Karen Ocamb, the news editor for IN Los Angeles Magazine and one of the best political reporters around, put together one of the more interesting events of the NLGJA Convention on Saturday morning. I was so impressed with her as a moderator and organizer that I told NLGJA President Eric Hegedus tonight that she should be put in charge of one of the main plenary sessions next year - especially since the 2008 convention will be held in Washington D.C. just a few months before the election.
Karen's panel took place less than an hour after scandal-plagued Sen. Larry Craig resigned from office so that was the hot topic out of the gate.
"We as gay Republicans see that it's actually a good thing that he stepped down. Regardless of his record on gay issues, what he did was wrong and illegal," said Scott Olin Schmidt, best known for his Boi From Troy blog.
My good friend Ted Johnson, managing editor of Variety and author of the blog Wilshire and Washington said: "Had he been an openly gay Democrat, or Republican even, I think he might have survived this. After all, what he was charged with and pled guilty to is a lesser offense than getting a DUI and lots of members of congress have gotten DUIs. It would have hurt his image, but he would have survived."
Political and corporate consultant Jeremy Bernard said: "I have mixed feelings. I'm not crazy about the entrapment. I was amazed at how quickly he went down...there is a homophobia in the powers that be in the Republican party. It's so strong."

TOMORROW: Part 2 of what was discussed at the "Will Gays Matter in 08?" panel...