Senator Hillary Clinton likes to paint herself as an experienced Washington political warrior, and definitely looked for the same in her staff. That said, National Director of LGBT Outreach Mark Walsh may be the best gay for the campaign's queer needs.
Though a lawyer by training, Walsh has devoted much of his adult life to getting the gay into Washington. He's worked with former Congressman Marty Meehan, who stepped down last year after taking a hard line against Don't Ask, Don't Tell.
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Barack Obama suffered some blows in yesterday's primaries. Hillary Clinton beat him in both Ohio and Texas, the states where Obama famously purchased gay ad space.
We asked Obama campaigner Stampp Corbin whether there's any indication Obama's ads swayed the gays.
Corbin, who co-chairs the Senator's gay policy committee, acknowledges there's still more work to be done, but highlights the "tremendous response" of the groundbreaking campaign:
By all accounts, the ads produced a tremendous response within the LGBT community. The historic nature of an ad buy with an LGBT specific message was felt from the heartland of Ohio to the inner cities of Houston, Austin and Dallas. The ads were reproduced for LGBT specific events, as well as emailed to tens of thousands of LGBT Americans throughout the nation. We were able to move many LGBT Americans to support Senator Obama and his message of equality for our community.
It remains unclear whether or not the Obama campaign will buy more space in Pennsylvania, but Corbin says it's looking "likely". Sales reps are standing by, we're sure!
Read Corbin's entire response, after the jump…
[Image via Obama's Flickr page.]
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The headline says it all!
Last week we published three conversations with three of Barack Obama's gay advocates, including business man and former HRC board member Stampp Corbin. The following ENDA-related excerpt didn't make it because - well, it wasn't pertinent at the time.
In light of this weekend's HRC protest and the larger political context, we'd like to share Corbin's ideas on the tensions between grassroots and institutionalized activism.
It's definitely worth a read - for those of you who get off on DC's back rooms, at least.
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Hillary Clinton has long been a gay ally. Who could forget how the former First Lady invited gays into the White House, tried to set up gay administration staffers and marched in New York City's gay pride parade? No wonder so many gay people are throwing their vote behind the Senator from New York.
What would possess a gay person, then, to vote for Barack Obama, a fairly unknown candidate from Illinois? Our editor recently sat down with three of Obama's key gay campaigners to figure out what makes them tick and tock for Obama's presidential clock.
Read all about them - and so much more - after the jump.
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