The campaign of Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama wasted no time last week in reaching out—carefully—to LGBT supporters who had backed party rival Sen. Hillary Clinton. But there are mixed signals coming out of various parts of the LGBT community: Some, like the Human Rights Campaign, have quickly endorsed Obama. Others, like Clinton supporter Elizabeth Birch, say they need more time. And still others, like the Log Cabin Republicans, are signaling that they consider Republican nominee John McCain a flawed but viable choice.
Obama clinched the nomination after collecting more than 2,118 delegates—a simple majority of those who will head to the Democratic convention in August to formalize their choice for president. As of the week of June 9, he has 2,158.5 delegates, to Clinton's 1,920. ( Florida and Michigan delegates have only half-votes. ) McCain has 1,401 delegates—well beyond the 1,191 he needs to secure the Republican nomination in September.
Now, it's on to the general election, where the candidates have stark differences on gay civil-rights issues—issues that matter to LGBT voters and that may influence the general electorate. A Pew Research Center poll in late May showed more registered voters nationwide ( 48 percent ) believe Obama reflects their views on 'social issues like abortion and gay rights' than does McCain ( 34 percent ) , but with a hefty 18 percent choosing neither or saying they are unsure.
A recent CBS News poll of 930 registered voters nationwide found that voters perceive Obama to care more about their needs and problems, perceive McCain as the more effective commander-in-chief of the nation's military and rank them almost equal on whether they share the values of 'most Americans.'
Meanwhile, NBC political commentator Tim Russert pronounced the race 'wide open,' noting that partisan voting trends state by state leave Obama and McCain in a virtual tie and in a slugfest to win electoral votes out of 11 toss-up states: Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin.
Constituencies are also important and, while the bulk of the LGBT vote has historically trended toward the Democrat, as many as one in four have voted for a Republican in the past. With some polls suggesting Clinton supporters could withhold their votes or consider McCain, the task of wooing the LGBT vote takes on greater importance than it normally has for Democratic campaigns. While both candidates' vice presidential choices will, no doubt, be a significant consideration for LGBT voters—especially given the rumor this week that Obama is considering a military leader—the initial challenge appears even more basic.
Obama's national deputy campaign manager—openly gay activist Steve Hildebrand—organized and led a telephone conference call June 6 with about 1,200 LGBT people, both Obama and Clinton supporters. His words and tone seemed carefully chosen to demonstrate respect for Clinton supporters and their efforts to come to grips with the indisputable fact that Obama has the nomination sewn up. Hildebrand said he recognizes 'the pain' that the Clinton supporters are feeling but assured them they had a 'welcome home' in the Obama campaign.
'We need your help, we want your help and we will take it, whenever you are ready, should you get to that point,' said Hildebrand. He then introduced well-known Clinton supporter Elizabeth Birch, who had even gone on the campaign trail in Iowa to support her candidacy.
Birch said the Obama campaign had asked her to 'articulate what the Clinton people are feeling at this juncture,' and she candidly acknowledged having 'burst into tears' June 3, the date of the final primaries, when she realized Clinton's quest for the nomination in 2008 was over. In very personal terms, Birch explained that Clinton's loss hit her like seeing a 'fallen warrior,' someone whom she had hoped would instill in her nine-year-old daughter the notion that 'a woman can become president of the United States.'
'And I was a scrappy 12-year-old once myself,' said Birch, recalling how she had grown up during the rise of the women's movement. 'We felt we could do anything.'
'So, there is a heartbreak in Hillary losing,' said Birch, 'but it's not all about Hillary. I know that it is just as important that my kids [ Birch also has a 9-year-old son ] see, not just a woman but, a very gifted, wise, strong, effervescent and powerful man, Barack Obama.'
Birch asked that Obama supporters have patience with Clinton supporters as they try to transition to the new reality.
'This won't happen in hours,' said Birch, 'but it will happen in days and we can turn our attention to electing the first African-American president. And most important, none of us will tolerate one more minute of a third Bush administration.'
