Human Rights Campaign endorses 14 Senators, candidates for '08
by Nick Juliano
Link to ArticleAfter a 2006 election in which it helped get the most viciously anti-gay politician serving in the US Senate booted from office, the Human Rights Campaign says right-wing fear based assaults on equal rights for gays and lesbians are no longer as relevant as they were even a decade ago.The gay rights group on Monday endorsed 14 Senators or candidates for Senate it says will continue advancing the issues it cares about. In 2006, the HRC and its 700,000 members were involved in 200 House and Senate races, of which its candidates won 94 percent of the time, said the organization's president Joe Solmonese. Hoping to duplicate that success rate, HRC announced a national mobilizing effort for this year's elections, headquarted at a new Web site, hrc.org/yeartowin. "Anti-gay messages do not have the political potency they once had," Solmonese said. Senators and candidates endorsed by the HRC this year are: Max Baucus, D-MT; Joe Biden, D-DE; Susan Collins, R-ME; Dick Durbin, D-IL; Al Franken, D-MN; Tom Harkin, D-IA; John Kerry, D-MA; Mary Landrieu, D-LA; Frank Lautenberg, D-NJ; Carl Levin, D-MI; Jack Reed, D-RI; Jeanne Shaheen, D-NH; Mark Udall, D-CO; and Tom Udall, D-NM.HRC has not yet announced its endorsements in House races. The HRC's effort also includes "Camp Equity" sessions in more than a dozen cities that aim to provide campaign training for at least 1,500 activists. Paul Begala, who served as a political adviser in Bill Clinton's White House when the controversial "don't ask, don't tell" policy on gays in the military was crafted, said Monday he believes that policy has done nothing to better the armed forces and can be repealed by the next president. Begala was speaking to reporters on an HRC-sponsored conference call. He said don't ask don't tell, which prevents gay servicemen and women from serving openly in the armed forces, grew from a need for political compromise as Clinton was entering the White House in 1993. He was asked about proposals from the this year's Democratic presidential candidates, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, to repeal the policy that requires gay soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines to remain in the closet if they want to keep their jobs. "I think Sen. Obama's right," he said. "I think with the right leadership we can get rid of that ban. ... I don't think it has helped our armed forces." Times have changed in the 15 years, he said, and continuing don't ask don't tell is "untenable." When the military is stretched as thin as it is fighting wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the US can hardly afford to fire Arabic linguists because of their sexual orientation. Begala's statements Monday contrasted with the arguments he put forward in his 2006 book Take It Back, which argued that Democrats should not make allowing gays to serve in the military a primary issue. Begala and Solmonese said right-wing tactics to divide voters with opposition to issues like don't ask don't tell and gay marriage are becoming less effective as time goes on and as younger voters make up a larger portion of the electorate. Begala said self-described conservatives under age 30 are more in favor of gay rights than are self-described liberals over age 65. The former Clinton adviser also credited the gay-rights organization with helping Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey defeat Rick Santorum, who was one of the most viciously anti-gay politicians in the Senate, in the 2006 mid-term election. Begala helped run Casey's campaign that year. "Time is on our side," he said, "and the country is moving in our direction." These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. If you have accounts on these bookmarking sites, you can post this story to share it with others.
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