This week, VisibleVote08.com's Jennifer Vanasco and John Polly reluctantly tell Hillary Clinton it's time to bow out.

They also riff on the McGreevey divorce, the Michigan domestic-partnership benefits train wreck, and the happy forthcoming wedding plans of super-gay Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson. He’s been getting death threats, but he’s undaunted.

You know that saying you can pick your friends but not your family? Well, what's true for us common folk is true for those folks running for the highest office in the land, too. You see, even presidential candidates like Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama can't escape the curse/blessing of unexpected relatives.

Earlier this week the New England Historic Genealogical Society uncovered distant relatives for all the major presidential contenders. Turns out if you're a Democrat, no matter how you vote, you're voting for the Brangelina Ticket. Those clever genealogists discovered that Obama is related to Brad Pitt and Clinton to Angelina Jolie. Talk about your dream ticket.

On the other side of the aisle, turns out Republican nominee John McCain is related to First Lady Laura Bush. But, yawn, enough about that old codger. Let's act like all the major media outlets and obsess about Hillary and Barack some more. As luck would have it, Brangelina isn't the two Democratic hopefuls' only interesting familial bonds.

Let's start with the senator from Illinois. It was discovered earlier in the campaign that he was cousins with Vice President Dick Cheney, but it appears his roots stretch even higher into the executive branch, or should we say shrub. You see, Obama is related to both Cheney and President George W. Bush.

Poor Barack, he does not seem to be taking this news well. But then, would you? Also on Obama's distant relative list are presidents George H.W. Bush, Gerald Ford, Lyndon Johnson, Harry S. Truman and James Madison as well as British Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill and Civil War General Robert E. Lee.

Over in Camp Clinton, they're singing a happier tune. Besides Angelina, Hillary is related to singers Madonna, Celine Dion and Alanis Morissette. You know, I can see the family resemblance -- these are all strong women who aren't afraid to speak their mind and know what to do with a microphone.

Heck, Hill and daughter Chelsea looks so tickled about this news, you'd think they just won the lottery or -- you know -- the presidency. But then, like I said, wouldn't you?

So, anyone you wish you were related to? Any surprises in your family tree? That is, other than your crazy uncle Wally. … continue reading

Happy (belated) Women’s History Month or — as I like to call it — Ladies’ Month. I have no good excuse for being two weeks late to the party other than, well, it’s 2008 and us hard-working career gals are busy. But that doesn’t mean slowing down for a second and paying our past its due isn’t important. Sometimes, I think it’s more important than ever.

Of course, at this point someone will ask, “Why even have a Women’s History Month”? Aren’t we past the superficial need to celebrate one’s gender as a part of our cultural identity? In theory, gosh, wouldn’t that be nice. In actuality, so very much no. Go ahead and Google feminism. Among the top results, you’ll find “Ladies Against Feminism,” “Feminism is evil!” and “How feminism destroyed real men.”

Yes, because the plague of fake men roaming the countryside threatening to paint your toenails and wash the dishes has truly reached epidemic levels. It’s at moments like these that I dig down and seek the guidance of my spiritual gurus, the Muppets. … continue reading

Kate sings show tunes about Ohio and Texas (and hey, she can sing!) and reports on fund-raisers and the ImageOut Film Festival. (She's the Ryan Seacrest of community dinners.)

Plus, how to reply when Senator Ted Kennedy asks you how you're doing; and does a TiBette reunion signal an Iran-Iraq solution?

I want several things from our next president. A coherent foreign policy. An economic plan that helps the poor and middle class instead of corporations and the rich. An extension of full equal rights to all LGBT Americans. And last, but not least, an ability to laugh at her/himself. However you feel about Sen. Hillary Clinton, she proved she could deliver the latter this past weekend, with a surprise stop by Saturday Night Live.

Hillary appeared in an “Editorial Response” to the show's opening skit, which spoofed the most recent Democratic presidential debate. Her on-screen doppelganger Amy Poehler joined her, and the resemblance was pretty uncanny.

With the next, and possibly deciding, primaries just a day away, it remains to be seen whether Hillary's appearance swayed any votes. But it should go a long way to dispelling that old sexist chestnut about women and their senses of humor. I mean, how good of a sport do you have to be to go on right after it's implied that your plan to take down special interests is to be “so annoying, so pushy, so grating, so bossy and shrill, with a personality so unpleasant, that at the end of the day the special interests will have to go, 'Enough! We give up! Life is too short to deal with this awful woman!'”? According to TMZ, Hillary was given the skit in advance for approval and told them not to change a thing. … continue reading

Over the past year, as Hillary Clinton has emerged as the first serious female contender for President of the United States, a lot of us in Texas have said the same thing: "I wish Ann were here."

Ann Richards would be riding high right about now. Because whatever happens in the next few days and weeks, this is a historic time for women. And Ann had a lot to do with getting us here.

Most everybody in Texas has an Ann Richards story. I got to be a part of her gubernatorial inauguration, when she led a parade down Congress Avenue to the capitol building — her way of showing the Bubbas that a new sheriff was in town. For those of us who were young adults when she was elected governor, she was a symbol of hope in a state where good ol' boys had always been in charge. Since she carried the women's vote by 60 percent, seems that a lot of those good ol' boys' wives voted for Ann.

Ann had already made an impression on the rest of the country. At the 1988 Democratic National Convention, her opening remarks included a sound bite that is Ann at her best.

"Twelve years ago Barbara Jordan, another Texas woman, Barbara made the keynote address to this convention, and two women in a hundred and sixty years is about par for the course.

But if you give us a chance, we can perform. After all, Ginger Rogers did everything that Fred Astaire did. She just did it backwards and in high heels." … continue reading

Kate talks about Black History Month, Women’s History Month, and discrimination against transgender people in Maryland.

She also explains the mysterious strategy of "saging the White House."

VisibleVote08.com's Jay and John discuss the Hillary-Barack situation going into next Tuesday’s big Texas/Ohio/Vermont/Rhode Island primary. With Obama in the lead, and Hillary Clinton’s campaign put on some kind of death-watch by the mainstream press, should Hillary think about withdrawing?

And is it ultimately more radical to have a woman as President, or an African-American male?

… continue reading

Sometimes my expectations are way too high. Like for Bionic Woman — my expectations for that were way, way too high. But I expected great things from Tina Fey's hosting gig on Saturday Night Live this past weekend, and I wasn't even a little bit disappointed.

She was funny, adorable and awesome. Let's start with her monologue: