Who could have guessed that this would be the path of Proposition 8?

Just over a year ago, the California Supreme Court declares same-sex marriages legal, but before even the first one has a chance to be performed, a coalition of religious groups qualifies a ballot initiative to ban it. But through the summer there's a stream of same-sex couples to the altar, from famous names like Ellen and Star Trek's Sulu to a couple who had been together since Eisenhower was president.

Then, voters in true blue California pass Proposition 8, a shocking development that defied conventional wisdom, although it's mitigated by the fact that the state's initiative system hasn't exactly helped the Golden State stay solvent.

Same sex marriage supporters take to the streets, chant at Mormon Temples, boycott Prop 8 donors and disrupt traffic --- surely the best organized belated campaign of the year --- while leaders challenge the entire validity of Prop 8. The California Supreme Court takes the case, and the No on 8 movement gets a surprising ally in the form of state Attorney General Jerry Brown.

But the Prop 8 proponents secure none other than Ken Starr to argue their case, as well as their contention that some 18,000 marriages already performed should not be recognized. In oral arguments before the justices, his smooth skills are in contrast to a shaky series of arguments from the No on 8 side, and the conventional wisdom coming out of it is that the proposition will be upheld.

Then, in the months that follow, Maine and Vermont pass laws legalizing same-sex marriage, New York and New Hampshire consider it and, putting most gay meccas to shame, Iowa begins to allow the gay nuptials. Marriage is legal in Sioux City, not Silver Lake.

The march toward marriage appears to be unstoppable, overcoming even a National Organization for Marriage ad that warns that a "storm is coming" if something isn't done, apparently forgetting the states that would jump at the chance in the interest of drought relief.

But just when you thought that the momentum had swung entirely toward same-sex marriage comes an unlikely new face for the other side, Miss California. It's she who proves an unstoppable force, eclipsing not just Perez Hilton but state pageant officials who can't find any reason to wrest the crown away from her. When the inevitable scandalous photos are found as potentially damning evidence, Donald Trump comes to her rescue and accepts her explanation that she merely got caught up in a bad gust of wind. Or maybe it was the storm that was coming.

And now the decision is coming, what will be the end of this chapter of Proposition 8 but the first day of the rest of the marriage battle. If Prop 8 is overturned, there is some worry of a backlash of "domestic terrorism" proportions. If it is upheld, there surely will be protests, but also a new ballot initiative. The question is when --- 2010 or 2012.

As for the marriages on the books, I can only speak for myself, married just under two weeks before the election. The whole idea of a court ruling on the validity of so many marriages is just plain bizarre. If my marriage is ruled valid, it will be an end to a certain degree of uncertainty. If it is ruled invalid, it will be an end to a certain degree of uncertainty. The latter would certainly be a shame, but it's not like I'm going to suddenly stop calling my husband "husband," or that that my family will, or that we'd start dividing property, or that straight couples will suddenly stop getting divorces in the state. That's not to say that marriage is meaningless; rather, it is just the opposite.

That, and other news, in today's Roundup and Recap.

Get to Know Us First, an org promoting marriage equality, says that an ad it targeted for the Los Angeles market was rejected by KNBC for airing during the Super Bowl on the grounds that the NFL deemed it an "advocacy" spot. But the group notes that ads for Tobacco Free California and Don't Be an Asterisk were in rotation during the day.

The rejected spot (below) features two African American raising five children ages 6 to 25.

John Ireland, project organizer for the org, said in a statement, “We bought ads before, during and after the Super Bowl in ten markets across California. We planned this buy weeks in advance and heard late Friday that the NFL rejected our ads because they violate the NFL’s ‘no advocacy’ policy. I was truly stunned while watching the programming, to see that they had selectively blocked our ads, while allowing other advocacy ads to air."

KABC rejected the org's ads for airing during the inauguration last week, on the grounds that the content was too controversial, but the station agreed to show the spots after a meeting with the org and the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation.

Letterman Lands: Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich plans another media blitz on Tuesday, with an appearance on "Late Show with David Letterman."

Judd Jab: Ashley Judd takes aim at Sarah Palin's aerial hunting in a new ad for Wildlife Action Fund.

"Weight Battle": Bloggers mistakenly accuse President Obama of making fun of Jessica Simpson's weight during his Superbowl interview with Matt Lauer.

Lap Dance: A Condi Rice lap dance skit steals Will Ferrell's George W. Bush show on Broadway.

New Vid: Will.i.am debuts new video, "Take Our Planet Back."

Today's Top Read: Michael Finnegan of the Los Angeles Times profiles Jerry Brown, running for governor again, some 35 years after first seeking that office.

Whereas Brown once exemplified California's once and future spirit, he could be facing a generational split in the form of San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom.

Finnegan writes, "In early maneuvering, Newsom has emerged as Brown's nemesis. Brown has closely tracked Newsom's fundraising and scoped out his political weak spots.

"Advisors to Newsom, who was a second-grader at a San Francisco Catholic school when Brown succeeded Ronald Reagan as governor, foresee a primary defined by a generational split. They hope that younger Californians, those least familiar with Brown's history, will gravitate toward Newsom.

""The question that I think Californians will have to come to grips with is, does California need the same governor in 2011 that it had in 1975?" said Newsom strategist Garry South."

Vid of the Day: Via the Daily Dish comes this bizarre informercial from New York.

That, and other news, in today's Roundup and Recap.

CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta hasn't officially been named surgeon general, but just the idea of him assuming the post inspired YouTube flashbacks to his past reports on fire eating and weight loss. Nothing, however, has drawn more attention that his 2007 exchange on "Larry King Live" with Michael Moore, in which Gupta challenged Moore's facts in "Sicko" and Moore charged back. It didn't help that Gupta already stumbled out of the gate with an initial error in a report that tried to deconstruct Moore's expose of the health system.

On Thursday, Rep. John Conyers, an advocate of a single-payer health system, added his name to the chorus of Gupta critics, questioning his qualifications and citing a Paul Krugman blog post in which the New York Times columnist wrote, "You don’t have to like Moore or his film; but Gupta specifically claimed that Moore “fudged his facts”, when the truth was that on every one of the allegedly fudged facts, Moore was actually right and CNN was wrong.

"...It’s sort of a minor-league version of the way people who pointed out in real time that Bush was misleading us into war are to this day considered less “serious” than people who waited until it was fashionable to reach that conclusion. And appointing Gupta now, although it’s a small thing, is just another example of the lack of accountability that always seems to be the rule when you get things wrong in a socially acceptable way." (For his part, Krugman, unlike Conyers, says that he doesn't have a problem with Gupta's experience).

For his part, Moore is playing Gupta to the hilt, bannering Conyers' statements across his Website.

I see the Gupta criticism as more frustration on the left that they have been shut out in many appointments, and the idea of a single-payer healthcare system is not taken seriously. But Obama never favored a single-payer system throughout the campaign, so it will not be a surprise if he picks a person who thinks the same way. Moreover, there's a largely symbolic aspect to the Surgeon General jobs, which depends on getting the public's attention, first and foremost on issues like the epidemic of obesity. Think of the unlikely celebrity that C. Everett Koop became in the 1980s.

The bigger risk for Gupta is that he takes positions on public health issues during the Senate confirmation process, then it somehow falls short. That could then compromise any effort to return to his lucrative position on CNN --- a great gig if you can get it. As much as Gupta has been a telegenic presence, and while many have suspicions about his views, in fact very little is known about where he stands on major issues. As Politico points out today, "Despite his high public profile, Gupta has, outside of a high-profile feud with Michael Moore, kept his politics and views on public policy to himself.

"Those who know and have worked with Gupta say he is predisposed to avoiding controversy thanks partly to his embrace of journalistic objectivity in his public life, but also because he is dispassionate and non-ideological by nature."

Recount Fallout: A majority of Minnesotans believe that Norm Coleman should concede his challenge for a Senate seat against Al Franken, according to a new SurveyUSA poll, but the protracted battle hasn't endeared either politico to the state's populace.

Live Earth, 2009: Kevin Wall, instrumental in staging Al Gore's 2007 Live Earth concerts, will produce the Green Inaugural Ball, with the former vice president as chair. The event will take place on Jan. 19 at the National Portrait Gallery.

And Another Producer: The Los Angeles Times' Tina Daunt reports that Don Mischer has been selected as the producer of Obama's inaugural events by the Presidential Inaugural Committee.

Today's Top Read: Paul Krugman says that Obama's stimulus plan falls short.

He writes, "Mr. Obama’s prescription doesn’t live up to his diagnosis. The economic plan he’s offering isn’t as strong as his language about the economic threat. In fact, it falls well short of what’s needed.

