Sep 19, 2008  |  By: LOU CHIBBARO JR  | COMMENTS     

Carol Schwartz (R-At-Large), a gay-supportive D.C. Council member who lost the Republican primary last week to challenger Patrick Mara, will campaign as a write-in candidate in the general election.

Schwartz told reporters and supporters during a Monday gathering at her campaign headquarters on U Street N.W. that she had reversed an earlier decision to not wage a write-in campaign after a “huge outpouring of support” surfaced for her to run in the general election.

“I am here today to say, as Mark Twain once said, ‘The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated,’” she said. “And, of course you know I’m talking about my political life, and it’s been a pretty long and mostly successful one.”

Schwartz’s decision to run as a write-in candidate in November poses a dilemma for Log Cabin Republicans of D.C., a gay group that endorsed Schwartz in the primary and has strong ties to the city’s Republican Committee, which also backed Schwartz in the primary.

But the committee chair, Bob Kabel, who is gay, said it is required under its by-laws to back the winner of the primary.

D.C. Log Cabin President Chris Scalise said the group’s members would decide which candidate to endorse during a Sept. 24 meeting.

“Our board will discuss what we do next and present its recommendation to the members,” said Scalise.

Among the people who joined Schwartz at her Monday gathering was veteran D.C. gay activist Frank Kameny, a Democrat, who said he strongly supports Schwartz’s write-in effort.

“She has been supportive of our community for a long, long time,” Kameny said.

Kameny noted that voting for Schwartz doesn’t require gay Democrats to buck their own party. He said under the city’s congressionally imposed election law, the Council seat currently held by Schwartz must go to a non-Democrat.

The only write-in candidate to win a city-wide election in D.C. was former Mayor Anthony Williams, who was knocked off the Democratic primary ballot in 2002 after discredited campaign workers were charged with falsifying petition signatures.

Political observers noted that Williams, as an incumbent mayor, had an enormous campaign organization to help him overcome the hurdles associated with write-in campaigns.

By comparison, Schwartz this year had a small campaign operation that raised less money than Mara. Campaign finance records show Schwartz loaned her campaign more than $30,000 of her own money.

Her supporters have said Schwartz’s name recognition and popularity among Democratic voters across the city, though, make her a viable candidate.