Jun 20, 2008  |  By: JOSHUA LYNSEN  | COMMENTS     

A D.C. gay man is trying to rally voters against Sen. Barack Obama, seeking to damage the Democrat’s presidential campaign and punish the party for disenfranchising voters.

Will Bower, a Huffington Post columnist who lives in Washington, said he helped establish the grassroots group Party Unity, My Ass this month to connect voters who are angry that Obama is the Democratic presidential nominee.

“I feel that Barack Obama is an anti-democratically chosen candidate,” he said. “I think it’s the worst of the system that has put him at the top of the ticket.”

Obama crossed the Democratic Party’s revised, 2,118-delegate threshold June 3 to secure the nomination. At last count, Obama had won 2,201 delegates.

Bower, who strongly supported Sen. Hillary Clinton during the primary and remains a registered Democrat, said his organization joins a growing list of grassroots groups that are frustrated that the complex Democratic primary process did not better represent voters.

“It’s very nuanced and intricate,” he said. “That’s what’s agitated me the most.”

Among his chief complaints are that Obama’s campaign did not accept plans to allow new primary votes in Florida and Michigan after the states violated party rules and saw their primaries effectively nullified, and that the Democratic National Committee did not appropriately handle the delegate disputes in those states.

Bower’s message has captured the attention of several media outlets, including MSNBC and Fox News, which have featured him on the air.

“The most important issue to me is the democratic principle itself,” he said on Fox News. “I see this season as having put forth an anti-democratically elected candidate. So for me, that’s the biggest issue of all. And if we go down a path, where, you know, the parties don’t uphold democratic principles, then who’s going to uphold democratic principles? So that’s my biggest issue of all and that transcends Republican or Democrat.”

A spokesperson for the Obama campaign did not respond to the Blade’s request for comment.
Damien LaVera, a DNC spokesperson, noted the organization has explained its actions to resolve the primary disputes and is focused now on defeating Sen. John McCain, the presumed Republican presidential nominee.

“We are going to work hard to compete for every vote,” he said, “but we’re confident that the more voters learn about John McCain the more they’ll see he’s the wrong choice for America’s future on everything from LGBT issues to the war in Iraq, the economy and health care.”

It’s unclear what effect party dissenters, such as Bower, could have on the general election.

One recent poll showed Obama has not united Democrats in the same way that McCain has rallied Republicans. According to the poll, almost nine in 10 Republicans support McCain, while not quite eight in 10 Democrats back Obama.

The poll of 1,125 randomly selected adults, conducted June 12–15 for the Washington Post and ABC News, also showed that nearly a quarter of those who favored Clinton over Obama in the primary prefer McCain for the general election.

Bower said Party Unity, My Ass, which also goes by the moniker People United Means Action (PUMA), would not instruct its undocumented number of members to vote against Obama come November.

“At this stage of the game, I’m planning to vote for McCain,” he said. “That’s me as an individual. I’m not speaking for PUMA or its members.”

Bower said some group members, however, are discussing how they might disrupt the Democratic National Convention through such tactics as coordinating a march or asking delegates to walk out.

“I will keep speaking for PUMA,” he said, “and let other voters know that we’re there, we’re not alone and you don’t have to fall into the party line and vote for Barack Obama.”

Bower’s efforts come as the Obama campaign is working to engage gay voters nationally.

Matt Nosanchuk, a gay Obama supporter who hosted a Washington house party Monday that featured a conference call with the candidate, said Obama spoke “sincerely and authentically” on the call about several gay issues. The event was closed to the media.

“He recognized and expressed explicitly the federal issues that are outstanding and need to be addressed,” Nosanchuk said, “and he pledged as president to do that.”