From the Indy Star:

"Welcome to the biggest upset in Indiana political history," Republican mayoral candidate Greg Ballard told a jubilant crowd gathered tonight at the Murat Theatre.

Ballard said two-term Mayor Bart Peterson called to concede the race for the top job in Indianapolis at 10:21 p.m.

Ballard took the call from the two-term mayor in a hallway, then returned to share the news with his supporters.

"He told me, 'It appears to be over,' " Ballard said. "He congratulated me. He was very gracious. He was very nice."

Ballard, 52, is a former Marine Corps lieutenant colonel making his first run for office.

Salon has an interesting piece posted about Dennis Kucinich, and I hate how much I find myself in agreement with it. It's an article that takes on a little bit of a snarky tone that brings up some questions about why we support the candidates we do.

It's been an exciting week for our boy Tom! It's been full of some wonderful events, endorsements, challenges and just all-around wonderfulness!

Follow me past the jump to learn the latest!

It looks like Fred has had a great week! After a slow start, it seems like the rest of the nation and especially values voters are finally catching on to learn what a GREAT president Thompson will be.

Follow me below the jump to read what's been going on in the Thompson juggernaut!

On Tuesday, I posted a diary about my thoughts on the GOP candidates in response to her query about how I felt about all the presidential candidates.

Tonight, I finally had the energy to put something together about our team, so I feel like I may as well share my thoughts.

Follow me below the jump to read the thoughts of some guy you don't know.

I got an e-mail from my aunt yesterday saying that she and her boyfriend Brian are curious about my take on the presidential candidates.

They are both good Dems and I think what they really prefer to know is where I stand on the Dems, but it was more fun to put together my analysis of the GOPers and their chances.

Follow me below the jump to read my note to my aunt.

In late 2003 and early 2004, Howard Dean was the center of my universe. I felt so relieved that there was a politician who represented my views (despite what the media would tell you, a guy like me is pretty much a moderate Democrat, but somehow "far left" began being defined by opposition to Bush rather than policy positions).

Sadly, it seems that Dean was one-of-a-kind.

I committed to Obama earlier this year. He's great! He's young, inspirational, and really smart. If he were elected, I think the US would be changed in the eyes of the world (for the better).

But sadly, Obama's not doing it for me like Dean did. I really wanted him to, but he's just too damn cautious.

As someone who lives in Indiana, it's really strange to read this:

INDIANAPOLIS -- More than half the people surveyed in a statewide poll released today think the United States should withdraw its forces from Iraq within the next year.

Follow me for more from the article.

A lot of people have their knickers in a knot over Moveon.org's Petraeus ad. O'Reilly and Hannity's heads might pop off at any moment given their anger over Moveon's existence and their most recent ad in the NYT.

I thought the ad was in bad taste. What offended me most is that the play on words sounded like a GOP attempt to be clever. General Petraeus = General Betrayus? Please. It sounds like the  GOP saying something like Kerry = Fairy or Dean = Queen. The ad was lame.

After the jump, I'll tell you why I got over the lameness and contributed to Moveon and the two Democratic front runners.

I came out late in life (at 35). I'm not sure why, but even though I was attracted to guys, and my friends and family were good liberals, I was fearful of how I would be seen if I revealed my sexuality.

I thought that gay guys all liked to dance and really enjoyed interior design.

I hate to dance (one of the first things I told my partner is that I don't dance. Never. Ever.). I don't enjoy decorating or shopping.  

In my world, being gay meant that you fit into every gay stereotype that exists.

My thinking was really fucked up, and I'm glad that I finally got over it.

As I was surfing the net, trying to understand FreddieFever, I stumbled across his official campaign website Fred '08 which has led me to believe that if Fred isn't all that lazy, he certainly seems to have hired a lazy team of web page designers.

Follow me to learn more about Freddie's web site.

Update: In the comments, greatwhitebuffalo shows us that it seems that Freddie's web designer was told to make his page like Hillary's site, only different. Man, that's the truth!

In his Newsweek Blog,Rev. Rod Parsley encourages us to blame the VT massacre on sin, rather than illness. Mental illness does not come into the equation.

From 365gay:

(New Castle, Indiana) A high school in New Castle, east of Indianapolis, was placed in lockdown Wednesday following threats of violence tied to National Day of Silence - the annual day where students remain silent to protest homophobia.

New Castle High School administrators evacuated the building and moved students to a fieldhouse while police searched the premises.

The school's superintendent said that officials became concerned about rumors there would be violence at the school.

The high school allowed LGBT students and their allies to remain silent during the day, but some students reportedly were opposed to the observance and  when rumors of violence began to circulate the lockdown order was put in place.

If you're familiar with Richard Berman, you know that he is the excecutive director for the Center for Consumer Freedom, a 501(c)3 that states its mission is: "Research and education on food, beverage and lifestyle issues."

That sounds reasonable enough, I think. Who could be against any organization that is providing research on education on food, beverage and lifestyle issues?

Certainly not me.

Follow me below the fold to learn more.

Yes, gladly, there is some good news from Indiana.

From the Indianapolis Star:

A proposed constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage failed on a tied vote today in the House Rules and Legislative Procedure Committee, effectively killing the amendment’s chances for this year.

I've probably been a little too focused on the debate about the anti-gay marriage ammendment before the Indiana house for the last few weeks. The Indianapolis Star has been full of stories about corporations in this state that have come out against the ammendmnent.

The postings on the Star's  bulletin boards have been pretty disturbing. There is a lot of hate in Indiana toward gay people, and now that business has stepped in to try to stop the ammendment, the fundies are going crazy comparing gay marriage to incest and marriage with animals. They think that gay people live some kind of a "gay lifestyle" that must include orgies, meth, and satan worship.

Follow me past the flip, to hear my story about what coming out meant to me and how it really helped me try to become the person I was meant to be.

If you're familiar with Indiana, you know it's a very conservative state. People here tend to like things the way they are and loathe any kind of change. The state hasn't voted for a Democrat for president since 1964.

Currently, the state is debating a constitutional ammendment that would not only ban gay marriage, but disallow courts from ruling in favor of civil unions.

The proposed ammendment reads like this:

(a) Marriage in Indiana consists only of the union of one man and one woman.

(b) This Constitution or any other Indiana law may not be construed to require that marital status or the legal incidents of marriage be conferred upon unmarried couples or groups.

For the last few months or so, I've been noticing something new on the license plates of Hoosier motorists.

The new plates are red, white, blue, much like American flags. On the bottom of those tags, you can read the words "In God We Trust."

I've been unsettled by those new license plates for a number of weeks. Most of me feels as if those plates are passive-agressive attacks on Democrats and gays, mostly.

Today, I was relieved to read that I am not the only one who feels the way I do.