Until the Red Sox finally won a World Series in 2004, growing up a Red Sox fan was an exercise in eternal optimism and disappointment. Every year I thought "THIS time it will be different", but just when the Red Sox seemed poised to take it home, they would snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

The Healthcare Reform bill has passed the House of Representatives in Congress with a 5 vote margin: 220-215! One GOP Representative voted in favor of the reform... Joseph Cao (R) of Louisana.

In November, Democrats in the State Senate finally wrestled control from the Republicans after four decades. New Yorkers like me expressed hope that in the wake of the Prop 8 disaster, marriage equality would at least be established in our state and that we could be a model for other states around the country. Fast forward half a year later and gay marriage is legal in most of New England, while marriage equality in New York and California could not be further away.

It seems the Republican Party has found another high-profile Asian American recruit to go along with Van Tran in CA-47.  South Carolina State Representative Nikki Haley has just announced she'll be running for Governor of the Palmetto State. Not only that, but as the preferred candidate of Republican Governor Mark Sanford, who is being term-limited out, Haley will have a lot of muscle behind her candidacy.