Aug 22, 2008  MATT SCHAFER | COMMENTS     

Georgia’s electoral votes haven’t gone to a Democrat since Bill Clinton in 1992, but some believe this is the year Georgia could turn blue.

George W. Bush handily won Georgia’s 13 electoral college votes in the past two presidential elections. Republicans have also won most statewide races in Georgia since Gov. Sonny Perdue defeated Roy Barnes in 2002, giving Georgia the reputation as a red state stronghold.

But some believe the historic Democratic candidacy of Sen. Barack Obama — combined with a strong Libertarian contender from Georgia, Bob Barr, and the less dynamic campaign styling of presumptive Republican nominee John McCain — could tilt the state from red to blue. And to get there, Obama is counting on a bit of pink by openly courting gay Georgia voters like no other presidential candidate has before.

“You don’t want to take anyone for granted. You want to let everyone know that their vote counts, that you care about their issues and that you’re listening,” said Caroline Adelman, communications director for Obama’s Georgia campaign, in an interview this week at the campaign’s recently opened office in Atlanta.

The office serves as headquarters for the Democratic hopeful’s Georgia efforts and is one of nine Obama campaign offices around the state. Obama’s Georgia plans also include hiring a gay outreach coordinator for the state, Adelman said.

“This is something we’ve never seen in Georgia before,” said Don George, a longtime gay activist and current Obama supporter who volunteered for Bill Clinton’s campaign in 1992.

At the peak of Clinton’s first campaign, George estimated there were 300 gay volunteers working the state, but their efforts were not nearly as organized or accepted as they are in Obama’s campaign.

“When we did it in ’92, it was through the [national] Human Rights Campaign. We tried to start working out of the Democratic National Committee’s headquarters on Spring Street, and I don’t think they even gave us any space,” George said. Instead, gay volunteers ended up working out of a house in Decatur without official recognition from state party officials.

In contrast, openly gay staffers and volunteers are mixed at every level of the Obama campaign. Steve Hildebrand is the openly gay deputy national campaign director. Constituency Director Brian Bond and Dave Noble, director of LGBT issues, are both members of the gay Stonewall Democrats.
Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.), the only open lesbian in Congress, recently joined the Obama campaign as co-chair of his national gay leadership and policy committee after serving on a similar committee for Sen. Hillary Clinton.

Republicans & ‘Obamicans’

Like Obama’s stands on gay issues, his outreach to and support from gay Georgia voters is unmatched in the McCain campaign.

“In Georgia, as far as McCain goes, people are making up their own mind about it,” said Jamie Ensley, president of the Georgia chapter of the Log Cabin Republicans. “I get a lot of phone calls and e-mails from our members asking if we have made an endorsement and we haven’t. We’re waiting for the national LCR to make an endorsement and then we’ll follow them.”

Ensley said a number of gay Republicans are drawn to Obama for his stance on gay issues. “We call them Obamicans,” he joked.

While McCain draws less support from Christian conservatives than Bush and has previously opposed an amendment to the U.S. Constitution to ban gay marriage, he and Obama are diametrically opposed on many gay issues.

Neither candidate supports allowing gays to marry. But Obama backs civil unions, repealing the federal Defense of Marriage Act, overturning the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, banning job discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, and allowing gays to adopt, among other issues. McCain takes the opposite stand on all of those issues.

“I think Obama’s taken a very strong positions on behalf of the GLBT community,” said Kyle Bailey, former Georgia Equality political director who now serves on Obama’s national LGBT steering committee. “From the start, he was one of the candidates to support a complete repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act, not just the definition of marriage, but the part that keeps states from recognizing marriages from other states.”

Inspiring voters

Obama’s campaign is counting on his impassioned speeches and promises of bringing change to Washington to pull in unregistered voters, and increase energy in the electorate, including Atlanta gay voters like Michelle Alexander and her partner.

“This is probably one of the first political campaigns I’ve ever gotten involved in,” said Alexander, 34, who saw Obama speak last year.

“I didn’t get politically involved or [understand] why I should get politically involved ...