"Bear in mind just how big the U.S. economy is. Given sufficient demand for its output, America would produce more than $30 trillion worth of goods and services over the next two years. But with both consumer spending and business investment plunging, a huge gap is opening up between what the American economy can produce and what it’s able to sell.

"And the Obama plan is nowhere near big enough to fill this “output gap.”"

Up until the inauguration, BBC World News America is showing a range of essays with famous figures offering advice to the new president. Maya Angelou, Wynton Marsalis and Joseph O'Neill are among those contributing.

Tonight, the entry came from filmmaker John Waters, who advises the president-elect to make heterosexual divorce illegal, to reward welfare recipients and to make an all volunteer, all lesbian military.

Waters' full transcript is below.

"Recognize your supporters and some of them are way more diverse than you could ever imagine.  I know gay rights are a tough thing and I understand politics.  You can only fight the battles that you know you're gonna win.  So gay marriage, for some reason, makes middle America go crazy.  I'm trying to figure out why.  So I've been studying the sanctity of heterosexual marriage which is hard to figure out when Britney Spears can meet somebody in one night, get married an hour later and get it annulled the next morning.  But I'll make a deal with you.  I won't fight for gay marriage if you do one thing.  The day you become President you make heterosexual divorce illegal.  Fair enough?

"And this "don't ask, don't tell" thing - that's not working.  Let's do the exact opposite.  Let's have no straight people in the army.  Let us have an all volunteer army of lesbians.  Believe me.  They could find Bin Laden. I promise you."

"The poor - people that get welfare checks, people that are on disability, people that get food stamps.  We have to reward them - they can't live on the checks you give them so they have to sneak around and make illegal money off the books to pay their rent even or buy food.
Let's not penalize them. If they make $25 extra over their check don't deduct it or cut them off - give them twice as much plus welfare and then they learn to be ambitious.  Otherwise they're trapped and they have to study and spend as much time on failure as they would on success.  Reward them.  Let them get hooked on capitalism."

That, and other news, in today's Roundup and Recap.

The state Supreme Court in Minnesota rejected Norm Coleman's request that hundreds of rejected absentee ballots be counted in his effort to hold on to his Senate seat. Al Franken is expected to be certified as the winner in the race by a state canvassing board later today, but Coleman is indicating that he will file additional legal challenges.

A sidenote: Franken is not the only celebrity throwing a wrench into Coleman's political career. The state Supreme Court's opinion was written by Justice Alan Page, a star player on the Minnesota Vikings through the late 60s and 1970s.

Update: From AP: "Democrat Al Franken has beaten Republican incumbent Norm Coleman to win the U.S. Senate seat from Minnesota."

Hot Ticket: Roger Friedman of Fox News.com writes that Bruce Springsteen and Barbra Streisand have been extended invites to perform at some of Obama's official inaugural balls. He writes, "Sources tell me that it was only this weekend that President-elect Barack Obama's Inaugural committee started sending inquiries to potential musical guests."

More from Melissa: On NPR, Melissa Etheridge defended her dialogue with Rick Warren --- and words of praise.

"I just want to make sure that as the liberals and progressives and Democrats or whatever you want to call us are moving into this new time with this new president do not say that they, the Evangelicals who say such horrible things about gays, they have to stay over here and we're not going to let them in. That makes us no better than the last administration."

"Just because he (compares gays to incest or polygamy) does not mean I have to not speak to him, or don't ever want to be in his company. We had a crazy experience at the Muslim Public Affairs Council conference...We met, we spoke. He's a fine person...He said he was trying to make the definition of marriage not change, not necessarily saying that gays are pedophiles or any of that stuff. One can draw whatever they want from that. This is what he told me."

I'm still of the belief that what would go a long way toward diffusing the Warren pick is if the evangelical leader issued a statement apologizing for the gay marriage comparison remarks --- not blaming the media as he has so far suggested. (Via Towleroad.)

Laura Bush Memoirs: The First Lady has struck a deal with Scribner to publish her memoirs. There's been considerable speculation that her book will be an easier sell than that of her husband, who also has indicated he plans to put pen to paper after he leaves office.

Today's Top Read: Martin Kaplan of the Norman Lear Center, in the Huffington Post, pens an essay on the war in Gaza.

"I wish I didn't believe that the events now unfolding in the Middle East are too complicated for unalloyed outrage. I wish the arguments of only one side rang wholly true to me. I am the first to accuse myself of paralyzing moral generosity -- the fatal empathy that terrorists prey on. But ambivalence is not the same as moral equivalence, and holy war, no matter who is waging it, makes my flesh crawl."

Even today it's difficult to imagine an entertainer, upon an invitation to the White House, having the guts to use the occasion to directly confront the administration.

That is exactly what Eartha Kitt did more than 40 years ago. Back then, the sultry singer, who died today at age 81, was one of many performers to speak out against the Vietnam War. She just chose an otherwise prim and proper White House luncheon in 1968 hosted by the president's wife, Lady Bird Johnson.

In a discussion about troubled urban youth, Kitt said, "I think we may have missed the main point. The young people are angry, and their parents are angry, because they are being so highly taxed and there's a war on—and Americans don't know why."
 
Then she looked at Lady Bird: "You are a mother too, although you had daughters and not sons. I am a mother, and I know the feeling of having a baby come out of my gut. I have a baby and then you send him† off to war. No wonder the kids rebel and take pot—and in case you don't understand the lingo, that's marijuana."

The First Lady reportedly was at the point of tears when she responded to the gathering, "Because there is a war on—and I pray there will come a just and lasting peace—that still does not give us a free ticket not to try to work at bettering the things in this country that we can better. Crime in the streets is one thing that we can solve. I am sorry I can't speak as well or as passionately on conditions of slums as you, because I have not lived there."

Afterward, the First Lady quipped, “I do want to say this has been a lively meeting with lots of ideas.”

Kitt was unapologetic.

“I see nothing wrong with the way I handled myself. I can only hope it will do some good.”

It didn't do her career much good, as it went into freefall, forcing to Europe for bookings for nearly a decade. The CIA maintained files on her and investigated her background, all but suggesting that she was a nymphomaniac, even though she otherwise embraced the image of a sex kitten. She said in 1998, "I was thrown out of the country, practically," Kitt explains. "Johnson put out the news that I was a 'bad girl' by being rude and all that. And it wasn't true. It was his way of defacing me in the eyes of the American people. He put me out of work."

Only in 1978, when she won a Tony nomination for "Timbuktu!," was she invited back to the White House, at a reception hosted by President Carter. Her exile was over.

Kitt didn't stray from the political fray. "I'm for my country, not politicians who go blah blah blah," she said last year, when asked about the field of presidential contenders. She got in a few digs about President Bush, a few others about Hillary Clinton and some words of praise for Barack Obama. This time, she wasn't speaking at the White House.

A Merry Christmas to all ....

I'm in Minneapolis this week, freezing as I never have been, but I just returned from the Guthrie Theater's wonderful performance of Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol."

So it is perhaps fitting that my inbox has this satire of the classic, "A California Carol," with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in the role of Ebenezer Scrooge following his veto of a proposed Democratic state budget plan. The video comes from Rick Jacobs' Courage Campaign.

That, and other news, in today's Roundup and Recap.

First off: Apologies for the scarcity of blogging in the past 24 hours --- a few hard and fast print deadlines to meet.

For the first time, Al Franken now leads Norm Coleman in the Senate race in Minnesota. It's a milestone --- but perhaps not too great a one, as the slow as molasses process of going ballot by ballot in recount challenges continue. Franken's backers naturally feel this puts a chill on Coleman's reelection hopes, while the incumbent issued a statement claiming that he will prevail in the end.

Mark Felt, aka "Deep Throat," passed away on Thursday. The Vanity Fair piece that broke his identity is here.

Julius Genachowski, who headed up Obama's technology and innovation agenda, could be tapped as Obama's chairman of the FCC as soon as today. He'd been seen as one of the leading candidates for quite some time, and could mark a transformation of the agency's priorities and perhaps a boost to attempts toward net neutrality.

More furor over Obama's pick of Rick Warren to deliver the inaugural invocation, with wide speculation that the president-elect's advisers were caught off guard at the extent to which Prop 8 opponents would connect the ballot measure to the celebrity preacher.

Joe Solmonese of the Human Rights Campaign writes in the Washington Post, "It is difficult to comprehend how our president-elect, who has been so spot on in nearly every political move and gesture, could fail to grasp the symbolism of inviting an anti-gay theologian to deliver his inaugural invocation. And the Obama campaign's response to the anger about this decision? Hey, we're also bringing a gay marching band. You know how the gays love a parade."

Karen Ocamb writes on Bilerico, "It's not that Obama thinks of this as a "Sister Souljah" moment as I first thought. The fact is - Obama doesn't think of us at all. The gays who might be near him are staffers who happen to be gay and for whom being gay is apparently not an issue. He doesn't see them as gay - and therefore he doesn't see us at all."

