Obama Picks Up LGBT Supporters from Edwards

From www.advocate.com

A critical mass of John Edwards’s LGBT steering committee is going public with their support for Sen. Barack Obama over Sen. Hillary Clinton.

By Kerry Eleveld

A critical mass of John Edwards’s LGBT steering committee is going public with their support for Sen. Barack Obama over Sen. Hillary Clinton. Twenty-two members of the Edwards campaign’s original 59-person gay and lesbian committee will now be working to elect Senator Barack Obama next Tuesday and throughout the rest of the primary season.

The new Obama converts include Eric Stern, who headed up Edwards’s LGBT steering committee, and longtime gay activist David Mixner, who famously campaigned for Bill Clinton in 1992, holding some of the first-ever gay fundraisers for a U.S. presidential candidate.

Mixner, a former peace activist during Vietnam, came out early for Edwards after the former North Carolina Senator made an unequivocal case for ending the Iraq War at the historic Riverside Church in New York City.

Mixner said Sen. Obama’s clear and consistent opposition to the war is also driving his decision on this go ‘round. “Moving from one candidate to another is never an easy process,” he said, “but the times demand that we all participate fully and completely to bring about change. Originally, my support went to Senator Edwards because of the war in Iraq. For the very same reason, I am supporting Senator Obama. This is not even a close call for me.”

Stern, who served more generally as a political adviser to the Edwards campaign, said he met personally with the Hillary Clinton’s director of LGBT outreach, Mark Walsh, as well had several phone conversations with Tobias Wolff, the chair of Obama’s national LGBT policy committee.

“I have mentors working on the Clinton campaign,” said Stern, who is also a former director of LGBT Outreach for the Democratic National Committee in California. “Their outreach was as aggressive and as sincere. It’s been a difficult choice for many of us.”

Of the remaining 37 former steering committee members, Stern said another eight were leaning Obama, three were fully committed to Clinton, and others remained undecided or had not contacted Stern.

Stern admitted that he had already been leaning toward supporting Obama, mainly because similar to Edwards, Obama has refused to take money from special interest groups. He also feels that Sen. Obama has the “purest position” of the any of the three candidates in supporting full repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act since 2004. Clinton supports repealing only the part that prohibits the federal government from recognizing state sanctioned same-sex marriages, leaving in place the portion that allows states to ignore legal marriages performed in other states.

After meeting with both of Obama’s and Clinton’s LGBT leaders, “it became clear to me personally that our committee had a vision for the role of the LGBT community that was similar to the role that LGBT supporters were already playing in the Obama campaign,” said Stern. “It is a pure grass-roots, activist oriented operation,” he added, noting that the 22 committee members will now be taking part in Obama’s field operations, the policy department and the press department. “Thus far, it’s clear that we will play a similar role in the Obama campaign.”

The new LGBT Obama converts will spend the next several days doing exactly what they had planned to do for Edwards, a strategy that Stern called both a “viral and local grass-roots effort” – sending emails out to their respective networks, as well as phone banking, canvassing and encouraging others to get involved with the campaign.

“We believe that Obama can pick up more delegates if the 12-15% of Edwards supporters nationwide – and even more in some states – will turn out for Obama,” he said. “We believe we can make difference.”

Besides Stern who is based in San Francisco and Mixner who lives in New York, some of the members who made the leap to Obama are heavy hitters in the February 5 voting states:

Arizona – Linda Elliott, Human Rights Campaign member of the board of directors, and a major fundraiser for defeating the state’s constitutional marriage amendment;

Georgia – Kyle Bailey, chair of Atlanta Stonewall Democrats; LGBT Caucus vice chair of the Young Democrats of America; former state board member of the National Stonewall Democrats;

Northern California – Evan Lowe, an openly gay Councilmember for the City of Campbell

Southern California – Pam Cooke, National Stonewall Democrats board member; past president, Stonewall Democratic Club of Los Angeles

Tennessee – Jim Maynard, president of Memphis Stonewall Democrats

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Below is the full List of former Edwards supporters who are now publicly supporting Obama as provided by Eric Stern:

Eric Stern, Former Political Advisor to the John Edwards for President Campaign, Former National Stonewall Democrats Executive Director; Former Director of LGBT Outreach for the Democratic National Committee (CA)

David Mixner, Writer/ Democratic Party Activist (NY)

Linda Elliott, Member of the Board of Directors for the Human Rights Campaign (AZ)

Evan Low, Councilmember for the City of Campbell, CA

David Garrity, Vice Chair of Maine Democratic Party

Andy Szekeres, Former Colorado Stonewall Democrats Co-Chair; Former Wisconsin LGBT Field Director, Kerry-Edwards (CO)

Kyle Bailey, Former Board Member--National Stonewall Democrats (GA); LGBT Caucus Vice Chair of Young Democrats of America; Chair of Atlanta Stonewall Democrats

Pam Cooke, National Stonewall Democrats Board Member; Past President, Stonewall Democratic Club of Los Angeles, CA

Bill Hedrick, President of the Central Ohio Stonewall Democrats

David Mariner, Former Out for Howard Dean Co-Chair (MD)

Jason Lansdale, Past President of Stonewall Democrats of Central Ohio

Daniel Hinkley, Nevada Stonewall Democratic Caucus President

Misty York, Communications Director for the Kentucky Fairness Alliance Christopher Prevatt, Chair of Eleanor Roosevelt Democratic Club (Orange County, CA)

Jim Maynard, President of Memphis Stonewall Democrats

Daniel Graney, Past President of Stonewall Democrats of San Antonio

Arthur Nunn, Former Missouri for Edwards Volunteer Organizer and Founder of LGBT for Edwards Myspace Group

Brad Reichard, Public Relations Executive (MA)

Michael Shannon, National Security Expert (DC)

Les Krambeal, Board Member for the National Stonewall Democrats (AZ); Co-Chair, Southern Arizona Stonewall Democrats

Robert D. Horvath, Jr., Member of the Board of Directors for the Mautner Project (DC)Patrick J. Lyden, LGBT Community Activist (DC)

*All organizations listed for identification purposes only.