May 02, 2008  |  By: JOSHUA LYNSEN  | COMMENTS     

Gay voters in Indiana and North Carolina are relishing their high-profile role in next week’s presidential primaries.

Ian Palmquist, executive director of Equality North Carolina, said Democratic presidential hopefuls Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama “are actively courting the gay community” as each works to secure the nomination.

“I think gay voters are really excited about the primary,” Palmquist said. “It’s the first time in most of our lives that North Carolina has had a competitive presidential race in the primary. It’s really exciting to have the campaigns here and actively courting our votes.”

The two primaries, set for May 6, award a combined 187 pledged delegates. That allocation represents nearly half of the 408 pledged delegates that remain to be won before the final Democratic primaries on June 3.

According to CNN tallies, Obama had 1,491 pledged delegates this week to Clinton’s 1,332. Including superdelegates, Obama had 1,727 delegates to Clinton’s 1,589.

Jon Keep, president of Indiana Equality, said the Hoosier State’s gay voters are “split down the middle” on who to support, but can’t wait to cast their ballots.

“This is the first time in 40 years that Indiana’s had a voice,” he said. “Everybody is excited, and I think that’s why the heated debates within the LGBT community — between those for Clinton and those for Obama — are passionate.”

Polls show Obama consistently leading Clinton in North Carolina, but the race is far closer in Indiana, where the candidates are polling within five points of each other.

“You know it’s going to be close,” Keep said. “I think the community realizes that we have two very good candidates, and now you just have to get down to the nuances.”

Clinton this week won the endorsement of North Carolina Gov. Mike Easley, who triggered a mini-controversy by using what some consider an anti-gay epithet in his speech.

“This lady right here makes Rocky Balboa look like a pansy,” Easley said.

Blogger criticism of the remark was swift, with some demanding that Clinton reject Easley’s endorsement.

In another election-related development, Human Rights Campaign announced plans to engage gay voters and generate support for 14 U.S. Senate candidates it endorsed this week.

HRC announced its endorsement of Sens. Max Baucus (D-Mont), who scored 67 on the last HRC scorecard; Joe Biden (D-Del.), who scored 78; Susan Collins (R-Maine), who scored 78; Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), who scored 89; Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), who scored 78; John Kerry (D-Mass.), who scored 100; Mary Landrieu (D-La.), who scored 89; Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), who scored 100; Carl Levin (D-Mich.), who scored 78; and Jack Reed (D-R.I.), who scored 89.

Also endorsed were the Senate campaigns of Reps. Mark Udall (D-Colo.), who scored 100 on the last scorecard, and Tom Udall (D-N.M.), who scored 75. Senate candidates Al Franken of Minnesota and Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, both Democrats, rounded out the endorsement list.

Joe Solmonese, HRC president, said the organization is “committed to the victory of these candidates” through fundraising and voter mobilization efforts.

Solmonese noted the winners of this year’s Senate races would cast crucial votes on federal gay rights measures, including efforts to pass the Employment Non-Discrimination Act and repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”

For that reason, he said, gay voters would do well to support the candidates backed by HRC.

“The Human Rights Campaign is working from the ground up to increase our margin of pro-equality leaders in Washington and across the country,” he said, “and to ensure that the issues of equality are discussed in 2008 on our terms.”

But HRC was criticized this week for not endorsing an openly gay U.S. Senate candidate from North Carolina.

Jim Neal, who’s seeking the Democratic nod to run against Republican incumbent Sen. Elizabeth Dole, was not among those endorsed by HRC this week. The organization backed no candidates in that race.

Solmonese said HRC would wait until after North Carolina holds its May 6 primary before endorsing Neal or his main primary opponent, veteran state Sen. Kay Hagan.

“She has a good record,” he said. “It’s a tough race to call in terms of the primary, and so I think, you know, our community down there — sometimes sitting here in Washington, Jim Neal is certainly someone who a lot of people have really been following here in Washington as an openly gay candidate, but our community down in North Carolina is really rather split between him and Kay Hagan. So we’ve got another … couple of weeks, and we’re going to wait and see who the nominee is before we make a decision there.”

Neal said he would have liked to have won ...