Patrick McDonald of the LA Weekly recalls a conversation he had with Obama at a Pacific Palisades fundraiser: "I asked him that during his outreach to people of faith, I hoped he would also meet with gay and lesbian pastors and their congregants. Obama, to his credit, didn't squirm away. He stood still and looked at me straight in the eyes. Then he tapped me on the chest and said when he visited churches, he made a point of telling people that homophobia had to stop. "Yes," I replied, "but..." Obama cut me off. "But you're right," he said, "I need to do more." "I certainly hope you will," I said. Then he walked off. I liked Obama's answer, but now his actions are showing something else. Once again, the gay community has been put on notice, which may be a good thing. For too long, politicians like Obama have gotten a pass from gays and lesbians for certain transgressions. The times, though, have changed. In this post-Prop. 8 era, there are no more free rides."

Lanny Davis writes in Politico that it is a mistake to try to get Obama to rescind the invite:" I happen to be not only pro-gay rights, but believe gay marriage should be recognized as lawful in all 50 states. As victims of the intolerance of the right, don't those in the gay rights movement seeking to pressure Mr. Obama to rescind the invitation to Rev. Warren see the hypocrisy and self-defeating nature of their opposition? I disagree with many of Rev. Warren's positions. But he is a good man. He is a sincere man. And he is a man who has preached the need for religious conservatives to care for the poor, AIDs victims, the suffering. And he does not hate those with whom he has political or moral disagreements. He believes in dialogue and civility."

Andrew Sullivan, no fan of Warren, nevertheless writes this morning, "One thing I'd say in defense of Obama. There were a few times in the campaign when my first reaction was that he had screwed up. In almost every case, he subsequently proved me wrong. And I think we need to take him seriously about a change in tone on these subjects. He's asking a lot from us. That doesn't mean we should not try to reciprocate."

Sullivan also links to a video lost in all of the debate over the Warren pick. Itzhak Perlman, who will perform at the swearing in ceremony and share the spotlight of the moment with Warren, actually did a video against Proposition 8 during the campaign, defending his daughter's relationship.

That, and other news, in today's Roundup and Recap.

What is amazing about the release of names of donors to the Clinton Library Foundation is how few surprises there actually are.

There had long been suspicions that it would be made up of interests from Arab states and other foreign governments, as well as a smattering of entertainment and media moguls who are longtime backers of both Clintons. That is exactly what came out when former President Clinton's foundation released a complete list for the first time, as part of an agreement with President-elect Obama to pave the way for Hillary Clinton moving into the role of Secretary of State.

Some of the names, like Steve Bing and Haim Saban, already had been revealed as donors, as well as a contribution from David Geffen's foundation, interesting because he has had a very well publicized falling out with the Clintons after being one of their most prolific donors. No dates were given for any of the contributions, and the list of names only includes a range of contributions --- a kind of transparency lite.

Bing topped the list of media figures, chipping in between $10 million and $25 million. Frank Giustra, a Canadian mining financier who formed Lions Gate Entertainment in 1997, also contributed that amount. His contribution already was the subject of a New York Times investigative piece during Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign.

In the $5 million to $10 million range were Haim Saban and the Wasserman Foundation. Donors in the $1 million to $5 million range included Eli Broad, the Elton John Foundation, BET founder Robert L. Johnson, Michael and Jena King and the Streisand Foundation.

In the $500,000 to $1 million category were James Murdoch, Paul Newman and the Newman's Own Foundation, News Corp., Steven Spielberg, the Geffen Foundation and the Annenberg Foundation.

Google made a contribution in the $250,000 to $500,000 range, and Edgar M. Bronfman, MTV Networks, the Berry Gordy Family Foundation and Jonathan Tisch each chipped in $100,000 to $250,000.

More on Warren: Barack Obama defended the choice of Rick Warren to deliver the invocation at his swearing in ceremony, as reports surfaced that the decision to choose the Saddleback Church pastor was his and his alone.

Obama said at a press conference, “There are going to be a wide range of viewpoints that will be presented, and that’s how it should be. . .That dialogue I think is part of what my campaign’s been all about.”

Karen Ocamb got ahold of a list of the Obama camp's talking points on the choice of Warren, an indication that they at least recognize the controversial nature of the choice.

Reaction from some of the most prominent gay bloggers and supporters of Obama has moved from anger to dissecting the politics involved.

John Aravosis of AmericaBlog writes, "This is rather uncharacteristic of Obama, making some grand gesture from his gut, and not checking it with his brain, or the brains around him. Unless, of course, his brain trust thought this was a brilliant strategic move. I can easily imagine them thinking, what better than to make a nod to the religious right and the religious left, by having Rick Warren and Joseph Lowery, at his inauguration?"

Marc Ambinder, neutral observer of the flap, writes, "In his short political career, Obama has deftly manipulated political symbols to his advantage, but he's never been one to pay homage to one of the most sacred regulations of identity politics, which is that one must take care of one's own kind before turning outward. His mind operates differently. Obama does believe, as many of his supporters do, that there are uncrossable demarcation lines between the reasonable and the profane. But he doesn't believe that Warren, someone he admires for reaching outside his (Warren's) comfort zone on AIDS, is all that different from himself. Obama is simultaneously capable of admiring Warren while disdaining Warren's oogedy boogedy appraoch to gay relationships and his uninformed response to torture. Warren's views might be hurtful to gays; Obama does not think they are harmful.

"That said, his team bungled this a bit. Reaching out to gay groups to give them a heads up might have softened the edge of their reaction and given them internal confidence that they were valued members of Obama's coalition. Dropping the list (like it's hot), without pre-notice, must have seemed like a sharp slap in the face. The LGBT community is still very raw about Proposition 8, and one would assume that at least someone in Obama's inner circle would be aware of this."

Tech savvy writers on the blogosphere zeroed in on one issue yesterday: net neutrality, the jargon-y  buzzwords used to define proposals requiring that all Websites be given an equal shot at reaching audiences (that is how I read it).

The idea is retain the status quo and to prevent the Internet from favoring deep-pocketed Websites over the average Joe, creating a tiered system of packages, akin to what cable operators provide in their dizzying array of package plans.

The irony is that cable TV itself once offered this promise, via public access TV. In the LA Weekly this week, Patrick Range McDonald's cover story in the LA Weekly chronicles the demise of public access --- a carnival of characters with their own shows, often rants against city officials. The often crudely produced programming nevertheless provided a soapbox and even broke a few major scandals involving waste of public funds, such as an ill-fated Los Angeles high school project built over a hazardous methane gas area.

McDonald pegs the decline to the 2006 passage of a California law, driven by phone companies like AT&T and Verizon, that ultimately let cable operators off the hook when it came to shelling out money for public access. Instead, it will be left to local cities to come up with the funds to upgrade equipment and allot time for programming --- fat chance in these lean budgetary times.

It may be odd to be arguing over public access, all but forgotten in the hundreds of channels. Most of the programming is crudely produced and unwatchable. But when cable was rolled out across the country in the late 1970s and early 1980s, public access was the great promise, the idea that television could be democratized, like the Internet is today. Cities required substantial investments by cable companies in equipment, training and studios as the cost of entering the marketplace and getting franchise agreements.

In high school in the early 1980s, I actually hosted a local talk show in suburban Minneapolis, produced by my brother and his best friend, often with state legislators and local congressmen as guests and a regular poll where viewers could call in and cast their vote on various issues. Other than solidify my image as an undisputed media geek, it was good training for all of us in our careers ahead. But even before I left for college, the cable system had been sold to a new company, which promptly extracted new concessions from the cities to chip away at public access.  Public access still exists across the country today. Companies fulfill minimum requirements. But it is an afterthought at best.

The whole debate over an "open" Internet has parallels to what happened to cable TV, and it will be interesting to see how the incoming Obama administration figures out to do with one of technology's most pressing issues. Obama says he supports "net neutrality," but as we learned from "public access," that can take on many different meanings.

Updated

That, and other news, in today's Roundup and Recap.

"Saturday Night Live" stirred the ire of New York Gov. David Paterson, and probably for good reason. Their "Weekend Update" skit was rather juvenile. Riffs on the governor's lack of vision --- jokes performed countless times on variety shows of old --- have drawn protests from groups representing persons with disabilities. In fact, Paterson's denunciation of the skit surely was a rare airing of a public gripe that many a politician in the 2008 cycle wished to express in private. While the audience laughed out loud and there were plenty of private, guilty chuckles to go around, my troubles with it are for other reasons. The skit was yet another example of the "SNL" tendency to pad out its sketches, i.e. not know when they have gone on too long.

