Monday Morning Open Thread

Good morning.

It's Columbus Day, which is a federal holiday. Most of official Washington is closed, but not the White House.

The President is holding a meeting on infrastructure with a group of cabinet secretaries, mayors and governors. He's also meeting with some of the students who appeared in the documentary, Waiting for Superman. Then, he's flying to Miami for a fundraising event for the DCCC at a "private residence." But, we know via the DCCC invitation that it's at the home of Alonzo Mourning, who used to play basketball for the Miami Heat. (That's probably how the DCCC lured Obama to the event.)

The Veep is in Pennsylvania today. He's got an event in Scranton for Rep. Chris Carney this morning. Then, he's heading to Pittsburgh for an early afternoon gig with Reps. Kathy Dahlkemper and Mark Critz. Later, at 5:30 PM, Biden will be with the gubernatorial candidate Dan Onorato.

Yesterday, the GOP/teabagger running for Governor of New York, Carl Paladino, launched into a vicious homophobic rant. Great timing, considering the rash of youth suicides and that horrific gay-bashing in the Bronx last week. I guess this disproves the idea that teabaggers aren't homophobes. And, it shows that elections do matter. Yeah, I'm ticked at the Democratic leaders here in DC, starting with Obama. But, there are many candidates running this year who can directly impact equality. They (and we) shouldn't suffer because of Obama -- and many good, progressive candidates are suffering because of Obama's presidency -- let's not pretend otherwise. The race for Governor of New York is one of those. Andrew Cuomo or Paladino? If I still lived in Maine, I'd sure as hell be voting for Libby Mitchell, who supports full equality. Her main opponent, teabagger Paul LePage, does not. In California, Jerry Brown won't defend the Prop. 8 lawsuit. Meg Whitman will. In Hawaii and Illinois, the Democratic candidates support civil unions. Their GOP opponents don't. Those are just some examples.

Anyway, 22 days til the election. Early voting, both absentee and in-person, is underway in many states. The Early Voting Information Center has a state-by-state chart.