Kindly Nancy Pelosi tells California Clintonites to 'get over it'

A lot of California's Democrats who thought it was their time with an overwhelming candidate like Sen. Hillary Clinton this year are in Denver now, and they're still disappointed.

But, hey, at least they were going to hear their favorite former first lady speak to them this morning.

Alas, their candidate didn't bother to show up for some unexplained reason. They felt kind of snubbed. Bad enough. But then they got another less sympathetic speaker, a Californian, in fact.

The delegation was treated to a speech by another prominent female Democrat, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Important person and all. But admittedly not The Favored One they had in mind. Pelosi told the Californians how enthusiastically she personally was supporting the actual one chosen, the party's real nominee, Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois.

And then, in the interests of promoting the party's fragile political unity at the moment, she told the California Clinton supporters to “get over it.”

Los Angeles Councilwoman Janice K. Hahn said she realizes that Obama will work hard for the causes she believes in and she is ready to work for the freshman senator's election to the White House.

But, she added, getting over Clinton's loss would not be easy.

“It’s a heartbreaker for a lot of us,” she said. “We thought it was our time.”

(UPDATE: This just in: Some kindly Republicans have just announced they are throwing a "Happy Hour for Hillary" tonight in Denver at the Paramount Cafe at 519 16th Street from 8:30 until 10:30 p.m. All Clinton supporters are welcome.)

--John Mitchell

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'Ladies and Gentlemen -- Your 2008 California Democratic Delegation!'

Bob Mulholland of the California Democratic Party just sent out a roundup and demographic details of the California delegation to Democratic National Convention in Denver (you may have heard something about that event). The whole list is after the jump, but the demographic details are interesting to look at here.

According to Mulholland's roundup, the delegation includes people from all 53 congressional districts -- naturally, since that's part of the formula for divvying up delegates -- but only 35 of the state's 58 counties.

But it is, according to Mulholland, "the most diverse delegation in the nation," with 25.9% Latino, 17.2% African American, 8.6%  Asian/Pacific Islander and 2.7% Native American. Those under age 30 compose 11.1% of the delegation, 7.7% are disabled and 11.3% are lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgendered. (Do you think the California Republicans will break out that demographic before their national convention?)

In raw numbers, Mulholland says California's Democratic delegation includes 49 people younger than 30, which he points out is a higher number than the total delegations for 19 states and the District of Columbia. And those tallies do not include California's 62 alternate delegates.

-- Scott Martelle

Barack Obama, other Democrats call for fixes to caucus/primary scheduling

For most folks, the inanity that marked the early part of this campaign's caucus and primary calendar no doubt has been forced from memory -- like a bad dream.

To review:

-- The states that have come to view their sway in the nomination battles as a God-given right played every card at their disposal to hang on to their special places in the process. At one point, the specter loomed of Iowa caucuses that convened before 2008 even arrived! As it was, the caucuses and the New Hampshire primary were crammed into the year's first few days (holiday cheer be damned).

-- Other states, anxious for a greater voice, tried to muscle their way into the action. One result: Rogue primaries in Florida and Michigan that ended being a long-term headache for the Democrats. Another: So many states scheduled their contests for the same day -- the first Tuesday in February -- that several of the candidates simply had to ignore some of them (in the case of Hillary Clinton, a consequence that cost her dearly).

The defects were well-noted by hard-core politicos -- (Democratic activist Elaine Kamarck, for instance, was reflecting on needed fixes back in April, and discussions have been underway within Republican circles on the matter.

Today, Barack Obama's campaign, in conjunction with the Democratic National Committee, announced a step designed to prevent a repeat of what happened this year.

As Democrats start gathering in Denver this weekend for the national convention that starts Monday, the party will be asked to establish a special commission to grapple with the timing of the nomination calendar and other aspects of delegate selection. (Goals will include reducing the number of "superdelegates")

Our colleague Frank James has more on the move at the Swamp.

-- Don Frederick

Which superheroes would John McCain and Barack Obama be?