Jeffrey Katzenberg tells the D.C. Examiner's Yeas & Nays that Barack Obama won't have the same cozy relationship with Hollywood that Bill Clinton had. “I think he appreciates Hollywood, but he’s not enamored with it. I don’t think it’s like the Clinton years. He’s a very different man.”

“I don’t think he’s one scintilla starstruck,” Katzenberg said. “I think we’re all starstruck by him.”

He plans to attend the inauguration next month.

Pat Boone defends a comparison of Prop 8 protesters to terrorists in Mumbai and says that he loves gays.

Caroline Kennedy will pursue Hillary Clinton's Senate seat.

Il Divo will perform at the Inaugural Purple Ball at the Fairmont Hotel in Washington on Jan. 20. The ball will benefit the Eracism Foundation, founded by Lou Gossett Jr.

Barack Obama and Joseph Biden plan to arrive in D.C. for the inauguration by train.

And while the tone of the inauguration may be more sedate than usual, given the tough economic times, but there's precedent for partying even in the depths of the Depression.

From the L.A. Times, on the 1933 inaugural: "Warner Bros. sent a train load of Hollywood stars, including Busby Berkeley chorus girls who rode a float in the inaugural parade, led by cowboy star Tom Mix doing rope tricks on his horse, said Stephen Talbot, whose father, actor Lyle Talbot, made the trip.

""The very next day," he said, "the actors all hustled over to a big movie palace in Washington -- the Earle Theatre -- to perform a live stage show before the screening of the big new Warner Bros. musical '42nd Street,' whose theme was that even in the depths of the Depression, the show must go on!""

That, and other news, in today's Roundup and Recap.

Barack Obama's inaugural committee has set up a tool to make it easier to search for donors and bundlers "real time." The money will pay for the costs of inaugural balls and other events, and many of those who contribute are getting VIP access to various shindigs, although the tickets to the actual swearing in ceremony cannot be sold.

Among those who have chipped in for packages up to $50,000 so far: Skip Brittenham, Marcy Carsey, Jamie Lee Curtis, David Fisher, Jamie Foxx, Lisa Henson, Samuel L. Jackson, John Keane, Katherine Kendrick, James Lassiter, George Soros, Sharon Stone, Halle Berry and Robert Zemeckis. Among those who are bundling contributions (i.e. rounding up their friends and contacts) are Nicole Avant, Elizabeth Bagley, Marcy and Leo Carsey, Mark Gorenberg, Bren Simon, Andy Spahn, Terry and Bonnie Turner and Wendy Wanderman.

Al Gore plans an environmentally themed inaugural ball at the National Portrait Gallery.

Al Franken gets some good news in his battle to win the Minnesota recount.

Steven Soderbergh, promoting his new movie "Che," says the U.S. should lift the embargo on Cuba.

John McCain would rather not talk about his VP pick.

Updated

That, and other news, in today's Political Panorama.

Ron Howard's "Frost/Nixon" captured five nominations at this morning's announcement of the Golden Globe nods, but Gus Van Sant's "Milk," the season's other major political film, was all but shut out, capturing just a single nomination for star Sean Penn.

"Frost/Nixon" scored nominations for best motion picture/drama, actor Frank Langella, screenwriter Peter Morgan, director Ron Howard and for the Hans Zimmer score.

It's likely the "Milk" snub will be the source of much consternation this award season, particularly in light of the protests over Proposition 8 and the similarities to the era depicted in the film. It also won the New York Film Critics award for best picture on Wednesday. Gay blogger Andy Towle headlines his piece on the Globe announcements, "Day Without a Gay as 'Milk' is Snubbed at Golden Globes." Greg Hernandez of Out In Hollywood writes, "Oh well. There's always the Oscars."

He may be right. The Globes in 2006 didn't nominate "Crash," and the movie went on to win best picture. It was the big upset over the favorite, "Brokeback Mountain."

Stewart Thanks: Rick Jacobs' Courage Campaign lauched a drive to thank Jon Stewart for challenging Mike Huckabee on gay marriage.

Stone Face: Oliver Stone has selected his next project: A documentary about Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez. Chavez has tried to foster relationships with filmmakers via a government film fund, but his regime has faced opposition from the Bush administration and from emigres for populist socialism and curbs on press freedom.

Che Play: Reason.tv posts a new video tied to the release of Steven Soderbergh's "Che." Nick Gillespie asks why "celebs are celebrating a communist killer."

No MLK Auction: Harry Belafonte has withdrawn Martin Luther King Jr. documents from a Sotheby's auction after objections from King's estate.

Vanity Fair: Artists redesign Obama's Oval Office.

Franken's Pitch: Al Franken makes a YouTube appeal for rejected absentee ballots.

Newspapers are struggling, shedding jobs and racing to come up with cash, but they are still the primary source of original enterprise reporting and investigative pieces. In fact, the arrest of Illinois' governor was yet another reminder of the value of the print media. Plus: Tina Brown's The Daily Beast makes a mark.

Join myself, Teresa Valdez Klein and Meagan Carberry as we talk about media in disarray on the next edition of Wilshire & Washington On the Radio. You can listen to it here.

That, and other news, in today's Political Panorama.

Politico reports that Chris Matthews is seriously considering a run for the Senate in Pennsylvania, and is even pondering whether to quit MSNBC before his contract expires.

Michael Calderone and Josh Kraushaar write, "The garrulous host of the show "Hardball with Chris Matthews" has already picked out a home in Philadelphia to establish residency in the state, according to a Democratic operative in discussions with him about a potential candidacy. Over Thanksgiving weekend, at his vacation house in Nantucket, Matthews’ family members gave him their full backing.

"As speculation surrounding his potential candidacy heats up, Matthews has also been asking advisers whether to step down from his MSNBC post well before his contract expires in June. At one recent meeting, he was advised that if he truly intends to run, he should resign from the network as soon as possible."

Inauguration Angst: Clinton friend and confidant Harry Thomason offers some advice to Barack Obama on how to handle the inauguration.

He tells USA Today, "I'd set up a lot of webcameras" throughout Washington — and focus on a particular cause.

"It might even be possible to use the Internet to gather money for something — the homeless or another cause, something that could happen fast," Thomason says.

"Much more than in 1992, there's a feeling that we're sort of all in this together, that we're in a deep ditch," Thomason says.

"Psychologically, everybody wants to be together right now."

New Poll: The Public Policy Institute of California published new findings on Prop 8. The AP reports on the poll, "Voters' economic status and religious convictions played a greater role than race and age in determining whether they supported the Nov. 4 ballot measure outlawing same-sex marriage in California."

Folk singer Odetta, whose voice and songs were common themes through the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 60s, died today at 77.

The New York Times reported that she had been hoping to sing at Barack Obama's inauguration.

She sang "O Freedom" at the 1963 March on Washington, and influenced other folk artists of the era including Bob Dylan and Joan Baez.

Here's a clip of a 2005 concert in which she sings "House of the Rising Sun."

That, and other news, in today's Political Panorama.

First off, I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday weekend...

At a press conference this morning in Chicago, Barack Obama named his national security team, and most media attention focused on his selection of New York Sen. Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State.

Obama appeared on stage with Clinton, as well as Vice President Elect Joseph Biden, Eric Holder, his choice for Attorney General; Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who Obama has asked to remain in his post; Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano, his choice for Secretary of Homeland Security; Susan Rice, who he has tapped to be U.N. Ambassador, and James Jones as national security adviser.

The choice provoked the one uncomfortable moment of the announcement, when a reporter asked Obama about some of his statements during the primary, in particular a suggestion that Clinton's foreign policy credentials consisted of having tea with foreign leaders.

“This is fun for the press to try to stir up whatever quotes were generated during the course of the campaign,” he said, per the New York Times.

“She’ll be an outstanding Secretary of State, and if I didn’t believe that, I wouldn’t have offered her the job and if she didn’t believe I’m equipped to lead this nation, she would not have accepted.”

Her husband, former President Bill Clinton, released a statement through his foundation. "In her service to the people of New York and our nation, Hillary has demonstrated the knowledge, passion, resilience, and capacity to learn that our country needs at this critical time. She loves being a Senator from New York, but as she has in all the thirty-seven years I've known her, she answered the call to serve. I commend President-Elect Obama for asking her to be a part of a great national security team. America will be well-served."

But this was a story that had many more strands than Clinton, and some commentators cautioned that the media was missing the real story: Obama's selection of Jones, who will be in day-to-day contact with him.

Chuck Todd of NBC News writes, "Some advice for our friends in the media, don't focus on Clinton, focus on Jim Jones, someone personally more close with John McCain than Obama. And with an office in the West Wing, it will be Jones who has the day-to-day ear of Obama, not Clinton. In fact, of the three big national security posts, it's possible a President McCain could have picked Jones and Gates as well. This is a throwback to the Bush years, not Bush 43, but Bush 41. Jones and Gates, in particular, seem to be from the Brent Scowcroft school of foreign policy."

