While
expressing
disappointment
that
gay
issues
took
a
backseat
in
the
public
debate
surrounding
the
Super
Tuesday
presidential
primaries
this
week,
gay
rights
advocates
and
political
experts
said
the
outcome
of
the
mega-primary
and
caucus
day
appears
to
be
a
harbinger
of
good
things
to
come
for
gays
in
the
November
election.
In
the
Democratic
primaries,
Sens.
Hillary
Rodham
Clinton
of
New
York
and
Barack
Obama
of
Illinois
—
who
each
have
expressed
strong
support
for
gay
rights
—
finished
in
a
virtual
tie
in
the
race
for
delegates
needed
to
capture
their
party’s
nomination.
Clinton,
meanwhile,
beat
Obama
among
gay
voters
in
the
Democratic
primaries
in
the
nation’s
two
largest
states
on
Tuesday
by
a
margin
of
59
percent
to
36
percent
in
New
York
and
62
percent
to
32
percent
in
California,
according
to
exit
polls
conducted
for
national
news
media
outlets.
She
beat
Obama
in
the
New
York
primary
by
a
margin
of
57
percent
to
40
percent
in
the
overall
vote
and
won
the
overall
California
primary
vote
by
a
margin
of
52
percent
to
42
percent.
The
media
outlets
that
sponsored
the
exit
polling
chose
not
to
identify
the
gay
vote
in
any
other
state
or
in
the
Republican
primaries
in
New
York
or
California.
In
a
development
that
created
a
stir
among
political
observers
and
party
leaders,
Clinton
and
Obama
drew
an
unprecedented
number
of
Democratic
voters
to
the
polls,
in
some
states
twice
as
many
as
Republicans
who
turned
out
to
vote
in
the
GOP
primaries.
“It’s
remarkable,”
said
Dan
Pinello,
professor
of
government
at
the
City
University
of
New
York.
“This
is
extremely
helpful
to
the
Democrats
in
November
and
good
news
for
gays,”
he
said,
because
it
increases
the
chance
of
a
gay-supportive
Democrat
winning
the
presidency
in
November.
Pinello
and
other
election
analysts
have
said
a
large
turnout
of
voters
of
a
particular
party
in
the
primaries
is
a
strong
indicator
of
a
highly
energized
electorate
within
that
party,
which
usually
gives
the
party
a
big
advantage
in
the
November
general
election.
In
Tuesday’s
Republican
primaries,
Arizona
Sen.
John
McCain’s
victories
in
key
states,
including
New
York
and
California,
have
elevated
him
to
the
status
of
the
expected
GOP
nominee,
according
to
most
political
observers.
Gay
Republican
leaders,
who
acknowledge
that
McCain’s
positions
on
gay
rights
are
not
as
strong
as
they
would
like,
point
out
that
his
expected
nomination
eliminates
from
the
presidential
race
any
candidate
in
support
of
a
constitutional
amendment
to
ban
same-sex
marriage.
McCain’s
two
main
challengers
in
the
Super
Tuesday
voting,
former
Massachusetts
Gov.
Mitt
Romney
and
former
Arkansas
Gov.
Mike
Huckabee,
support
the
Federal
Marriage
Amendment,
a
proposed
constitutional
ban
on
same-sex
marriage.
Gay
activists
say
the
amendment
would
enshrine
anti-gay
discrimination
in
the
U.S.
Constitution.
McCain
has
angered
social
conservatives,
including
the
anti-gay
Family
Research
Council,
by
voting
twice
against
the
Federal
Marriage
Amendment
when
it
came
up
in
the
Senate.
“One
of
the
most
striking
things
to
come
out
of
the
Republican
primaries
this
year
is
that
social
conservatives
are
not
playing
a
major
role
in
deciding
the
Republican
nominee,”
said
Patrick
Sammon,
president
of
Log
Cabin
Republicans,
a
national
gay
GOP
group.
“That’s
great
news
for
GLBT
people.”
Jon
Hoadley,
executive
director
of
National
Stonewall
Democrats,
which
advocates
for
gay
Democrats,
said
the
fact
that
Democratic
voters
appear
equally
divided
between
Clinton
and
Obama,
and
the
nomination
may
not
be
decided
until
the
Democratic
convention
in
August,
would
likely
result
in
benefits
for
both
gays
and
the
party.
“It’s
great
for
the
Democrats
because
we
are
building
grassroots
support
from
huge
numbers
of
new
voters,”
Hoadley
said.
“It’s
great
for
the
LGBT
community
because
in
a
race
where
literally
every
vote
counts,
our
votes
become
more
and
more
important.”
Gay
supporters
of
Clinton
and
Obama,
similar
to
spokespersons
for
the
two
candidates’
campaigns,
argued
that
their
candidate
came
out
ahead
of
the
other
in
the
Super
Tuesday
primaries.
Clinton
supporters
pointed
to
her
decisive
victories
in
the
nation’s
two
largest
states,
California
and
New
York,
and
claimed
Clinton
halted
what
some
had
said
was
an
Obama
surge
that
would
result
in
a
decisive
victory
on
Super
Tuesday.
In
addition
to
New
York
and
California,
Clinton
won
the
popular
vote
in
New
Jersey,
Massachusetts,
Arkansas,
Tennessee
and
Oklahoma.
Obama
supporters
noted
that
he
won
far
more
states
than
Clinton,
even
though
those
states
were
smaller.
Some
of
them,
such
as
Missouri,
Kansas,
Georgia,
Connecticut
and
Delaware,
are
key
states
needed
for
winning
the
November
general
election,
his
supporters
said,
and
his
victories
there
show
he
could
defeat
the
Republican
nominee
and
win
the
presidency.
The
Associated
Press
reported
that
as
of
Thursday,
Clinton
had
captured
a
total
of
1,045
delegates
from
all
primaries
and
caucuses
so
far,
including
the
Super
Tuesday
races,
while
Obama
has
lined
up
960
delegates.
A
total
of
2,025
delegates
are
needed
to
win
the
Democratic
Party
nomination.
“This
amounts
to
a
virtual
tie
in
the
earned
delegates,”
Pinello
said.
“It’s
likely
that
this
same
trend
will
continue
in
the
rest
of
the
states,”
he
said.
“So
there
is
little
or
no
chance
for
either
one
to
have
a
knock-out
punch
and
it
is
likely
that
this
...
