Next week is the special election to fill the former State Senate seat of Hiram Monserrate, who was expelled after slashing his girlfriend's face. Hiram's running. His platform: he's just like Barack Obama, and his opponent is "The Gay Caballero."

Up top is the banner from Monserrate's offical campaign website. Yes, it blatantly steals Obama's 2008 slogan (yes we can somehow avoid a felony conviction for slashing a woman's face!) and even the little rainbow/wheat field logo thing—which is odd, because Hiram Monserrate does not have an O in his name. (I guess it is "Q" for Queens?)

But that is just minor shamelessness, especially for someone as craven as Hiram Monserrate. No, for the good stuff, you have to look at this flyer that Monserrate supporters have been handing out in churches in Monserrate's former district. The flyer is about how the guy who is running to take Monserrate's seat, Jose Peralta, is just far too close to those scary gays.

To quote the oddest line:

AT A GAY FUNDRAISER FOR JOSE PERALTA HE IS AFFECTIONATELY CALLED "PERALTA THE GAY CABALLERO."

Right.

Peralta, who (as far as we know) has never violently attacked the woman he lives with and then dragged her out of the apartment against her will (on camera) and then driven her to a hospital that he thought was outside of city limits, supports the rights of two people who don't violently attack each other to get married, even if they both have penises (or neither of them have penises). Apparently the man who did slash his girlfriend's face open thinks that such marriages will somehow damage his eventual marriage to the woman he attacked.