NOTE: Pam's House Blend has not endorsed a candidate in this race, but I will announce my own in the next day or so, as early voting begins. On my blog we've run a series of posts to review the candidates' positions based on their speeches, web site's LGBT visibility, experience and other factors, including the willingness to engage in our issues, considering that as a Senator, every vote on our side is needed to pass pro-LGBT legislation.
With early voting about to start (April 15th) here in NC and an official election day of May 4, the U.S. Senate Dem primary is hot, with candidates Elaine Marshall, Ken Lewis, and DSCC-favored Cal Cunningham all battling for the chance to dump Richard Burr from his Senate seat.
Cal's "Missing" Milk Carton below the fold.
Both Lewis and Marshall have participated in liveblogs at Pam's House Blend, and have been very responsive to requests for more information, and have beefed up their web sites to enable casual voters not immersed in the horse race, where each candidate stands on LGBT issues. This is critical because each Senate seat is needed to pass our legislation, and that last thing we need is a faux Dem, or a fence-sitting one in office that we cannot count upon to support equality.
Only Cal Cunningham has not scheduled a liveblog with the Blend after promising me in person twice to do so, nor has his team responded to any requests to include positions on Cal's site.
After Elaine Marshall's team added additional positions on LGBT issues to her site on Sunday, I decided to give the campaign a last chance to show Cunningham actually wants the LGBT vote in NC at all.
My letter to the campaign sent last night:
From Pam Spaulding
to info@calfornc.com,
alex@calfornc.com,
angela@calfornc.com
date Sun, Apr 11, 2010 at 11:59 PM
subject Pam's House Blend inquiry regarding liveblog and web site
Hello,
I've been patiently waiting for follow up to my inquiries to the campaign about setting up a liveblog to discuss LGBT issues on Pam's House Blend, a nationally recognized blog based right here in North Carolina (Durham, to be exact).
In meeting briefly with Cal at the Durham for Obama forum and at the HRC Carolinas dinner, he expressed great eagerness to me regarding a liveblog with my readers to take questions about his positions on LGBT issues that he would vote upon if elected to represent North Carolina in the U.S. Senate. Candidates Elaine Marshall and Ken Lewis have already participated and you can see their answers here and here.
As Cal knows, there is a large significant, politically aware LGBT community of voters and allies in NC, and one way we're assessing candidates this year is to see how LGBT issues are addressed on the web sites. In fact, we've mentioned the need for this information of each campaign, and they have all, save Cal's, been responsive to inquiries. Is there a reason that these have not been publicly addressed as promised?
For the liveblog, we plan to ask Cal the same set of questions on positions asked of candidates Lewis and Marshall, and we hope that as the race continues into the home stretch that Cal will hold true to his promise to engage the LGBT community in this online forum.
Many thanks,
--Pam Spaulding
I wish I could give you an answer for the lack of follow up by Cunningham, but perhaps he's pulling a Hagan, likely the result of Beltway consultants/DSCC influence that believes openly courting the LGBT vote in NC in 2010 is a mistake. (They'll take our money, of course, otherwise, why go to the HRC Carolinas dinner, where the gays with money to donate attend)? Really, all Cal has to do is step in the liveblog box and answer the exact same questions the other two candidates did. The LGBT voters are looking for positions up front, not silence in 2010.
You can politely ask Cal to go on the record about LGBT issues and to display them in a section of his web site: http://action.calfornc.com/...