The Obama campaign is pressing hard on the message that McCain's policies and beliefs would amount to extending the policies and decisions of President Bush for a third term. But that is not a message LGBT Republicans seem inclined to hear.
Splitting the bloc
The gay Republican vote helped George W. Bush win Florida in 2000. Exit polls showed 44,723 gay-identified voters cast their ballots for him there that year when a razor-thin ( 537-vote ) margin between him and Democrat Al Gore was counted and recounted and thrown into a dispute that the U.S. Supreme Court stepped in to decide in Bush's favor. That same year, the gay voting bloc was big enough to help Gore win Wisconsin, too. Exit polls across the country found about one in four gay-identified voters went with the Republican that year.
Log Cabin Republicans endorsed Bush in 2000, but withheld its endorsement in 2004, citing the president's prominent support for the Federal Marriage Amendment.
Patrick Sammon, president of the national gay Republican group, said June 10 that he thinks most group members do not buy into the notion that a McCain White House would be indistinguishable from a Bush one.
'Senator McCain's record isn't perfect,' said Sammon, 'but he has some positive things on his record. ... He's definitely not George Bush.'
Bush, said Sammon, made gays into a wedge issue, while McCain 'has given us every indication he would not follow a similar strategy. Sammon said the organization's board would likely conference within the next month to consider making an endorsement.
'We may end up endorsing [ McCain ] , but I'm definitely not at a point where I'm ready to endorse now,' added Sammon.
But it seems hard to imagine Log Cabin choosing not to endorse McCain, given that his record is far better on gay issues than any previous Republican presidential nominee. Sammon had a ready list of points in response to a question about McCain's stated preference for appointing a Supreme Court justice like Bush appointees John Roberts and Samuel Alito. ( For instance, Republican judges delivered the pro-gay marriage decisions in Massachusetts and California, and several Republican appointees on the U.S. Supreme Court have strong pro-gay voting records. ) And in a recent blog post on the Log Cabin Web site, the group's communications director, Scott Tucker, praised McCain for twice opposing the Federal Marriage Amendment and speaking out against it in the Senate.
'Log Cabin has had a long relationship with Senator McCain,' said Tucker, ' … and he has had an open door to us at Log Cabin and has a record of inclusion.'
Closing a door
Meanwhile, another door had to be closed this week, and on June 7, Hillary Clinton closed it. Clinton delivered a concession speech in Washington, D.C., that was especially notable for LGBT people. It marked a rare, if not the first and only, occasion in the presidential campaign in which Clinton publicly included an explicit reference to her 'gay' supporters—and not just once, but twice.
Referring to the 18 million people she says voted for her in the fiercely competitive primary battle, Clinton said, 'Eighteen million of you, from all walks of life women and men, young and old, Latino and Asian, African- American and Caucasian, rich, poor, and middle-class, gay and straight, you have stood with me.'
Later, she mentioned gays again, saying, 'We all want an America defined by deep and meaningful equality, from civil rights to labor rights, from women's rights to gay rights.'
Most evidence suggests the majority of LGBT voters did, in fact, stand with Hillary Clinton: exit polls in New York and California, voting results and campaign contributions in heavily gay precincts in most major cities, a massive poll of LGBT Web consumers.
But there was hearty support for Obama, too. And as the political pundits began to pound out a consistent beat that Obama was the inevitable winner, voting in heavily gay precincts began to show closer and closer margins between the two top Democrats.
After Clinton stopped short of conceding June 3, after Obama had clearly secured the delegate votes he needed to claim the party's nomination, some LGBT activists clearly lost patience with her process. Hilary Rosen, a friend of the Clintons, a lesbian Democratic activist, and national political commentator, accused Clinton of trying to use her supporters as a bargaining chip for the vice presidential slot.
'Not my vote,' said the longtime Clinton loyalist. 'I will enthusiastically support Barack Obama's campaign. Because I am not a bargaining chip. I am a Democrat.'
©2008 Keen News Service