Massimo Calabresi writes in Time, "A year ago it would have seemed all but impossible. Barack Obama, the Democratic candidate with the earliest and most outspoken record of opposition to the war in Iraq, wouldn't name the man who led the Marines during the run-up to the war — and failed to publicly criticize the operation's flawed planning — as his closest national security aide. But he has."

Library Donors: As part of the deal to name Clinton as Secretary of State, her husband has agreed to publicly reveal the list of all donors to his foundation and library --- something he refused to do during the primary season. Some of these names were revealed long ago by the Clinton Presidential Center, including Hollywood names like Steve Bing, Steven Spielberg and Haim Saban. Also on the list: David Geffen, who contributed before his very public fallout with the Clintons. But there inevitably will be more boldfaced names to come.

Inaugural Act: Elvis Costello will perform at the Creative Coalition's Inaugural Ball, the org announced on Monday.

Matthews Moment: Chris Matthews denies that he is staffing up to make a run for a Senate seat in Pennsylvania, but Hillary Clinton's former spokesman says that the MSNBC host should be suspended because he is pondering the plunge into elective politics.

Phil Singer writes, per Politico, "If Chris Matthews is seriously considering a run for Arlen Specter’s Senate seat, he shouldn’t be on the air right now.

"One of the reasons millions of people rely on NBC as a news source is that it’s objective and driven by a fidelity to covering the news. So when one of the network’s most visible anchors is reported to be exploring a run for elected office, the network has an obligation to remove that person from its airwaves."

Internet visionary Tim O'Reilly offers his choices for the nation's chief technology officer in an Obama administration, sizes up the president-elect's Web efforts so far and judges the split between old and new media a bit petty and passe.

That's on the latest edition of "Wilshire & Washington: On the Radio," which you can listen to here.

That, and other news, in today's Political Panorama.

I'm back from a honeymoon in Paris, to a portfolio of items...

Time is out with its Person of the Year contenders. "Who Will It Be in 2008?" Maybe the question is, "Is there any doubt?"

Franken in D.C.: Al Franken travels to Washington on Tuesday to give Democratic Senate leaders an update on the status of his recount in Minnesota. He trails Norm Coleman by just 206 votes, in a post-election spectacle every bit as acrimonious as the campaign itself. The recount begins on Wednesday.

Huckabee's Book: Time has details of Mike Huckabee's tell-all memoir of the campaign trail. Mitt Romney gets a drubbing, and Huckabee also takes aim at the media. Time reports, "The national media gets no pardon either. "Reporters facilitate the greedy and grubby process whereby too many elections go to the highest bidder and his sharpie hirelings," he writes. He remains sore about the degree to which candidate credibility is judged by their bank accounts, and notes that during the debates, he often was asked about religion while the other candidates dealt with questions of government policy. Why, he asks, was a "floating cross" in the window of one of his ads such a media controversy, while reporters gave a pass to a Barack Obama direct mail piece that obviously photographed the Democrat before a large Christian cross?"

HRC Under Fire: After a weekend of Prop.8 protests around the world, Andrew Sullivan takes aim at the Human Rights Campaign, citing its Website's one blog post on the demonstrations --- focusing on the celebrity angle of the events --- as evidence that the gay rights lobbying org has become irrelevant.

Sullivan writes, "You will also notice that a handful of young non-professionals were able to organize in a few days what HRC has been incapable of doing in months or years. You will know from brutal experience that in the two decades of serious struggle for marriage equality, the Human Rights Campaign has been mostly absent, and when present, often passive or reactive."

The org has been criticized before, particularly in light of the defeat of ballot initiatives, of which there have been plenty. But it also has been chided for focusing too much on celebrities, especially when it comes to fund-raising at its annual dinners.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, meanwhile, told ABC News that he believes marriage is between a man and a woman but "I don't want to force my will on anyone." He predicts the California Supreme Court will reject Proposition 8, just as it overturned Proposition 187 in 1995. That initiative would have denied health and education services to illegal immigrants in the state, and there was such a backlash against it among Latinos that the state Republican party has never really recovered. The governor does say that protests and boycotts are not the means for effective action.

Next on the Boycott List? Prince chimes in on gay marriage in the New Yorker. Via Towleroad: "Recently, Prince hosted an executive who works for Philip Anschutz, the Christian businessman whose company owns the Staples Center. 'We started talking red and blue,' Prince said. 'People with money—money like that—are not affected by the stock market, and they’re not freaking out over anything. They’re just watching. So here’s how it is: you’ve got the Republicans, and basically they want to live according to this.' He pointed to a Bible. 'But there’s the problem of interpretation, and you’ve got some churches, some people, basically doing things and saying it comes from here, but it doesn’t. And then on the opposite end of the spectrum you’ve got blue, you’ve got the Democrats, and they’re, like, 'You can do whatever you want.' Gay marriage, whatever. But neither of them is right.' When asked about his perspective on social issues—gay marriage, abortion—Prince tapped his Bible and said, 'God came to earth and saw people sticking it wherever and doing it with whatever, and he just cleared it all out. He was, like, 'Enough.''"

Wanda Sykes Comes Out: Speaking in Las Vegas at a Prop 8 protest, she tells of her marriage last month.

"Milk" Legacy: Dustin Lance Black, screenwriter of "Milk," and activist Cleve Jones call for a "national seven week equality campaign" leading to the inauguration.

So John McCain was on Jay Leno last night, because it was Veteran's Day. And because he stopped running for president last week. Is it just me, or does McCain look, like, a lot happier?

NBC sent us the clips (yay!), but they can't be embedded (boo!). Here's the first third, the second third and the last bit. And here's the highlight reel, per Gawker.

Does the Pulitzer committee recognize quizzes? Because I think what we have here is a shoo-in: the Official Emanuel Brother Diagnostic Personality Test! (hat tip to Thompson On Hollywood) [Wonkette]

I'm signing off here for about a week, to take a break after what has been a whirlwind few weeks and months (or maybe I should make that years?).

I will be returning on Nov. 14, and in the meantime Dana Harris in Los Angeles and William Triplett in Washington will be posting.

I'd like to thank everyone for the great interest in Wilshire & Washington this election season, as well as all of the campaigns and their major supporters for taking the time out with me for all things major and minor.

The campaign is over, but as I learned in the days since the election, things really are just beginning.

That, and other news, in today's Political Panorama.

Barack Obama riffs on the "Bradley effect" on "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart."

On the Stump: Robert Redford will campaign for Barack Obama on Friday at an early vote rally in Aurora, Colo., where he will be joined by Rep. Mark Udall, a candidate for the Senate in that state.

Streisand Gets Out the Vote: Redford's one-time co-star, Barbra Streisand, narrates new PSAs aimed at encouraging women, particularly unmarried women, to vote. The spots were produced for the group Women's Voices Women Vote.

Univision Stint: Barack Obama and John McCain sit down with Mario “Don Francisco” Kreutzberger, host of Univision's "Sábado Gigante," on Saturday.

Football Finale: Both candidates will make final voter pitches during halftime on "Monday Night Football."

Time compliles a list of ten of the most memorable debate moments of all time.

First on the list (although I don't think they are meant to be in any particular order) is this clip of Gerald Ford's 1976 denial that there was any "Soviet domination of Eastern Europe." It was an amazing gaffe, especially for a Republican president, that Max Frankel of the New York Times even asked him again. But Ford did not back down.

My memory of the debates that year was when a technical glitch wiped out the sound system, and forced Ford and then Gov. Jimmy Carter to wait awkwardly at their lecterns for about 40 minutes. It's hard to believe something like that happening again, or the candidates enduring what was surely a tortuous wait in the electronic age.

Not included on the Time list is another moment from 1976: the vice presidential debate betweem Walter Mondale and Bob Dole. Dole, Ford's running mate, rather bizarrely labels World War II, Korea and Vietnam "Democrat wars" responsible for the deaths of 1.6 million people.

Finally, here's this clip from Carter's 1980 debate with Ronald Reagan, in which Carter says that he asked his daughter Amy what she thought the most important issue was. "She said nuclear weapons." It was a much derided remark that some mocked as seeming as if the president was taking advice from his grade-school age daughter.

That, and other news, in today's Political Panorama.

A few quick notes this morning...

Rules of Engagement: Nielsen says that voters not committed to either candidate were "12% more engaged by TV coverage of the GOP convention than the Democratic convention." John McCain's acceptance speech "drew the most attentive audience of uncommitted viewers."

