service employees international union

While Republican Mike Huckabee wishes voters Merry Christmas in a television ad, a group organized by his supporters makes automated phone calls slipping the knife into his opponents. John Edwards, lagging behind his Democratic rivals in cash, gets more than a million dollars in help from labor unions running parallel campaigns. And Hillary Rodham Clinton, who is locked in a tight race in Iowa, has well-organized and highly strategic assistance from labor backers and EMILY's List, the pro-abortion rights fund-raising group that aims to help women candidates.

In the December 16 edition of The Advocate, writer Ben Ehrenreich analyzed the differing opinions of why Prop. 8 passed at the polls in his article, "Anatomy of a Failed Campaign." Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center chief public affairs officer Jim Key responds to the criticisms raised by that article.

The Fairness for All Families Coalition is engaging in a "primary day of action" Tuesday as the Florida primary proceeds, with over 500 volunteers blanketing 178 precincts across the state to educate voters about the constitutional marriage amendment drive being waged by the conservative group Florida4Marriage. Getting the "Marriage Protection Amendment" on the Florida ballot requires 611,109 signatures from 13 different congressional districts across the state. Florida4Marriage originally claimed they had met that requirement, but within the past couple weeks, miscounts and signature duplications were uncovered that left the drive anywhere from 22,000 to 27,000 signatures short and one congressional district shy. The deadline for final signatures is February 1.