On Friday, MSNBC’s Thomas Roberts (finally) spoke with Maggie Gallagher, the former president and co-founder of the National Organization for Marriage. You might recall that there had been a “mix-up,” as Roberts explained, with Gallagher’s earlier booking on the show, prompting Roberts to O’Donnellinate (that’s industry speak for interrogating furniture).

Fred Karger, man. We don’t hear too much about him in most mainstream outlets, but, if you follow him on Twitter, you’ll know that he’s been intently watching the Republican debates right along with all of us — and that he’s not too thrilled about not having been able to participate. In his new campaign [...]

We don’t hear too much about GOP hopeful Fred Karger until he makes the news for not doing something — particularly for not having participated in the recent Iowa debates — and so he’s taking steps to ensure that won’t happen again.

Karger, you’ll recall, filed a complaint against Fox News earlier this month after he says the network altered its eligibility requirements in order to keep him out of the debate, adding that this “blatant affront by Fox News executives smacks of discrimination.” Karger is an openly gay Republican who has long been a very vocal advocate of gay rights.

This time around, Karger is taking precautions.

Earlier today, we told you that GOP presidential hopeful and gay rights activist Fred Karger has filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission against Fox News for having allegedly barred him from participating in last week’s Iowa caucus debate. Comedian and frequent media contributor Dave Rubin (he’s appeared on The Joy Behar Show and PBS, among other outlets) recently caught up with Karger in Central Park and chatted a bit about his complaint, as well as several other topics… including how best to be photographed eating a corn dog and Michele Bachmann‘s husband, Marcus Bachmann.

Fred Karger, a political consultant and gay rights activist seeking the Republican nomination, has filed a complaint against Fox News after the network allegedly did not allow him to participate in last week’s Ames, Iowa caucus debates. The first person to announce his candidacy, Karger says he met with the network’s criteria to participate, but was nonetheless shut out. And he’d like the Federal Election Commission to figure out just why that was.

In a press release, he hints that discrimination might be at play.

Marriage Equality USA‘s Ned Flaherty put together a neat, easy to scan chart detailing how candidates (Republicans who have announced that they are in the race as well as Barack Obama) feel about certain issues relating to marriage equality and other issues concerning the gay community.

To Rick Santorum, gay and straight marriage are as different as paper towels and napkins, according to an analogy he employed at a campaign stop in Iowa. In his “Rewrite” segment tonight, Lawrence O’Donnell found this comparison to be “the American politician at his worst,” trying to relate to real Americans who probably, like O’Donnell, use napkins and paper towels interchangeably all the time.

Rachel Maddow opened a segment last night by running a clip of Senator Scott Brown thanking GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney for his support in his special election victory speech. She follows up by alleging that Romney had claimed to have been living in his son’s “unfinished basement,” which has led one of Romney’s lesser known opponent, Fred Karger, to ask the state of Massachusetts to investigate if Romney was legally able to vote, or did he commit…voter fraud! (Duh, duh, duh!)

Now that Mitch Daniels has joined Haley Barbour, Mike Huckabee and Donald Trump on the sidelines of the GOP presidential race, it is now time to take a look at the current menu of likely options for Republican primary voters. And to hear Rachel Maddow, its not the most impressive lot of politicians ever assembled for a presidential race.