"SNL" Post Mortem: James Poniewozik of Time predicts fallout for GE because of the decision of "Saturday Night Live" to take advice from Al Franken. He writes, "Should SNL have accepted input from a Democratic Senate candidate? Dollars to doughnuts this will become a cause celebre among conservatives arguing that NBC as a whole is biased—the ultimate aim being to pressure NBC News to "balance" its coverage to the right. But while I'm sure this is a headache General Electric would rather not have, to me it's a distinction without a difference."

Emmy Post-Mortem: Backstage at the Emmys, Tina Fey made a non-endorsement of Sarah Palin: “I want to be done playing this lady November 5th. So, if anyone can help me be done playing her on November 5th…”

Lifetime Poll: With Sarah Palin on the ticket, John McCain makes huge gains among women in the latest Lifetime survey.

That, and other news, in today's Political Panorama.

Lionel Chetwynd has penned a one-man show, "Reagan," that will travel the country starting September, 2009, with plans for a filmed version at some point. No word on who plays the lead.

Matt Damon, Sean Penn, Josh Brolin, Viggo Mortensen, David Strathairn, Marisa Tomei Jasmine Guy, John Legend, Q'Orianka Kilcher, Michael Ealy and Kerry Washington will appear in a documentary version of Howard Zinn's "A People's History of the United States."

The RNC last week had me diverted from posting the trailer for the upcoming film "Milk," about openly gay San Francisco supervisor Harvey Milk.

Tuesday evening

Singer Sara Evans, Barry Goldwater Jr. and former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura were due at the Target Center in downtown Minneapolis this afternoon for a rally for Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul.

Tucker Carlson hosted the event, with Grover Norquist offering some of the typically strident remarks of the day, reports MSNBC.

"Those Republican elected officials who vote for tax increases are rat heads in a Coke bottle," Norquist says. "They damage the brand for everyone!"

Professor and journalist Ed Guthman passed away on Sunday, according to LAObserved.

Guthman was an aide to Robert F. Kennedy, during his tenure as attorney general and when he served as senator from New York. He also served as editor of the Philadelphia Inquirer and national editor of the Los Angeles Times.

His tenure with RFK earned him a special place in American political history: a spot on Richard Nixon's "enemies list."

Friday morning

It's 7 a.m., the convention is over, and I am packing to bolt Denver for a short trip to Los Angeles and on to Minneapolis. Coffee can't brew fast enough.

Barack Obama's speech, and the entire spectacle at Invesco Field, was not just an historic moment but perhaps a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

At least that is what was on the minds of many non-media partygoers inside the Exdo Event Center for Vanity Fair and Google's post-convention fete, where the mix of the crowd ranged from Rep. Rahm Emanuel, Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), Robert Reich, Antonio Villaraigosa, Susan Sarandon, John Kerry, Chevy Chase, Michael Chabon, Anderson Cooper, Jamie Foxx, Ashley Judd, J.J. Abrams, Cameron Crowe, Al Hunt and John Slattery and Jon Hamm, the stars of the AMC series "Mad Men." (A plug for my favorite show). Heather Thomas Brittenham struggled to get the words out: she had hoarse voice from the long evening of Obamamania.

The takeaway: Many of the anxieties --- that Obama is not tough enough, that he's too soft on security, that he's being hurt by the "celeb" ad --- were relieved as he addressed many of them in the speech.

Oprah Winfrey was not there, but caught in some hall at Invesco, she told the AP, "I cried my eyelashes off."

"He's not an African-American candidate," she said. "He's a candidate for Americans."

It's hard to believe that in just a few hours, a new running mate will emerge for John McCain, and perhaps steal all the media attention from an incredible week.

Obama's speech seemed to wipe out any worry among revelers here that the whole idea of having his acceptance in a giant stadium was ill-advised.

Long-time L.A. politico Roz Wyman had few doubts earlier in the week. She suggested that John F. Kennedy hold his acceptance speech in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in 1960.

She recalls that Bobby Kennedy was resistant to the idea because of the fear that the stadium would look empty.

"Finally, Bobby said, 'Try it,'" Wyman recalls. Then RFK added, "Wyman, you are young. You might have a political career. If you are wrong, your career is over." No worries. Some 50,000 people showed up.

Estimated crowd at Invesco: 84,000.

Lost in much of the coverage: Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), who spoke early in the afternoon, was the only surviving link to Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream Speech" 45 years earlier. All of the others who spoke on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial that day have passed.

Wisest move of the week: The CNN Grill. Neatly positioned near the security entrance, it became the place to be, a rare respite in the frenzy of the Pepsi Center and its environs.

Worst move of the week: Anyone who came to Denver without renting a car. It's the Mile High City, but without wheels, you will move at about a mile an hour.

More VF party coverage here.

Thursday morning

Rumors flew about Bruce Springsteen and Jon Bon Jovi, but it's Stevie Wonder who will perform at Invesco Field this evening at the final night of the Democratic National Convention. It's not a complete surprise, as Wonder have been expected to appear at some point during the week.

Also on the bill: Al Gore, Rep. John Lewis and Susan Eisenhower.

Last night, as Kanye West and the Black Eyed Peas performed at various events around Denver, what had to be the hottest alternative place to be was about a mile east of downtown, at a warehouse gallery that has been set up for the convention called Manifest Hope. Sponsored in part by MoveOn, it features artwork images of Obama from some of the biggest names in street art, including some provocative ones, like a light display that flashes, "When Barack Obama is president, I will believe in God."  David  Choe's Obama original, right, drew some of the biggest  raves.

In a afternoon and night of alternative music hosted by San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, Zooey Deschanel performed, Los Angeles City Councilman Eric Garcetti was among the politicos dancing away, and Spike Lee paid a visit, signing autographs on people's shoes. The exhibit was inspired by the now iconic Shepard Fairey portrait of Obama, "Hope," introduced just before Super Tuesday and copied all throughout Denver.

Because of deadlines, I missed the readings yesterday at the Starz Green Room, where Ben Affleck, Jennifer Garner, Josh Brolin, and Kerry Washington performed readings from Chris Moore's new film.

Spotted going into the Pepsi Center last night: Muhammad Ali.

Wednesday evening

After a week of some level of consternation among Obama supporters --- what will the roll call vote mean? What will Bill say? What about our messaging? --- concerns seemed to be soothed after the combination of President Clinton and Joe Biden.

And of course, there was the official anointing of Obama as the party's nominee.

The Pepsi Center was jammed. By 7 p.m., when Clinton was about to take the podium, security personnel stopped allowing anyone into the hall itself, save for those in skyboxes. And on that club level, corridors were clogged with politicos and their entourages. Senate Leader Harry Reid grabbed hold of an aides shoulder as he whisked him through the packed hallways.

As soon as Biden finished his speech, former president Jimmy Carter emerged from his skybox, anxious to beat the crowds out of the Pepsi Center, until an aide alerted him that Barack Obama had made a surprise appearance on stage.

"Oh really?" the former president said, before rushing back to his seat.

Exiting their skyboxes, some of Obama's biggest industry supporters said they were very pleased with the night.

"It is all coming together," said Michael Lynton.

Jamie Lynton said, "I think if there is any doubt in anyone's mind that this is a team that can bring the Democrats home, tonight would be one of them."

The Lyntons hosted a fund-raiser for Obama's Senate bid in 2004, as well as an event for the candidate early in 2007.

With them at the Pepsi Center were James L. Brooks, Heather Thomas Brittenham, Charles Rivkin and Nicole Avant, as well as Obama's Southern California finance consultants Jeremy Bernard and Rufus Gifford.

Nearby, James Moll and Bruce Cohen, who produced Steven Spielberg's film tribute to veterans, mingled for a bit in the hall before leaving with the director's group.

As convention goers streamed out, lines stretched around the CNN Grill, located just inside the security perimeter. Jamie Foxx and Ashley Judd took a outdoor patio table, and an eclectic crowd including John King, Wolf Blitzer and Deirdre Hall mingled inside.

Edward Norton, who will be in Denver. following Barack Obama along every step of the way for a feature-length documentary on the candidate, just got a dose of good news: HBO will pick up rights to the documentary, and a film deal may be in the works, too, reports Sharon Waxman of the Waxword blog.

“Whether he wins or not, this will be one of the most intimate records of a presidential campaign,” Norton told Waxman. “I’d say with confidence there’s never been as thorough a documentation of a presidential campaign from the inside.”

Norton said that they got access on the condition that no footage be released before Election Day. And even then, they were restricted at some key moments, such as during the Rev. Wright affair.

“No one in their right mind will put their toughest moments on film. We hope to get a few of them. But we’re sticking to the mission statement, which is to reveal the country through his candidacy, as much as to reveal him.”

Monday afternoon

One of the highlights of any party convention isn't what goes on inside the hall, but in the corridors that surround the area.