Political -- and Batman -- junkies probably already know about Sen. Patrick Leahy's little infatuation with Bruce Wayne's alter ego, Batman. He loves the character, and all those colorful evil incarnates, like the Riddler, the Penguin and the Joker. Leahy has even talked his way into cameo roles in Batman movies, and in "The Dark Knight," which opens July 18, Leahy gets himself roughed up by the Joker's goons. Bam! Pow! Ooof!

So strong is the Democratic Vermont senator's infatuation that he wrote the introduction for a 1992 book collecting some of the Batman comics, "The Dark Knight Archive," and has done voice-overs for childrens' Batman cartoons. And on July 12, Leahy will play host to a special premiere of "The Dark Knight" in that hot spot of Hollywood's elite, Montpelier, Vt. The proceeds will go to a local library that has named a wing after him. Leahy, that is, not Batman.

So as we head into the long Fourth of July weekend (that phrase is a journalism cue that it's a slow news day, at least at the moment), we wonder what other politicians might harbor secret infatuations with fictional crusaders, caped and otherwise? Or even better, what superhero might actually dwell beneath those dark (pant)suits?

Maybe John McCain in his, shall we say, crankier moments, as The Hulk? Barack Obama channeling The Flash? Hillary Clinton as Wonder Woman -- the first major female superhero? John Edwards as Batman's sidekick, Robin?

And they don't have to be the heroes. Go ahead and link politicians up with your favorite bad guys, too.

Can't wait to see what you all come up with for Ralph Nader and Dick Cheney.

-- Scott Martelle

Image: Warner Bros.

Google tool lets you track John McCain and Barack Obama

So, you want to know where John McCain and Barack Obama have been on the campaign trail? Where they've been in their lives? Google has a new toy tool that lets political junkies get cartographic.

Our colleagues over on the Technology blog have the details and a deeper explanation of Google's intent to have people adapt the tool for their own uses.

But there already are a lot of different ways to play with it. This, for instance, shows you the McCain and Obama campaign trails. This is a "bio map" of McCain, and this is of Obama. The Twitterati have got one going. So far, nada for tracking delivery of late-night pizza to various campaign headquarters, or kitchens where couples are arguing Obama versus McCain. But you just know that's coming sometime.

A personal favorite: Huffington Post's fundraising map. See if you can spot yourselves in there.

-- Scott Martelle

Forget green -- Dem National Convention to go Gold

The Democratic National Convention is making a show of trying to be environmentally friendly, and as longtime polar bear fans we can't object. And as fans of a certain beverage that has been part of the human experience since, well, forever, we can't object to the way they plan to fuel their ethanol cars.

With beer. Coors beer, to be precise.

Turns out Coors has been converting some of its bad beer -- yes, there is such as thing -- into ethanol at a plant in Golden, a Denver suburb. They make about 3 million gallons of it a year to blend with gasoline for E85 ethanol (85% ethanol, 15% gasoline).

And come August, some of it will be poured into part of the Democrats' convention fleet of 450 vehicles, 20% of which will run on E85, DNC transportation director Al Timothy Andrew Ballard told KUSA-TV in Denver.

Coors is the official ethanol sponsor for the convention, and you have to wonder if someone in Coors marketing pondered the sagacity of being known as the firm that gave gas to politicians. But it all makes us wonder which will consume more alcohol August 25-28 -- the cars, or the delegates?

Our money's on the delegates.

-- Scott Martelle

Unity in Unity, N.H.? Not so much for some Hillary Clinton backers

Our cousins over at The Swamp have an item this morning spotlighting just how nagging a problem Barack Obama faces in trying to woo some disappointed Hillary Clinton supporters in facing off against John McCain. It seems a couple of notable New Hampshire Democrats -- James McConaha, a former Clinton administration farm official in New Hampshire, and his Democratic activist wife, Valery Mitchell -- have no intention of hopping aboard the Unity bus.

Picking up a story in the Nashua Telegraph, the couple has agreed to lead Democrats for John McCain. And that's not the only anti-Obama group out there composed of Clinton supporters. In fact, though polls show most of her backers moving to Obama, there is a large and vociferous crowd out there that refuses to go along.

