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It seems someone at the LA Times has gotten a deep and painful wedgie over the issuance of press credentials to a bunch of bloggers prior to the party conventions. Bloggers Are the Sizzle, Not the Steak Convention seats do not turn Internet gossips into journalists. By Alex S. Jones The Democrats and the Republicans are inviting a limited number of bloggers — those witty, candid, irreverent, passionate, shrewd and outrageous Internet chroniclers — to their 2004 conventions. It's a gesture of respect for the growing influence of the blogosphere, and if ever there were events ideally suited to bloggers,...

Television coverage of the upcoming political conventions either will be feast or famine.     When the parties gather separately for four days of speechifying and hoopla, cable news channels will present a veritable banquet for viewers for days on end. Broadcast networks, however, will offer just an appetizer: an hour each day from 10 to 11 p.m.

Looks like the local socialists are planning protests during both the Democrat and Republican national conventions in the Houston area. E-mail is unedited except for some contact data. Updates later. -------------------------------------------------- Dear Sisters and Brothers, During the last several months, an unfortunate political trend has been developing among some Left and progressive forces in our country. With the November 2004 Presidential election on the horizon, some activists have stopped protesting and begun putting their energies into electoral efforts to oust Bush from the White House. Bush is an especially vile and dangerous President. But if people in the U.S. want...

Sen. John F. Kerry [related, bio], torn between the union strength and hometown mayor his campaign desperately needs, might skip a Boston speech tomorrow that could inexorably tilt one of the powerful groups against him. Kerry aides stressed yesterday the Bay State senator has always heeded union pickets - telegraphing a possible bailout strategy to avoid Boston Police Patrolmen Association and other picketers at the U.S. Conference of Mayors event hosted by Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino. ``He has never crossed picket lines in his time in public life,'' said Kerry spokesman David Wade, adding, however, that no firm decision...

WASHINGTON (Talon News) -- They've protested. They've rallied. They've banged drums. Now those who cry loudest for an end to the military operation in Iraq are preparing to let their voices be heard at the Democratic and Republican National Conventions this summer in Boston and New York City respectively. The nation's ardent anti-war activists are planning efforts aimed during both political parties' conventions this summer to add an anti-war leg to the party platforms. Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), the self-described "Peace Candidate," knows that he cannot win his party's nomination for the White House but has remained in the race...

I know I'm a geek, but I'm not that badMost folks that know me, know I'm a rabid Trek-fan, comic fan, and SF/mystery geek.But this is what happens when you live in the basement at your Mom's house past 40.As I look at those pictures, I keep figuring that this is the guy that The Simpsons' Comic Book Guy character has to be based on.

Democratic leaders accused Republicans on Thursday of exploiting Sept. 11 by holding their presidential convention in New York less than two weeks before the third anniversary of the terrorist attacks. "All indications are that the Republicans have gone to New York to exploit a terrible moment in our country," Rod O'Connor, chief executive officer of the Democratic National Convention Committee, told hundreds of journalists who came to tour the site of next summer's convention. "We are here to re-ignite a movement in our country." Democratic National Committee (news - web sites) Chairman Terry McAuliffe echoed the charge in interviews with...

City taxpayers could be socked with millions more in Democratic National Convention costs as the bill for security soars past $40 million - a pricetag shocker just now being revealed. Mayor Thomas M. Menino, who has repeatedly declined to discuss how much the four-day party next July will cost taxpayers, last night acknowledged that security costs are spiking. The security price tag for the convention was originally sold to the public at a hefty $10 million. Factoring in federal reimbursements, the city will face a $5 million additional cost on security alone as Menino faces decreasing state aid and new...

U.S. National - AP Boston Cancels Tall Ships Extravaganza 2 hours, 57 minutes ago Add U.S. National - AP to My Yahoo! BOSTON - Sail Boston, the visit by tall ships that has drawn millions of spectators in the past, has been scuttled for next year so the city can focus on the Democratic National Convention. The event's board acceded to a request from Mayor Thomas Menino, who was concerned the event, planned for July 10-15, would be a drain on city services so close to the convention, set for July 26-29. Sail Boston said it plans to hold the...

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- The Christian Church and the city of Charlotte were a match made in conventioneering heaven. The church's biennial General Assembly, which ended Tuesday, brought an estimated 7,000 people to fill tables at the city's restaurants and beds at its hotels. And conventioneers got to spend five gorgeous fall days in a clean, affordable city in the heart of the Bible Belt. "I've enjoyed the city. People have been very nice. It's very hospitable," the Rev. David James, pastor at First Christian Church in San Lorenzo, Calif., said as he got ready to head home from the five-day...

<p>How's this for a big-league doubleheader: Both the Republicans and Democrats hold their 2004 presidential nominating conventions right here in New York City?</p> <p>Mayor Bloomberg lately has been an eloquent advocate for doing just that.</p> <p>Will Democratic boss Terry McAuliffe and his GOP counterpart, Marc Racicot, answer the call?</p>

EL PASO, Texas -- National Democratic leaders bowed out of the Texas convention later this month amid concerns that they could hamper the Democratic effort in Republican President Bush's home state. "It was caused by all the flak -- should they come, should they not come," said Jesus "Chuy" Reyes, who is active in the political operation for his brother, U.S. Rep. Silvestre Reyes, D-El Paso. Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt and the other national Democrats didn't want their presence in Bush's home state to "cause any problems for anyone," Chuy Reyes was quoted saying...