Celebrate Super Tuesday And My B-Day at Seven Grand

laist super tuesday party at seven grand los angelesThis coming Tuesday, Feb. 5, 22 states including California and my birth-state Illinois go to the polls to select whether they want to elect the first black president or the first female president. (My Republican friends — you know you’re out there — have a choice between four good ol’ white boys.)

LAist is throwing a post-primary Super Tuesday bash at my fave bar, Seven Grand from 7-9, and I’ll remain planted there for the remainder of the night until I get my late-night birthday present, which (I hope) will be Sen. Barack Obama claiming a majority of the nearly 1700 delegates up for grabs (he was just endorsed by the LA Times).

We won’t necessarily be talking politics — it’s not really worth talking about. Super Tuesday is our chance to celebrate one of the rare opportunities we have to make a difference by practicing democracy. And the first 75 peeps to show up wearing an “I voted” sticker gets a drink on LAist and AnswerWithAction.

And there are much more exciting and interesting things to talk about anyway. Many of you may have already RSVP’d on the facebook or upcoming event page, but if you were on the fence or will be busy much of the night, perhaps knowing that there will be some birthday celebrating going on into the night (I’ll turn 33 on February 6th) will change your mind! Hope to see you Tuesday. Happy voting.

[Seven Grand Google Map]

Hollywood, D.C.: A Once in a Lifetime Kinda Day

It’s a chilly morning in LA — would be very hard to get out of bed if I weren’t already lightheaded pondering the exhilirating hours and days of work and hobby ahead. With the help of rising-star political reporter Jeremy Oberstein, my team at LAist is prepared to whoop everybody’s ass at full coverage of today’s democratic debate which CNN has — as they will — already dubbed something like Clinton vs. Obama in Hollywood.

There will be liveblogging (it’s live here). Here’s a quick link to LAist’s election coverage. I’m early to the day job as my eyes will surely be all over the place later this afternoon coordinating this effort.

I never expected a crucial, world-be-watching, future-of-our-great-grandchildren impacting, in advance of 24-state primary election event to fall at my feet ANYTIME in my life. So I’m not taking this lightly. And there’s also the fact that I’ve had a feeling it would come to this great day for my man Obama since my pre-grad school days in much-chillier Chicago.

Oh, and after you vote Tuesday, join us at Seven Grand for cocktails (first round on LAist & Answer with Action). We’ll celebrate, democracy, Super Tuesday, and, uh, I’ll also be celebrating my birthday.

Here’s a look back at Obama’s first visit to LA on his presidential campaign, last February 20. One of a few clips I came out of the event with:

In Nevada, Obama Manages to Stay Ahead by ‘Losing’

obama wins delegates in  nevada but loses

After the past two presidential elections, the media should know better than to call a winner based purely on popular vote, especially in the national — electoral college scene and in states with weighted caucuses. According to both the Nation and the data at WaPo, Obama had 11 first place finished and 6 second place. The reverse for Clinton out of Nevada’s 16 counties and one independent city.

Will it matter in the end who gets 13 delegates and who gets 12? Most likely not, but apparently the delegates will not be officially tallied/ appropriated by the state democratic party until mid-April.

Either way, it appears Obama will remain a media underdog despite remaining in a statistical dead heat w/ Clinton.

Exciting.

(photo: Las Vegas Sun/Steve Marcus/Reuters)