According to this press release – http://www.logcabin.org/logcabin/press_090804.html – the Log Cabin Republicans*, the nation’s largest organization of gay and lesbian Pubbies, have decided not to endorse Bush for re-election, mainly because of his support for the anti-gay-marriage amendment. They’re not actually endorsing Kerry either, but this is the first time since the group was formed in 1993 that they haven’t endorsed the Republican nominee for president.
Will this make a difference? I mean, are there a lot of gay Pub voters in the first place? If so, how will they vote? How much of Bush’s base is this pointless, impossible amendment campaign going to cost him?
(*Boy, they’re not trying to be subtle, are they? It’s like, “So how many logs have you had in your cabin, Senator?” )
Well they certainly took their time to decide ! Bush hasn’t exactly been gay friendly.
I hardly think Kerry will use a “Gays support me instead of Bush”. Of course its nice to see republicans turning their back to Bush… even if they aren’t a “normal” republican group.
Will it matter… well if 500 gay floridans had voted for Gore instead of Bush we woundn’t be discussing this now. So every vote counts. Its not a big thing though.
Well, your article said that over a million LCR’s voted in the last election according to exit polls, so I suppose thats a good bottom number to work with. At a guess somewhere in Bush headquarters over the last 4 years someone crunched the numbers and figured out that Bush opposing gay marrage was more benificial to his campaign than Bush staying neutral (which would have been the smarter strategy IMO) or Bush supporting it. I think the LCR’s should vote their consious on this one.
That said though, I doubt all of them, or even a majority, will vote Kerry. They will either refrain from voting (most likely) or will hold their nose and vote Bush…sort of like a lot of lefties I know are holding their nose this time and voting Kerry, who isn’t exactly the optimal left wing candidate for the radical fringe types (not saying the LCR are radical fringe types in comparison btw).
I hope the LCR DOES manage to make some changes to the party. I guess we’ll see in 2008 when the 'Pubs put forth their next candidate. My hope? They figure out a way to get Arnold on the ballot.
In a related, local story, openly gay DC Republican City Councilman David Catania resigned from the DC Republican Commttee, when the DC Republican chair, Betsy Werronen, refused to certify him as a delegate to the National Republican Convention. Werronen refused to certify him after he had made statements criticizing Bush’s position on the gay marriage amendment and said that he would vote against Bush in November.
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