Democratic Hotties

Last week, in honor of the Republican National Convention, we gave you a list of the 10 hottest GOP politicians. And boy, did you ever respond! It not only was one of most-viewed features, but it generated more comments than any story in quite a while.

Well, now, just in the time for the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., we're quadruply pleased to present the 10 (plus 1) hottest Democratic politicians.

As you can see, many are big gay rights supporters; and three are openly gay. So you freely can bask in the total hotness of this list without any of the liberal guilt you brought to the last one!

Rahm Emanuel

He might be best known as the White House enforcer during the early years of the Obama Administration and as the present of mayor Chicago, but "Rahmbo" was an accomplished ballet dancer who turned down a scholarship with the Joffrey Ballet. He's kept those tree-trunk dance legs and a physique worthy of the City of Big Shoulders.

Julian Castro

As the world now knows after he gave the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention, the mayor of San Antonio is Texas' answer to the GOP's Marco Rubio in the "Handsome Latino" sweepstakes. (Added value: he has an identical twin brother.)

Gavin Newsom

Having seen the California lieutenant governor, a hero to the gay-rights movement for initiating same-sex marriage while serving as mayor of San Francisco, I can only say that, as handsome as he appears in photographs, he's even better looking in person. I'm talking movie-star, Kennedy-level, scary-handsome.

Sean Patrick Maloney

The former senior advisor to President Bill Clinton and first deputy secretary to two New York governors, Eliot Spitzer and his successor, David Paterson, has won a four-person Democratic primary to run for a newly created congressional district in New York's mid-Hudson Valley, where he lives with his partner (dammit!) Randy Florke and their three children.

Jim Himes

The GOP might have Cosmo centerfold Sen. Scott Brown, but we've got a Connecticut congressman who not only attended Harvard and was a Rhodes scholar at Oxford, but also modeled for Polo Ralph Lauren, which is the Rhodes scholarship of WASP hotness.

Kirsten Gillibrand

The junior senator from New York, who masterminded the repeal of "Don't Ask Don't Tell" in the Senate, was the subject of a micro-scandal when Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid - in a sudden fit of impolitic honesty - called her a "hottie" at a fund-raiser.

Tammy Baldwin

As a House rep, she represents Madison, Wisconsin's capital. She's running for the U.S Senate from the Cheese State. She was the first out-lesbian member of Congress. And - get ready for this, ladies - for the last two years, she's been single.

Christine Gregoire

The governor of Washington State made national headlines when she gave an impassioned speech in which she contrasted her Catholic faith with her growing realization that signing a same-sex marriage bill into law was the only moral path she could ultimately take.

Martin O’Malley

The governor of Maryland is not only one of the most important advocates for gay rights (a practicing Catholic, he practically single-handedly pushed same-sex marriage through the state's legislature), he also just happens to be drop-dead gorgeous.

Jim McGreevey

For a brief moment, the former governor of New Jersey became the only out-gay governor in U.S. history. When he was caught hiring an unqualified aide who turned out to be his Israeli lover, McGreevey became the subject of subsequent rumors involving highway rest stops and a sham marriage. His personal life in shambles, he famously declared "I am a gay American" and started over with a partner and a new life as an Episcopal minister.

Extra-Points Bonus: Super-Hottie Joseph Kennedy III

The grandson of Bobby Kennedy is following in his storied family's footsteps not only in aspiring to public service (he hopes to succeed gay icon Barney Frank in Congress) but in the famous good looks that led both his grandfather and granduncle, President John Kennedy, into the bedchambers of the ultimate sex goddess, Marilyn Monroe (among many others). Oh, and don't forget Great-Grandpa Joe, who had a longtime affair with Gloria Swanson, the reigning sex goddess of the late silent film era. As for Joe III, I can only add: Gingers rule!