There, politicians and other famous names enter and slowly make their way surrounded by entourages, collecting journalists, lesser elected officials and other hangers on along the way. I've been part of one of this travelling groupings, having traversed the halls of the Staples Center at the 2000 convention in a group that included a talent booker, two fellow journalists, producer Phil Rosenthal, and CBS chief Leslie Moonves. (John Lithgow made a brief appearance). It all ended when we tried to follow Moonves in to Terry McAuliffe's skybox suite.

This year's grouping appear to include the correspondent's team from "The Daily Show," camped out on radio row near some closed concession stands. A big crowd swarmed Al Sharpton.

And Gayle King traveled through the halls after finishing up her "Oprah and Friends" radio show, in which she landed an interview with Michelle Obama.

King marvelled at Michelle Obama's lack of nervousness, and admitted that she herself woke up in the middle of the night and worried about Obama's big day.

"On the day of one of the biggest speeches of her life, she is cool as a cucumber," King said.

King will host John Legend, Will.i.am and Luke Russert later in the week.

Monday afternoon

The Rocky Mountain News reports that Bruce Springsteen and Jon Bon Jovi perform at Invesco Field when Barack Obama accepts the nomination.

There's already speculation that Stevie Wonder will perform on one of the nights. Singer John Legend was rehearsing in the Pepsi Center this morning, apparently for an appearance this evening. Wonder and Legend are longtime supporters of Obama, and Springsteen endorsed him in April.

Comedian Al Franken, who is running for a Senate seat in Minnesota, just walked into the Pepsi Center and was stopped briefly by a fan who greeted him with, "Hello senator." He then ran into New York senator Chuck Schumer and posed for pictures. Franken is running against incumbent Norm Coleman, and the former "Saturday Night Live" writer's standing in the polls has improved somewhat in recent weeks.

Other highlights: Angela Bassett, Ellen Burstyn and Danny Glover attended the Creative Coalition's Gospel Hill brunch this morning....the voice talent at the convention...and one more thought. Going out to Red Rocks last night to see Dave Matthews, I went by Mezcal Restaurant, which was surrounded by paparazzi as celebrities strolled in. It's not Denver so much as it is Robertson Boulevard.

The industry is lining up behind Barack Obama, but one question seldom gets asked: Will he be "good" for Hollywood?

Throughout the 18-month campaign, Barack Obama has rarely highlighted such issues as sex and violence on TV, the problems of piracy overseas and consolidation of media conglomerates. Donors don't even inquire much about such subjects. As much as Hollywood might desire it, such industry topics simply aren't likely to top Obama's list of priorities.

Yet a history of his past statements, as well as proposals to boost funding for the arts, at the very least mean that the candidate will pay closer attention to the business than the current occupant of the White House.

That's my latest column in the print edition of Variety here.

Barack Obama will pick Joseph Biden as his running mate, news sources report.

The chairman of the foreign affairs committee, Biden would help fill a hole in the Obama resume with extensive experience and expertise in world matters.

Although it could be regarded as a safe choice, it carrries some risk. Biden has a tendency to be long-winded and to get in trouble for some things he says.

As indications pointed to a Biden pick, there also was some wonderment among some Hillary Clinton supporters today as to why Obama didn't pick her. One argument against her is that, as a figure in national politics for such a long time, she would diminish Obama's brand of change. Yet Biden has been in the Senate since 1972, the longest of the entire field of Democratic candidates this cycle.

Here's an interview with Biden from last year, when he was emphasizing his foreign policy credentials at the start of his presidential campaign. He was in Beverly Hills to raise money --- and he admitted that his connections in the entertainment industry were scant.

Nevertheless, at the time there was speculation that Biden was hoping to be secretary of state, and he made little secret about the fact that that was how he was viewed.

"We kind of have a short hand in the campaign now," Biden said then. "They see me as secretary of state, not as president. They don't care if the secretary of state has any charisma. They want to know if the secretary of state knows what the hell he or she is doing."

Biden is a very personable campaigner on the trail, where he championed causes of the military rank and file and of the plight of returning veterans.

Biden's Senate career has been marked by tragedy and triumph. Just weeks after he was elected at age 29 in 1972, his wife and infant daughter were killed in a car accident. Two sons were seriously injured, and Biden was sworn in at the hospital.

He was considered a leading contender for the 1988 presidential nomination, but dropped out of the race after charges that he plagiarized a speech by British Labor Party leader Neil Kinnock. An investigation later cleared him of the accusations.

That, and other news, in today's Political Panorama.

These are the views of each convention's stage --- the GOP on left and the Democrats on right (I thought I would go against the grain here). Would you be able to pick, with no hints, which one is which? (via Towleroad and The Page).

Glickman's Picks: MPAA chief Dan Glickman (and former secretary of agriculture) writes up political movies in a Huffington Post posting. "Hollywood has long been infatuated with Washington. On the one hand you have a community of artists looking to tell the big stories. On the other, you have the high-stakes drama of very real human beings -- fallible, heroic and often both at once -- who, through the public trust placed in them, wield incredible power and influence in leading the free world."

New "Celeb" Ad: "Celebrities don't have to worry about family budgets, but you sure do," declares John McCain's latest ad hitting Barack Obama as an elite...

There's been plenty of speculation about who Barack Obama will pick as a running mate, but no one has snagged the definitive scoop. That in and of itself is a surprise. Plus, Electionlawblog.org's Rick Hasen talks about the flashpoints to watch for this year at the ballot box, and a few last words about the cone of silence...

That's on the latest edition of "Wilshire & Washington" on the Radio, which you can listen to here.

Peter Bart blogs about the "hottest act in Orange County" --- Rick Warren's megachurch.

He interviewed the pastor on the day after his forum with John McCain and Barack Obama, and finds that he has a way of combining humility with showmanship.

"A Rick Warren sermon is folksy, impromptu but smartly prepped, with accompanying Biblical citations emblazoned on giant TV screens above the stage. As a man who admits to a mild attention deficit problem, Warren’s preaching is broken up every 10 minutes for moments of live gospel rock emanating from a highly skilled 10 member band and a chorus of 20 (this is serious show biz, folks)."

Warren also admitted that moderating the forum was more difficult than he thought.

"I know both of these men and the trouble is that they are mirror opposites in almost every way – the way they talk, the way they think. You get whiplash talking with them back-to-back.”

That, and other news, in today's Political Panorama.

As the world waits for each candidate to announce his running mate, it is somewhat surprising how scant information has been on just who is on the short list. In Obama's case, the New York Times narrowed it down with somewhat of a degree of certainty to a final three --- Evan Bayh, Joe Biden and Tim Kaine --- but even then they noted that deliberations were "remarkably closely held."

The next few days, or hours, will be an exercise in journalistic restraint, as outlets race to report the news first, all the well knowing the potential pitfall. And that is the notorious New York Post headline in 2004 that announced a Kerry-Gephardt ticket.

McCain's Story: Is John McCain spinning a tale about a cross in the dirt? That's the inference among some bloggers, who note the similarity to his POW account, told at the Saddleback forum on Saturday, and one tht Alexander Solzhenitsyn wrote in "The Gulag Archipelago." Andrew Sullivan has some questions about why McCain never used the story in previous accounts of his experience. Trying to forstall any type of Swiftboating, the McCain campaign is dispatching some fellow POWs to verify the account.

Jonas Bros. Take D.C.: Yeas and Nays reports on the teen dreams' visit to the White House, including a meeting with Vice President Dick Cheney.

"Republicrats": MSN is launching a new comedy called "Republicrats," about a fictional presidential candidate who will place his strategy in the hands of Web viewers.

That, and other news, in today's Political Panorama.

Just a week before the start of the Democratic National Convention, Sherry Lansing hosts a "Women for Obama" event this evening at her home, with Diane Feinstein the featured guest. The event is not a fund-raiser, but  a unity gathering and outreach to Hillary Clinton supporters.

The 'Colbert' Effect: Michiko Kakutani of the New York Times profiled Jon Stewart on Sunday, citing his ability to inform viewers in his comic space while cable news channels are obsessed with celebrities and other sensations. But Opensecrets.org reports on a new study from a University of California, San Diego professor that shows political candidates can "juice a political candidate's fund-raising by 40 percent by having them on his show."

Ventura to Court: TV Week reports that Jesse Ventura --- having foregone a senate bid --- is looking to become the next big TV jurist.

Platform Politics: TV Week also notes that the Democratic Party platform calls for  increased diversity in media ownership and appears to support net neutrality. It also calls for more children's programming and help for parents in making sure their children don't see objectionable content.

The Real Elitist?: Brave New Films, the AFL-CIO and the SEIU have teamed up for a new online video, "McCain's Mansions," that argues that John McCain, with some 10 estates, is the real moneybags in this election. McCain's joking comment on Saturday that rich means an income of $5 million will surely provide some fodder in the future.

