Jan 04, 2008  |  By: JOSHUA LYNSEN  | COMMENTS     

Days before the first presidential primary, Heather Gibson was hard pressed to find time to sleep. Gibson, a Human Rights Campaign staffer working in New Hampshire, said the hectic schedule leading to Thursday's vote kept her and a small army of volunteers busy.

"From Jan. 3 to Jan. 8, there will be no sleep," she said. "I'm in the adrenaline phase."

But that adrenaline, Gibson said, is keeping her working to ensure "that New Hampshire voters go to the polls thinking about civil rights issues and issues of equality.”

“Right up to the very last minute,” she said, “we want to keep civil rights issues in the forefront of the dialogue.”

Activists are staging intensive efforts this month in New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina to make gay rights a top concern among primary voters and caucus goers.

New Hampshire primary voters go to the polls Tuesday. The Nevada caucus and South Carolina Republican primary are held Jan. 19, followed by the South Carolina Democratic primary on Jan. 29.

Iowa caucus goers, who chose Illinois Sen. Barack Obama and former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee Thursday, also saw HRC’s influence on the process. Across the nation, volunteers with gay organizations are discussing key issues at campaign events, phoning voters to improve education and turnout, and planning to engage voters outside polling centers.

HRC had staff on the ground in Des Moines, where they joined representatives from One Iowa. The groups organized six workshops across the state to educate gay residents on the confusing caucus process and to encourage them to participate.

Gibson said the work, which targets straight and gay voters, also serves to rally gays for the primary season’s earliest events.

“I think that everyone should use their vote,” she said. “Because of the discrimination that we face and the barriers that we face, we are in the unique position of looking to elect a fair-minded president.”

Rick Stafford, chair of the Democratic National Committee’s gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender caucus, said gay voters understand the importance of the polls this month.

“If we want fairness and equality for our brothers and sisters, as well as ourselves,” he said, “it’s important for us to help pick the next leader of the free world.”

Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) walks through the snow during door-to-door campaigning in Manchester, N.H. Gay activists are staging intense efforts in the primary battleground states. (Photo by Jim Cole/AP)

The race for that position became a close one last month. Among the Democratic contenders, Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York maintained a slim lead among party voters.

She averaged 31 percent across nine polls last month in New Hampshire conducted by CNN, Rasmussen Reports and others, compared to 30 percent for Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois and 16 percent for Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina.

Clinton averaged 34 percent across nine polls last month in South Carolina, compared to 33 percent for Obama and 15 percent for Edwards. In Nevada, Clinton averaged 40 percent across two polls, while Obama took 22 percent and Edwards took 12 percent.

“I think we have quite the race on the Democratic side,” Stafford said. “Even though national polls show Hillary with a sizable lead, we see it much tighter in a couple of the earlier states.”

Among the GOP candidates, the race to secure the party’s presidential nomination was more volatile.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney averaged 31 percent across eight polls last month in New Hampshire. Sen. John McCain of Arizona averaged 22 percent and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani averaged 15 percent.

But in South Carolina, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee led with a 25 percent average across eight polls. Romney was in second with 18 percent, while former Sen. Fred Thompson of Tennessee held third at 15 percent.

The race was close in Nevada, where Romney averaged 25 percent across two polls while Giuliani held 21 percent and Huckabee was at 20 percent.

“It’s a wide open race,” said Patrick Sammon, president of the gay partisan group Log Cabin Republicans. “There’s no clear frontrunner, so the contest will remain up in the air until at least the Feb. 5 super primary.”

Informally called Super Duper Tuesday, the Feb. 5 event includes Democratic and Republican primaries or caucuses in 19 states, such as California and New York.

Stafford said the events could collectively decide the primary election and play a more crucial role than Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South ...