Despite her stature in the tech industry, Whitman is "little recognized" statewide, as the Associated Press puts it. Her speech at the Republican National Convention bombed; she's not much of a voter; and then there's the issue of her seeming flip-flop on gay rights.

But she went to bat for two Republican presidential candidates in the last election, raising money for Mitt Romney and then co-chairing McCain's campaign. Both failed Republican presidential candidates have now endorsed her in the governor's race, as has former California Gov. Pete Wilson, lending her the support of party heavy hitters her opponents lack.

McCain, who touted Whitman as a potential Treasury Secretary during his presidential campaign, is a natural supporter of her campaign. But his support for her has the side effect of creating a new name to rival Sarah Palin, the former running mate McCain's has noticeably snubbed on recent occasions. Palin might not be on McCain's list of Republican "rising stars," but it's a safe bet that Whitman now is — much to her own good fortune.

Senator John McCain, in the course of criticizing wasteful spending, admitted he couldn't manage a beaver — and then was so ashamed that he deleted his tweet and replaced it sans commentary.


Talking Points Memo editor Lila Pearl tattled on a coworker.

Extremely lazy New York Times food writer Amanda Hesser mommyblogged.

Washington Times White House correspondent Christina Bellantoni rode the bus.

New Yorker music critic Sasha Frere-Jones praised stale brownies.

(Many thanks to the screenshot-grabbing McCain tipster, whose browser had different font settings — hence its odd appearance.)

Anyone else's tweets we should keep an eye on? Send us more Twitter usernames, please — or email us your favorite tweets.

In a blog post, Draper, a principal at Draper Fisher Jurvetson, recounted all the political figures he met at the Alfalfa Club over the weekend — Sarah Palin, John McCain, Vernon Jordan, and other "Washington insiders."

Here's his advice to Michelle Obama on how to set herself up as Marie Antoinette 2.0:

I also met Our First Lady, Michelle Obama for the first time, who is charming and stunning in person. I suggested that she go out shopping with her daughters for a press event to get people buying things and getting this economy moving again, and she said, “Great idea. Go tell Barack—go tell the President that.” So I did. He looked across at her and smiled. I think we have a great President.

Also, Draper wants to hire former Florida governor Jeb Bush as a venture capitalist. It sounds like it was a lovely time. Except for all those same insiders who are destroying our country from the inside:

My conclusion there: I think our capital should move out of DC. The people there are too insulated from their country. They become a cancer for the people who come to Washington trying to make a difference. Not many of them made any real connection between our business environment and our economy. Even my limo driver there was trying to get more money out of government, not realizing where that money was actually coming from. The NYC drivers know.

Given Draper's political background, perhaps his lurching between hero-worshipping and backstabbing isn't that surprising. Draper, a Republican, chaired three fundraisers in Silicon Valley for George W. Bush, then declared himself for Barack Obama in 2008. He gave no money to John McCain, but wrote that he was "the nicest man ever" when he met him at the Alfalfa Club event. (McCain must be, for not snubbing Draper after that financial diss!)

Then again, Valley insiders know not to expect consistent behavior from Draper, an excitable sort who's known to strip off his shirt and burst into song to celebrate companies he's funded (as in the clip above). But his bizarre persona likely won't play as well outside the fruits-nuts-and-flakes atmosphere of northern California.

• A Dell Latitude D620 laptop for $417.00.
• A Dell Latitude D820 laptop for $570.00.
• Brother multifunction printer for $189.00.
• RIM Blackberry 8700c for $30.00.
• Folding chairs for $3.60 each.
• A 55-cup steel coffee urn for $77.00.
• A power strip for $1.
• Ethernet cables for $1 a pound.

Move quickly, though — Andrew Freeman, a McCain campaign staffer, told the Washington Post "the sale will be over soon." Target mission coffee table, only $60!

(Photoillustration by Richard Blakeley)

But we're not. A source told us it's being held at the rented mansion of Facebook board member Peter Thiel, the former PayPal CEO and founder of Clarium Capital, a hedge fund. Thiel backed Ron Paul in the primaries, but what we really want to know is: What is the gay investor's position on California's proposed gay-marriage ban? Festivities start at 6 p.m. Oh, need directions? Thiel is listed in the phone book.

Update: Lead21 chair Sonia Arrison writes:

Just thought I'd let you know that your information source for the location of the Lead21 election party was wrong. It is not at Peter Thiel's home, but it is at a location in the same general area.

If I find out more, I'll let you know.

(Photo by Eric Eldon/VentureBeat)

It's all about net neutrality. What's "net neutrality"? As far as we can tell, it's a bunch of rhetoric that amounts to regulations that affirm Google's God-given right to avoid giving Internet service providers a cut of advertising revenues. An Obama presidency would mean Google can save money on lobbying fees. Well, times are tough, and every penny counts. It's good to know that even the saintly Vint Cerf votes on pocketbook issues. He's the father of the Internet, and he approved this message.

There is a lot of other content on our global site that our users around the world find to be equally important, including, by way of example only, political campaigns from around the globe at all levels of government, human rights movements, and other important voices. We try to be careful not to favor one category of content on our site over others, and to treat all of our users fairly, regardless of whether they are an individual, a large corporation or a candidate for public office.

The real problem here is individuals and entities that abuse the DMCA takedown process. You and our other content uploaders can play a critical role in helping us to address this difficult problem...You can file counter-notifications. You can seek retractions of abusive takedown notices. You can hold abusive claimants publicly accountable for their actions by publicizing their actions...

(Photo by AP/Amy Sanchetta)

After a challenge to a similar state law in Utah last week, a federal judge restored a sex offender's right to anonymous speech online. Though the judge stated that this decision should not apply unilaterally to all registered sex offenders, her ruling is the first to question the conventional wisdom: that curbing online speech can curb sex crimes.

Free speech advocates and social network analysts have long been claiming that this approach won't work. First, there's the problem of the expansive definition of "sex crime" — from violent assault to public nudity. On that basis, Flickr has at least one employee who, after bending over bare-assed for his colleagues, could be banned from the Internet. Add to that that state and Federal lawmakers still can't seem to grasp the qualitative difference between a sixteen year old flashing her boycrush and a fifty year old posing as the same sixteen year old. Toss with a little bit of election-year mania about being tough on crime, and you get a botched bill that may only drive sex offenders further from the public eye — the opposite of the safer, happier Internet McCain hoped to create.

(Photo by soggydan)