Whether this is enough of a counter tide to have an effect in November is the big question, of course. And it will matter most in the battleground states -- a few thousand Clinton supporters voting for McCain here in California, for instance, isn't likely to turn the state red. But it could be an issue in states where the red-blue divide is narrower.

Regardless, campaigns are an amalgamation of a lot of moving parts, and it can't be a good distraction for the Obamans to have to go out and try to run down strays from the Democratic herd.

-- Scott Martelle

Nancy Pelosi agrees that sexism hindered Hillary Clinton

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco never officially chose sides in the Hillary Clinton/Barack Obama battle for the Democratic presidential nomination. But most of those reading tea leaves assumed her heart was with the eventual winner.

A clear sign to many came when her longtime friend and ally, Rep. George Miller of the Bay Area, endorsed Obama in early January -- a time when the race was still completely up for grabs. Then, as Obama was winning contest after contest in February, Pelosi began stressing that the party's superdelegates would be ill-advised to overturn the will of primary and caucus voters -- comments widely interpreted as a nod toward the senator from Illinois.

Regardless, Pelosi today gave a nod to the senator from New York, agreeing with the widespread perception among many Clinton supporters that her White House bid was hindered by pervasive sexism.

"Yes, there was sexism," Pelosi said at a Washington breakfast with reporters. But, the Baltimore Sun's Paul West reports, the speaker stopped short of singling out such bias as the main reason for Clinton's candidacy falling by the wayside.

West's full report on Pelosi's comments on this and other political matters can be read here on the Chicago Tribune's Swamp blog.

-- Don Frederick

Photo credit: Associated Press

Top of the Ticket, the start of Year Two

On this, the first anniversary of our Top of the Ticket blog, we are reminded of the mercurial, unpredictable nature of U.S. politics -- part of what makes what we do so fascinating.

Our goal -- one of us on the East Coast and the other on the far more important or at least less humid West Coast -- was to write about Campaign '08 virtually around the clock.

Our second-ever posting, 12 months ago today, previewed an upcoming L.A. Times/Bloomberg Poll; later in the day, we detailed the results of the nationwide survey. The findings were in line with other polls of the time.

In the Republican presidential race, which then seemed the most likely to last deep into the primary season, Rudy Giuliani was perched in first place. His lead wasn't overwhelming, but it was strong enough that he appeared certain to remain a major contender.

His liberal record on social issues loomed as an obvious liability within his party, but his tough-on-terrorism message was attracting substantial support from moderates and GOP-leaning independents.

His major headache among rivals last June was an as-yet-undeclared candidate who was riding a wave as the great conservative hope -- Fred Thompson. He ran a strong second in the poll.

Lagging far behind were John McCain and Mitt Romney, each barely with double-digit support. In our preview posting, we were especially scornful of McCain, noting sarcastically (and foolishly, as it turned out) that in the poll, he found himself "in heated competition with the 'Don't Know' category."

Meriting no mention from us was Mike Huckabee, one of several back-of-the-pack candidates barely earning any support across the country.

The Democratic race, at that point, seemed so much more cut-and-dried.

Hillary Clinton was the clear front-runner; Barack Obama was just as clearly ...

This Florida Democrat simply wants to ignore the presidential race

Rep. Tim Mahoney of Florida knows his election to the House in 2006 was a fluke. He's the Democrat who happened to be on the ballot when a late-breaking sex scandal sunk the career of the seemingly entrenched Republican incumbent, Mark Foley. And even with that, Mahoney barely won his seat.

So as Mahoney seeks reelection in a Palm Beach-area district where Republicans are in the majority, what's his attitude toward his party's presidential race? About as hands off as he can get away with.

Mahoney, a superdelegate to the Democratic convention by virtue of his office, didn't make a pick when Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton were battling each other. Now that Obama has triumphed, Mahoney still plans to remain uncommitted. And, he told the Palm Beach Post, he may just skip the party confab in Denver this summer.

"I wasn't elected to be a role model as to how people should vote," Mahoney told his hometown newspaper. "People in my district are smart enough to decide."

And probably smart enough to recognize a politician ducking for cover.

-- Don Frederick