Obama Reaches Out to LGBT Community in Texas, Ohio
The past few months of presidential campaigning have been unprecedented for the LGBT community, and our concerns have been taken more seriously than ever before by presidential candidates. All major Democratic candidates participated in the 2008 Visible Vote Presidential Forum on LOGO last year, which brought LGBT issues to the forefront in the presidential election for the first time. Community members and bloggers alike said Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. Hillary Clinton did well with the questions asked at the forum. And on multiple occasions since, candidates have spoken about the LGBT community in speeches and at forums. Now Obama is charting new territory—he’s specifically targeting the LGBT community with ads in Texas and Ohio, just in time for the March 4 primaries. The Obama campaign has purchased full-page advertisements in local LGBT press outlets. The ads will provide information on how people can get involved locally in the campaign.
In Texas, the Obama camp is targeting Houston and Dallas, which are the two largest LGBT markets in the state. The ad will appear in the Dallas Voice and OutSmart, which are based in Houston. Latest opinion polls show that Obama and Clinton are in a statistical dead heat in Texas; reaching out to groups with traditional ties to the Clintons, such as the LGBT community, can be what puts Obama over the top. We have already seen Obama make inroads into Clinton’s base through increasing his votes among women and working class men.
In Ohio, Obama’s ads will appear in Outlook Weekly in Columbus and the Gay People’s Chronicle in Cleveland. Obama is going a step further in Ohio by writing an op-ed to be placed in Ohio LGBT papers as well. Right now reports say that Obama is gaining on Clinton’s numbers in Ohio. It’s tough to say whether Obama’s ads will bring out enough LGBT voters in his favor, but so far Clinton has not campaigned directly to LGBT voters in either Texas or Ohio.
Keep an eye out in the Texas and Ohio papers for Obama’s ads and op-ed.
Paul Karr is the Director of Media Field Strategy
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I thought, as a 501(c)3, GLAAD wasn't allowed to campaign for political candidates, because an endorsement is basically what this post amounts too. This is yet another uncritical look at Obama. Why is there no mention of the fact that Obama does NOT support gay marriage? (http://www.logoonline.com/news/story.jhtml?id=1552297&disableFeatureRedirect=true&contentypeID=1299)
Obama's push to get gays to vote for him is simple hypocrisy: "I don't believe in your right to get married, but I'll advertise to you to make you feel special to get your votes." But, we should come to expect this kind of behavior from Obama. He is, after all, a man who says he adamantly opposes the war but votes in the Senate to fund it.
Your previous posts were real rubbish, but this is good. This one is brilliant. Your blog is getting really better.