"It was a great success we had here tonight," said one of Commissioner Bower's managers and why not? The anniversary of Twist brings out the entire gay community to both enjoy the pleasures of the evening and thank owners, Richard and Joel. Roaming constantly through the two stories and seven bars of Twist brought maximum exposure to that crowd. (We did have to sit her down with the owners of The Palace at one point to rest as her point man ran around to find Richard and Joel.) It was very crowded and very hot in may areas.

A good sport, she asked, "Oh, please take a photo of me with those servers". She also posed with strippers and even put a dollar bill down the shorts of one on stage, but those pictures stay in the vault.

Young and old seemed to be captivated by her charm, which was very simple: she is engaging, motherly, and likes to laugh. It is a distinct contrast to her haughty opponent.

Riley, a veteran of the Forbes presidential campaign, even seemed to enjoy her home-spun theories and jokes. When he got home, he emailed me, writing, "It was great........I was impressed". I wondered in reply if it was about the candidate, the handling, or the fact that I didn't have one drink all night. There are times when you have to put The Mission in front of The Lifestyle.

Twist owners Richard and Joel were finally found. Insiders there had already sent word to me that they had been surprised by the flowers Commissioner Bower had sent earlier in the day congratulating them; no political official (even one running for office had ever done that). This signaled the end of her evening. I had already expressed my concern that the crowd was getting too drunk and wild for her to be there. Unfortunately, her daughter was having too much fun and didn't want to go; in fact, she wouldn't answer her husband's phone calls.

We all return to our roots, though. After packing off the commissioner and her handlers, I ended up at a familiar spot: in front of Mario. Old habits don't die easily.