It's funny that the Charlotte Observer bills this story as an exclusive given how much it has been debated and discussed around BlueNC over the past month, but I suppose it's better late than never. And perhaps now that it has been finally covered by the mainstream media, the issue may be finally put to rest.
Former Wall Street investor Jim Neal of Chapel Hill announced he was running for the U.S. Senate. N.C. Sen. Kay Hagan of Greensboro declared a week later that she was not running for the U.S. Senate. Both are Democrats. Guess which one received a phone call from U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer, who heads the Democratic Party's efforts to recruit Senate candidates?
Schumer and the national Democrats, who boast of their party's inclusiveness, effectively ignored Neal, who is openly gay. After he announced his campaign in October, he telephoned Schumer. The call wasn't returned. Neal was the first Democrat to step up to challenge Republican U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole.
Instead, Schumer, of New York, called Hagan, who had taken herself out of the race, and encouraged her to jump back in. She later did.
Ironically, the DSCC has called me several times over the past month, asking for money, of course, to support their national efforts. You can imagine how well that went.