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Super Tuesday was supposed to determine the winner of the Democratic primary, but Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton remain in a tight race. Experts say the large Democratic turnout could be a boon for gays. (Photos by AP)
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Gay supporters of Democratic presidential candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton stepped up their efforts during the past week to encourage gay voters to turn out at the polls for the Feb. 12 presidential primaries in D.C., Maryland and Virginia.
With the two presidential contenders emerging from this week’s Super Tuesday primaries in a tie, and each one considered to have an equal chance of winning the Democratic nomination, next Tuesday’s D.C.-area “Potomac primaries” have taken on a far greater significance.
Gay Republicans were playing a less visible role in the Republican primaries set for D.C, Maryland and Virginia on Tuesday. But GOP presidential contender John McCain, the senator from Arizona who emerged from Super Tuesday as his party’s frontrunner, was expected to garner support from some gay GOP voters in the Potomac primaries who had been supporting former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who dropped out of the race.
In the D.C. primary, gay Democratic activists Kierra Johnson and Jerry Clark have been slated as Obama delegate candidates and could win delegate seats pledged to Obama if he makes a strong showing in the primary.
Gay Democratic activists Chantale Yok-Min Wong, Peter Rosenstein and Mario Acosta-Velez have been slated as Clinton delegate candidates and would also win seats to the Democratic convention if Clinton receives enough votes in the primary under the city’s proportional delegate allocation system.
Four gay Republicans are running as Giuliani delegate candidates and another four gay GOP activists are running as delegates committed to Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul in D.C.’s Republican primary. Giuliani remains on the D.C. ballot.
In Maryland, gay Democratic activists H. Alexander Robinson and Maggie McIntosh are running as Clinton delegate candidates in Baltimore and they, too, could win seats to the convention if Clinton does well in the Baltimore district where the two are running.
Delegate candidates in Virginia won’t be nominated until the spring under that state’s delegate selection rules, although the number of delegates allocated to the presidential candidates will be tied to the proportion of votes they receive in the Feb. 12 primary.
• D.C.: Voting hours 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.; eligibility — must be registered as a Democrat, Republican or Statehood-Green Party member.
• Maryland: Voting hours, 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.; eligibility — must be registered with a political party.
• Virginia: Voting hours, 6 a.m. to 7 p.m.; eligibility — any registered voter may vote in either the Republican or Democratic primary, but not both. |
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HOME > NEWS > NATIONAL NEWS
By: LOU CHIBBARO J COMMENTS
 
continued...
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 will go all the way to the Democratic convention in Denver.”
The exit poll findings that Clinton won the gay vote in the New York and California primaries came less than a week after Obama received a boost in gay support from more than a dozen prominent gay rights advocates who had been backing former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina. Edwards dropped out of the presidential race after losing a string of primaries, including the South Carolina primary.
Among the gay Edwards backers who joined forces with Obama was David Mixner, the veteran gay Democratic activist who played a prominent role in the 1992 presidential campaign of Bill Clinton. Mixner said he initially backed Edwards over Hillary Clinton because he believed Edwards had a stronger position for ending U.S. involvement in the Iraq war.
He said the war was the main reason for his decision to back Obama rather than Clinton after Edwards withdrew from the race.
In Washington, gay Edwards supporter David Mariner also signed on as an Obama supporter, saying he believes Obama’s views on issues of importance to him come the closest to those of Edwards.
The Obama campaign created a stir in gay Republican circles earlier this week when it added the name of Rich Tafel, the former head of Log Cabin Republicans, to its list of gay Obama backers. Tafel told the Blade he decided to endorse Obama for the Democratic nomination and McCain for the GOP nomination.
“I’m really impressed with Senator Obama, particularly his ability to reach across party lines and get things done,” Tafel said. “I think he has the potential to be a world changer.”
Asked what he would do if both Obama and McCain win their party nominations, Tafel, who is credited with elevating the stature of the Log Cabin gay Republican group in the 1990s, did not give a direct answer.
“Let’s let the campaign unfold,” he said. “I have a lot of respect for both men.”
The fact that a prominent gay Republican activist like Tafel has hinted he might support Obama for president is likely to be viewed by gay activists as a sign that a
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