John McCain, as it turns out, was not in a "cone of silence" for Rick Warren's Saddleback forum, but en route to the event in Lake Forest, Calif.

He had followed Barack Obama at the forum, and his performance drew some good reviews. Commentators like NBC's Chuck Todd, in fact, declared him the winner.

Warren asked Obama and McCain the same questions in the forum, but Warren assured the crowd that McCain would not be able to hear them while Obama was onstage because the Arizona senator would be in a "cone of silence." The whole notion drew laughs, and even McCain joked that he was "trying to hear through the wall."

Instead, as the New York Times reports, he was in his motorcade, although the McCain campaign says that he was not listening.

If this were a game show, standards & practices would be investigating.

I still believe that the forum itself was a draw, and that any impact is diffused by Michael Phelps' record breaking night.

Update: The McCain campaign accuses NBC of bias in reporting the story.

This election is seeing an unusual marriage of celebrity, campaign and consumer product, as brands like Pizza Hut, Mountain Dew, McDonald's, MTV, IFC and Lifetime are capitalizing on record levels of interest in the presidential race.

My latest column in Sunday's print edition of Variety here.

That, and other news, in today's Political Panorama.

Apologies for the spotty postings all week, but I've been working on several projects...

Mia Farrow, doing daily Webcasts from camps for Darfur refugees, today presides over what are described as the "closing ceremonies" of Dream for Darfur's online protest of the Olympics in Beijing.

A Different View: Washington Post writer argues that the media is biased against the Russians in its coverage of the Georgia conflict.

Weekend Wedding: Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi will get hitched this weekend in a small ceremony.

Bloomberg Off List: McCain suggests that New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is off his veep list because of his stance on gay rights.

Thomas Doc: Rory Kennedy makes doc on Helen Thomas, dean of the White House press corps.

Starz announced an extensive lineup of celebrities who will take part in its Starz Green Room at the Democratic National Convention.

Charlize Theron, Daryl Hannah, Rosario Dawson, Kerry Washington, Ben Affleck, Josh Brolin, Kal Penn, Hill Harper, Stuart Townsend and Will.i.am are among those who will participate in events, along with politicos Barbara Boxer, Blanche Lincoln, Kent Conrad, Diana DeGette, Barney Frank and Ray Nagin. Others there include Arianna Huffington, Jonathan Alter, John Podesta, Walter Isaacson, Dennis Prager and Hillary Rosen.

The Green Room, located just across from the Pepsi Center, will feature panel discussions and socially themed films, as well as an online film competition. Starz, the Denver Film Society, SeaChange Communications and the Impact Film Festival are providing the programming.

Among the films to be screened are "Battle in Seattle," which features Theron and is written and directed by Townsend, and a screening of "Robert Kennedy Remembered." The film of the presidential candidate was shown at the 1968 convention, and won an Oscar for director Charles Guggenheim. The screening will be introduced by Davis and Grace Guggenheim, and members of the Kennedy family are expected to be in attendance.

That, and other news, in today's Political Panorama.

Hillary Clinton's name will be put into nomination at the Democratic National Convention, under an agreement worked out with Barack Obama's campaign.

It's designed to be a symbolic gesture, although it is unknown just how much of a distraction it will be in what is supposed to be Obama's moment.

In other words, there may be some real drama on Wednesday of convention week, although it's expected that the Obama camp will do its best to choreograph how the roll call is carried out.

“I am convinced that honoring Senator Clinton’s historic campaign in this way will help us celebrate this defining moment in our history and bring the party together in a strong united fashion,” Senator Barack Obama said in a statement, according to the New York Times.

Clinton --- who is a superdelegate --- is expected to vote for Obama and ask her supporters to do the same.

“With every voice heard and the Party strongly united, we will elect Senator Obama President of the United States and put our nation on the path to peace and prosperity once again,” Clinton said in a statement.

The New York Daily News, meanwhile, reports that Clinton's convention video will be produced by longtime friends Harry and Linda Bloodworth-Thomason, who also did the famous 1992 convention biopic of Bill Clinton called "The Man from Hope."

Obama Event: Bill Richardson surrogates for Obama tonight in Pacific Palisades, at a $250-per-person fund-raiser at the home of Shelley Nadel and Michael Swofford. Other hosts include Eric Paquette and Ralph Gaby Wilson.

Oprah in Denver: Oprah Winfrey will attend the DNC in Denver, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.But she will not be taking stage to introduce the candidate when he accepts the nomination.

"Oprah has not been asked to introduce him, is not expecting to be asked to introduce him and I would doubt that she would want to introduce him. She thinks this is HIS moment. I know that she is planning to be there," Gayle King told ET.

King plans to broadcast her Oprah and Friends radio show from Denver during convention week.

Browne Suit: Jackson Browne has filed suit against the McCain campaign for using his song "Running on Empty" in a TV commercial without his permission, reports Sam Stein of Huffington Post. Browne has supported Obama and was one of the stars that showed up for an early fund-raiser for him at the Beverly Hilton in 2007.

McCain Donor: A curious donor for McCain: $2,300 from Jonathan Crutchle, owner of gay pickup site Manhunt, reports Towleroad.

That, and other news, in today's Political Panorama.

Apologies for the light posting on Monday --- I was down for the count with a flu bug...

As Denver approaches, M.E. Sprengelmeyer of the Rocky Mountain News has launched a two-week series recalling past conventions with leading figures from each event. Monday was Tom Hayden; today is George McGovern. He suggests that the switch of endorsements from Clinton to Obama was in part made over concerns that the race could fracture the party like his 1972 bid.

"You know, there's nothing wrong with a long campaign, and this one I'm convinced has energized literally millions of people," he says.

But, his experience made him think, "Maybe this long campaign has gone on long enough."

He warns of anything that suggests disunity.

"That convention failed to do what a great national convention should do, which is to show the party and show the nominee for president in the best possible light, without a lot of distractions, without a lot of floor battles on television at the convention, without a lot of bitterness," he says. "It should be a time of jubilation and celebration . . ."

Clooney's Advice: Is George Clooney advising Obama on foreign policy? That's what a new story from U.K.'s Daily Mail suggests.

"Sources say the actor has tried to hide the pair’s friendship for fear his Left-wing views and playboy image would hurt the Presidential hopeful’s bid for the White House.

"But Democratic Party insiders have revealed that Clooney and Obama regularly send texts and emails to each other and speak by phone at least twice a week.

"...George has been giving him advice on things such as presentation, public speaking and body language and he also emails him constantly about policy, especially the Middle East."

"The Hills" in D.C.: Yeas and Nays reports that Lifetime has plans in the works for a D.C. reality show in the same vein as MTV's "The Hills." It also gets a choice timeslot: following "Project Runway," which moves to the cabler from Bravo this fall.

Penn on "Celeb": Clinton pollster/adviser Mark Penn believes that McCain's "Celeb" attack ad worked.

He writes, "Some negative ads crystallize voters’ opinions without presenting any new information. That’s what was behind John McCain’s recent ad equating Barack Obama’s celebrity status with that of Paris Hilton — that viewers would associate the Democrat’s leadership with mere celebrity, not substance. Fair or not, as advertising it did its job: It used humor, stuck viewers with memorable images and created a debate, just as Lyndon Johnson’s 1964 “Daisy” ad, Walter Mondale’s “Red Phone” spot 20 years later and Hillary Rodham Clinton’s “3 a.m.” commercial in 2008 did.

"The Paris Hilton ad also bore a Republican political trademark — attacking a candidate’s strengths rather than the candidate’s weaknesses. The spot attempted to portray Obama’s leadership for change as something fluffy and useless. Obama did not immediately hit back on the air."

In other words, negative advertising works.

Nevertheless, he seems unimpressed by the spots so far.

"So far in the 2008 contest, neither candidate has connected with any ads that explosive. But fresh information about their past views in their own words could shake up the race."

Another "Celeb" Spot: McCain's camp unveiled another spot attacking Obama for his celebrity, this time riffing on Obama's "fan club" and that he is "dreamy." James Poniewozik of Time points out that "mocking the real-people testimonials is curious, to say the least. Isn't the message: If you really like Obama, you're stupid?"

And Finally: Following up on our report about Angelina Jolie's announcement that she is "undecided" in the presidential race, here's Keith Olbermann's take from last night. 

That, and other news, in today's Political Panorama.

Barack Obama unveiled his own take on John McCain's "Celeb" ad --- this one called "Embrace." It targets McCain as "Washington's biggest celebrity," with clips of appearances on late-night talk shows, followed by a shot of him hugging President Bush.

Penn's Politics: Actor Kal Penn, who has been stumping for Obama across the country, appears at a fund-raiser tonight in Virginia.