we should tax the rich and feed the poor. He doesn't. He's also against gun control. He has every right to his opinions, and I think he holds them honestly, but I don't share them.

I'm not sure what happens to the money Spanjian raised. I think that she can either donate it to another campaign or to charity.

It would make sense that Leno is endorsing Wiener and not Rafael Mandelman, since Carole Migden (who ran against Leno, for those who don't know) has endorsed Rafael. Have to keep that rivalry stuff going, you know.

I read an interview earlier with Rafael Mandelman from the San Francisco Examiner. Here's an excerpt:

"Of the four, Rafael Mandelman has been called the most progressive, a label which could be a badge of honor in a district that includes the gay enclave called The Castro. More on that in a bit....It's at this point I bring up his progressive label, and ask if it's valid. Rafael says he is "existentially moderate", by which he means that he takes each issue, gathers emperical data, evaluates it on its own terms and merits and makes an evidence based decision."

So what he is saying is that true progressives don't "take each issue, gather emperical data, evaluate it on its own terms and merits and make an evidence based decision." That's what he is saying when he says all that. So only "existentially moderates," do that. Got it. What a bunch of bunk.

Like a typical politician, I see he refused to actually answer the question, which was: "is the progressive label valid?" He should have said: "No. I don't want to be called a progressive. I'm trying my best to run away from THAT. Next question." Because that was basically his answer.

A "moderate." Wonderful.

Sigh. I swear, these politicians drive me up the !@#$!#$ wall.

Until you've sweated through a summer there. The toxins are leached out daily, you can drink as much of anything as you want and not not be thirsty, and the noise from the grackles (blackbird-like noisy things in the trees) vies with the noise from the cicadas. More Vietnamese than in any other city in America. A big gay population. And, unlike San Francisco, a gay AND female Mayor.

Houston's looking pretty good right now to me...

Rafael in 2010!