Comments on: Report: DSCC scrambled to find hetero challenger to run against Elizabeth Dole

by: Gloria

Sun, 18 Nov 2007 20:57:01 +0000

“if *Idaho* can have a gay senator, there’s no reason North Carolina can’t.”

Well, Idaho didn’t elect an openly gay senator, they elected a guy who swore he wasn’t gay.

I have no doubt that a gay senator can be elected– from Massachusetts, maybe Oregon, or possibly Vermont or New Hampshire. I live in NC, and North Carolina will NOT be open to electing an openly gay senator, it’s just a fact, and Schumer is wrong on most things but he’s right on this. He will win Orange County and Durham County and that’s it, most likely.

If the Dems want to win, they have to put up a candidate who can win. It’s not discriminatory or anything, it’s just smart.

by: unrepentantnewdealer

Thu, 08 Nov 2007 13:32:21 +0000

Having poured my blood sweat and tears into the Kissell campaign, I’m certainly no fan of the Schumer/Emanuel cabal in DC. Honestly, though, my reaction upon hearing Jim Neal had declared for Senate was “Jim who?” Before moving to Chapel Hill last year, he hadn’t lived in NC in 25 years. I have no doubt that Neal would make a better senator than Dole. But I’d rather go with a candidate who has a track record winning elections and representing her constituents than a candidate who has never run for any political office before. Neal’s sexual orientation is irrelevant, IMO, compared to his tabula rasa record.

by: Kaethe

Thu, 08 Nov 2007 11:55:29 +0000

I’m hoping everyone else is as pissed off about Dole’s complete neglect of NC as I am. Any candidate who isn’t Dole is a dream. Jesse was a horrible person, but he knew how to bring home the pork, Dole can’t even say that. Besides, aren’t all the women voters going to vote for Neal, just because he’s handsome?

by: Angry Grrl

Wed, 07 Nov 2007 23:36:21 +0000

Fair enough about Barney Frank. Here in NC though we do have Mike Nelson, and Joe Herzenberg (RIP). Yes yes, liberal Carrboro/Chapel Hill/Orange County, not like the rest of the state, blah blah blah, I know. Still, we have to start somewhere, n’est pas?

Plus, anyone who voted for good ol’ Jesse is probably not going to vote for a Dem in any event, gay or not.

by: Indy

Wed, 07 Nov 2007 23:10:14 +0000

Barney Frank doesn’t live in North Carolina. Those eastside pinebarren shitkickers that elected Jesse Helms for all those decades arn’t just gonna go “Gay? Well, that’s okay by me!!!”

Even if you didn’t start out with the gay issue, Jim Neal doesn’t exactly sound like a dream canidate.

//but then, neither did Mark Warner. Who, it yet remains, is not gay.

///he just wins because he has the Chin of Doom on his side.

by: Angry Grrl

Wed, 07 Nov 2007 16:27:14 +0000

I tend to agree w/ preying mantis. A few years ago there was a traveling exhibit called “Out and Elected”:

http://www.carrboro.com/outandelected/

Which to me, proves that gays can be elected to office. And after all, look at Barney Frank…

by: libhomo

Mon, 05 Nov 2007 22:16:00 +0000

In addition to being a vicious homophobe, Schumer has just openly endorsed torture. I will never vote for that scumbag and will never give him or any organization he runs a dime.

by: Chris

Mon, 05 Nov 2007 20:49:42 +0000

That’s silly; if *Idaho* can have a gay senator, there’s no reason North Carolina can’t.

Hell, even *South* Carolina might already have one…

I wonder if there are any gay people in New York who might want to ask their senator about this…

(and props to human and MAJeff for dispelling the “Casey was silenced because he was pro-life!” canard; it’s sometimes followed by the argument, “Well, Kathleen Brown didn’t endorse Clinton, and *she* got to talk!” which is refuted, persuasively I think, by the retort, “True, but *she* was supporting her *brother*” (Jerry Brown, who’d lost in the primary to Clinton).)

by: MAJeff, the God of Biscuits

Mon, 05 Nov 2007 20:13:06 +0000

By the way, Mr Casey’s father, then Governor Robert Casey (D-PA) was denied a chance to address the 1992 Democratic National Convention because he, too, was pro-life.

Lie. He was refused a spot on the platform because he refused to endorse the ticket.

by: deep6

Mon, 05 Nov 2007 19:56:54 +0000

I don’t know anything about Jim Neal but I’m guessing the strength of party apparatus opposition is also coming from financial concerns. Unless Mr. Neal is independently wealthy, it’s going to be tough to fund the campaign of a candidate the Republicans will immediately smear as immoral, godless and perverted because of his sexual orientation. No doubt Schumer thinks he’d have to funnel a lot of money into that race (which is probably correct) to offset direct campaign donations lacking from the public or to balance out any support the Republican candidate might get purely for being straight.