I attended a progressive event with MPP's Morgan Fox in D.C. last Tuesday, where Congressmen John Conyers (D-MI) and Barney Frank (D-MA) both spoke. Unsolicited -- in front of the 60 or 70 activists and opinion leaders in attendance -- Rep. Conyers made an off-handed criticism of the drug war, which was nice to hear. And Rep. Frank spent most of his time at the microphone talking about the marriage-equality victories on November 6 in four states, saying a few times that the gay-rights community "must…

Gary Johnson, this year’s Libertarian Party candidate for president, spoke at a rally on Tuesday outside the Democratic National Convention. He criticized both President Obama and Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney for avoiding one of the nation’s most important political issues. Obama has laughed off or ignored persistent questions about marijuana legalization, while Romney is equally dismissive, calling the issue insignificant. During his two terms as governor of New Mexico, Johnson…

UPDATE: Dave Mustaine has clarified his position, saying that he likes Santorum but does not officially "endorse" him.   I was shocked to learn that Dave Mustaine, the singer of Megadeth, endorsed Rick Santorum for president. If you're not a fan of heavy metal, you might not know that Megadeth is one of the most popular metal bands of all time -- and they're certainly one of the most political bands in any music genre.  Dave Mustaine actually covered the presidential race for MTV News in 1996. As…

Ron Paul may have achieved something of a victory by coming in third in the Iowa caucus yesterday, which is something few political wonks could have imagined a couple of months ago. Still, something should be said for the fact that he maintained his firm stance against the drug war after being narrowly beaten by candidates who are absolutely against marijuana reform. In an early morning interview, Paul renewed his call to end federal interference in state marijuana laws and repeatedly called the…

People who are familiar with Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul have probably heard him speak about the need to end marijuana prohibition in the past. In fact, he mentions it quite often these days. Considering that only one other Republican candidate shares this opinion, it isn’t unusual to hear Paul bring this up in debate. Not only does this set him apart from the other candidates, but it is very telling to hear the rest of the field claim to be “conservatives” in favor of limited government…

For people who still don’t believe that medical marijuana is a mainstream issue supported by a majority of Americans, last night’s GOP Senate  primary in Kentucky provided just one more example. Newcomer Rand Paul, son of Republican congressman Ron Paul, defeated establishment candidate Trey Grayson, in part, because of his support for medical marijuana laws. Here’s how the L.A. Times described it: “Grayson and his allies sought to portray Paul, a Bowling Green eye doctor, as something of a kook.…