The Agenda with Joe Solmonese was again without its namesake last night but Chuck Wolfe – the president of the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund – was filling in as guest host.

Starting out the show we welcomed Kai Wright, author of Drifting Toward Love: Black, Brown, Gay, and Coming of Age on the Streets of New York. The book tells the stories of young gay men of color desperately searching for life’s basic necessities. Wright talked about their stories as well as his thoughts on race and sexuality.

Given that Chuck was filling in the host chair last night, we focused on the work of his organization – electing openly GLBT candidates to public office. First Oregon State Sen. Kate Brown was our guest. She is running to be Secretary of State and she talked about her campaign and how being openly bisexual has affected her career. Listen in.

Then we welcomed Oklahoma Corporation Commissioner Jim Roth. Last year Gov. Brad Henry appointed Roth to the agency that regulates utilities in the state. This year he’ll run state-wide as an openly gay man to retain his seat. Listen in.

We looked at the political news of the day though a media lens with Dan Kennedy, a media critic and professor at the Northeastern University School of Journalism. He covered everything from the latest hubbub around the New York Times story on McCain to how the media is treating the Democratic frontrunners. Listen in.

Finally, Chuck and co-host Mary Breslauer had a fascinating conversation with Phill Wilson, the founder and executive director of the Black AIDS Institute. This longtime gay and AIDS activist is the longest documented person living with AIDS, having had the disease for 27 years. Listen in.

President’s Day Weekend was coming to a close last night but we had a fresh new episode of The Agenda with Joe Solmonese leading into the work week.

At the top of the show we always look at the news of the day so this week we hosted HRC Field Director Marty Rouse. He discussed a new report out of New Jersey that says the recently enacted civil unions have not lived up to their promise of equality for same-sex couples.

Switching gears, the Oscars are almost here so we welcomed Gregg Goldstein of The Hollywood Reporter. He filled us in on the Academy Award favorites and which films may turn out to be spoilers.

Then we tackled some politics and specifically the issues of health care and retirement security. AARP along with SEIU, the Business Roundtable and the National Federation of Independent Business have created a campaign called Divided We Fail. HRC recently signed on to the coalition and Campaign Director Lisa Davis was our guest to discuss it.

Back to entertainment, this weekend Broadway star Idina Menzel will perform at HRC’s New York Gala Dinner so she sat down last week with Agenda Producer Michael Cole to talk about her new album, her upcoming appearance at the dinner and what it’s like being married to Taye Diggs. Listen in.

We were thrilled to welcome a special guest last night who in 2001 became the first openly gay man confirmed by the Senate to be a U.S. Ambassador. Michael Guest was appointed by President Bush to serve in Romania and after his tenure was over, he became an outspoken critic of the way same-sex couples are treated in the Foreign Service. Listen in.

Finally, we wrapped up with some politics with Dana Houle, contributing editor at DailyKos. The Agenda has hosted a number of GLBT bloggers but we thought it was time to get a perspective on the news of the day through a non-gay yet progressive lens. Listen in.

The Agenda with Joe Solmonese was without its namesake last night but while Joe had the night off, co-host Mary Breslauer was joined by longtime gay activist Cornelius Baker. He has led the National Association of People with AIDS and Washington’s Whitman-Walker Clinic and now he’s the national policy advisor to the National Black Gay Men’s Advocacy coalition.

Today is an exciting day for those of us in the Washington region as voters in Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia go to the polls. So with that backdrop we welcomed Washington Blade Editor-in-Chief Kevin Naff. He filled us in on the local political scene and how the candidates are making last minute pitches to GLBT voters. Listen in.

Then we went national with Jacob Weisberg, editor-in-chief of the online magazine Slate.com. He talked about the presidential race but also his new book, The Bush Tragedy. Listen to parts one and two.

It is the week of Valentine’s Day so we turned to the subject of love starting with Patrick Perrine of MyPartner.com. He founded the online dating site to help gay men find not only a good date, but the love of one’s life.

The cable channel Logo has a new take on dating and that’s a reality show centered on Calpernia Adams. This transgender woman looks for her suitor on televisions across the country in TransAmerican Love Story. Listen in.

Around this time last year we brought you a report from the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show so with the event starting last night we went back to the subject of pets. Our guest was nationally syndicated columnist Monica Collins who pens the column, “Ask Dog Lady.” Listen in.

Finally, we brought together our political conversations with our romantic ones with author Stephen Elliot. His new book is called, Sex for America: Politically Inspired Erotica.