Collection Time for Big Bet on Kerry - I was a bit amazed yesterday when I began to hear rumors of Cheryl Jacques' termination as HRC head, even before a friend of mine who used to work there. Christian Grantham seems to have been the first gay blogger on the scene, and BfT picked him up as the news spread especially fast among the more conservative sites -- who categorically deny that schadenfreude had anything to do with it.

Inside the HRC itself, things must have been pretty rancorous in recent weeks. How else to explain that minutes after senior officials call a staff meeting and give a stern speech intending to squelch leaks to bloggers, Christian has another report? Now they've tapped the former head of the super-lobby RIAA to be interim director as the board and donors ponder: can they rebuild a big-tent interest group that will a be more effective champion of gay rights in the GOP-dominated era of Bush II?