Feb 29, 2008  |  By: JOSHUA LYNSEN  | COMMENTS     

Gay voters in Ohio and Texas could play a decisive role in choosing the Democratic presidential nominee, according to some activists.

Marty Rouse, the Human Rights Campaign’s national field director, said delegate allocations based on the March 4 primary votes could be swung by the gay voters who live there.

“For the GLBT community in Columbus, a large turnout could decide whether an extra delegate goes to Clinton or Obama,” he said. “Also in Dallas, in Austin, in Columbus — possibly in Cleveland — the GLBT community could actually influence one delegate here or there and that could make history.”

According to the Univer-sity of California’s Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation, an estimated 580,000 gays live in Texas and about 335,000 gays live in Ohio.

Jon Hoadley, executive director of National Stonewall Democrats, said gay voters were excited during a campaign forum he and more than 100 people attended this week in Dallas.

“The energy in the room was through the roof,” he said. “People are just excited about participating and getting their friends to vote.”

Robie Kentspeth, 42, a bisexual woman living in Austin, said she can’t wait to vote.

“There are certain issues that are important to me,” she said. “The war, health care, personal rights — and we need to start embodying what’s good about America again.”

The primaries in Ohio and Texas will distribute 334 total pledged delegates. Also voting that day are Rhode Island and Vermont, which offer 36 total delegates.

Going into March 4, Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois had 1,184 pledged delegates and Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York had 1,031 such delegates, according to a CNN tally. Those numbers do not include superdelegates. To win the Democratic presidential nomination outright, a contender needs 2,025 delegates.

Recent polls in Ohio show Clinton averaging 50 percent of the primary vote there, with Obama averaging 42 percent. In Texas, Clinton averages 46 percent and Obama averages 43 percent.

Hoadley said gay voters quizzed campaign representatives during the Dallas forum, covering an impressive “breadth and depth” of issues as campaigns made their final pitches for votes.

“I think this is a crucial time,” he said. “The LGBT community is organized and will play a big part in this.”

Rouse said gay voters have remained “riveted to this process.”

“We were surprised, quite frankly, by the strong interest of the GLBT community not only in participating in the presidential selection process, but participating as openly GLBT individuals,” he said. “That obviously has continued throughout the primary season.”

That interest has been sustained, Rouse said, despite an unexpectedly protracted nominating process.

“We, like many advocacy organizations, were surprised by the length of the process and how here we are in March and the contest is still undecided on the Democratic side,” he said. “We haven’t seen an election like this is a very long time.”

Democratic Sen. trong>Chris Dodd of Connecticut endorsed his former rival, Sen. trong>Barack Obama of Illinois, this week in Ohio. In announcing his endorsement, Dodd encouraged ‘Democrats and independents and others to come together, to get behind this candidacy.’ (Photo by Rick Bowmer/AP)

Rouse said that’s part of the reason HRC has no voter mobilization or education efforts occurring in Ohio and Texas. Only an elections return party was set this week for Cincinnati.

“Because of the frontloading of the presidential primaries and caucuses this year,” he said, “HRC focused on the early states of Iowa and New Hampshire.”

Rouse said when the contest between Clinton and Obama continued past Super Tuesday on Feb. 5, HRC was unprepared to launch significant voting efforts in remaining states.

But he noted that efforts to mobilize gay voters who have not yet cast their ballots — efforts that are now done as “general reminders to vote” — are almost unnecessary.

“As the results are showing in state after state, the GLBT community, like most communities across the country, don’t seem to need much motivation,” Rouse said. “What was telling for me was when [a poll was released that showed] most people said they were as interested in Super Tuesday as the Super Bowl. That tells me America understands how serious this election is.”

The poll of 1,019 adults, conducted Jan. 26-29 by the Washington Post and ABC News, showed 40 percent of respondents were focused on the football game while 37 percent were more excited for the primaries.

If votes cast March 4 do not conclude the Democratic presidential race, additional contests are scheduled for Wyoming’s 12 delegates March ...