And she deserves your vote.
I believe that Elaine Marshall represents not only the best fit for the job of U.S. Senator from North Carolina in 2010, but she brings the most experience and effective perspective to the race, something essential in order to unseat Richard "Bank Run" Burr in the fall.
I mention 2010 above because this race is about the political changes in my state over the last 20 years. More North Carolina residents now live in urban or suburban enclaves than in rural areas today. It has become a state populated over time by many newcomers from all over the country, drawn by the beauty and diverse landscape of the state, its lower cost of living as well as the high-tech, education, science, and medical institutions that have driven the state's economic engine, along with its agricultural base -- and military bases.
Any candidate running to be serve as U.S. Senator here has to learn how to represent the overall interests and needs of the 100 politically, culturally, and economically diverse counties of North Carolina -- and remain responsive to the people once they get sucked into the maelstrom of the Beltway.
That's a difficult task, and Elaine Marshall, our current Secretary of State, is up to that challenge. She is the first woman to be elected to that office and the first woman elected to statewide executive office in North Carolina. What's most impressive is that she has won re-election three times. That is proven ability to run a race in this state.
About this endorsement
This was a terribly difficult choice for me, because at the outset of the campaign, we had, on paper, three Democrats willing to discuss LGBT issues publicly, something that was unprecedented. It speaks volumes about the evolution of North Carolina's political landscape surrounding our issues, even since 2008 when Kay Hagan had no problem taking LGBT money, but refused to sit down with LGBT media or fully state her positions on her site.
By and large this state has been pretty much agnostic about addressing the schism between the culturally conservative, business-centered, and growing politically progressive bases here. But the times have changed.
Most people in North Carolina are concerned, rightfully so, about jobs and resurrection of an economic boom, and balancing that with protection of the environment, not whether the sizeable LGBT community acquires full civil rights.
Making sure that our community is politically and publicly heard in this race seems to have become a responsibility here at the Blend, though naturally we didn't ask for it. At this moment and time it's just one of the most visible platforms that allows the LGBT community to share their insights, desires, hopes and fears about progress in securing full civil rights and convey that to those seeking public office. While we hear from many of you in the comments, it's the people who are lurking -- mainstream media reporters, elected officials, movement leaders and others of political influence who are reading, digesting and responding to some of the perspectives shared here.
The Process
Being able to secure Elaine Marshall, Ken Lewis and Cal Cunningham to engage readers of the Blend in liveblogs was one of the primary goals in helping people understand how much North Carolina has evolved by seeing candidate interaction with the community. The other goal was to have each candidate present their views on LGBT legislation on their web sites -- simply because voters in our community need to be able to, at a glance, know where they stand. Not everyone will see a stump speech where LGBT issues come up, and questions about it rarely comes up in a televised debate -- it didn't this time.
You have been able to see Marshall and Lewis readily accept and approve of the fact that the LGBT community in North Carolina now must be openly courted as a constituency in 2010. And there's a big difference here -- courting is not pandering. There is no need, for instance, to pass some purity test of being 100% on our issues or you fail. The point of my approach in this election cycle was to decloset LGBT rights as a topic for Democrats because it's high time to own the discussion of civil equality rather than be reactive to GOP attacks and framing.
The Opposition and the Opportunity
Richard Burr has a 0% rating on LGBT issues; make HIM own that. Honestly, there is something wrong with a person who is so illogically, openly and politically hateful toward a slice of the tax-paying population he serves. Richard Burr knows gay people. Does he truly believe they should be able to be fired from their jobs because of their sexual orientation or gender identity? Why? In 2010, most people in this state know someone LGBT. By taking an affirmative stance, you remove from the debate the hoary anti-gay demonization and can turn it to the personal, where the Republicans don't want to go. Ken Lewis and Elaine Marshall have both demonstrated that they see the political future in an affirmative stance, not the past tactic of hoping no one asks "those questions."
An open position on LGBT rights is not something to hide at this time. My philosophy is to shine a light in that formerly dark room where the candidate trolls for gay cash on the sly, and makes promises that may or may not be kept based on whether their political spine decomposes once they get to DC. They must not wilt when the professional discredited anti-gay activists put the well-worn bigotry tape in and play the same old songs about marrying donkeys, recruiting children, or jailing pastors for preaching anti-gay messages. People in North Carolina don't need their Senator to waste time on these people; just discharge the nonsense with reality-based information and move on to deal with the business of the people.
I have full confidence that Elaine Marshall will do that.
Respect for all Americans – Elaine understands that many of these issues can be contentious and used by politicians to divide people. As U.S. Senator, Elaine will not only fight to give equality to all Americans, but will strive to keep the debate civil and honest and not allow politicians to demagogue Americans for political gain.
And so would Ken Lewis.
“Our campaign is about putting the old barriers and divisions behind us. Too often rather than using our diversity as an asset, we've turned it into a liability. We've done this by slicing and dicing each other into groups based upon race religion gender and sexual orientation and denying rights and privileges to people based on these categorizations. We can no longer afford to do that. Our promise and prosperity in the future depends on leveraging all of our assets, including our diversity, and providing unlimited opportunity for all."
I honestly have no idea whether Cal Cunningham would or could stand up to the pressure of the right-wing noise machine on our issues. I certainly can't gather that from his web site's limited statements, added in the dead of night on Friday (the day after early voting began), exacerbated by needless, off-putting interactions with his campaign.
Despite the poor handling of the situation with the Blend by the campaign, both want to give Cal a chance to interact with readers in a liveblog setting -- and he will participate in one on Sunday, April 25, 2010 at 7PM ET.
Readers are naturally free and encouraged to make up their own minds based upon a multitude of factors, including what Cal is now willing to say on the record.
The decision
Cal Cunningham
As I said, this was difficult, perhaps a bit less difficult after the last week. While in many ways I can see why the Cal Cunningham represents an attractive candidate to face off against Burr on paper -- his experience as a State Senator, his military service, his telegenic "candidate" presence and positions on many issues. His packaging as a candidate unfortunately hews perilously close to Blue Dog status in many ways.
But that's not what this primary endorsement is about for me. We need a solid vote in the Senate on our issues, someone who doesn't need to be constantly lobbied over pro-LGBT legislation because they are worried about the political ramifications to their career on a vote rather than doing the right thing for his/her constituents' civil rights.
Cal Cunningham's record in the State Senate is one of tentative LGBT advocacy; he did not co-sponsor a hate crimes bill. He also failed to co-sponsor the repeal of the asinine anti-sodomy (crimes against nature) law on the books that is invalidated by Lawrence v. Texas, but still results in humiliating arrests and wasted court time when the cases are tossed out.
His campaign's bizarre and condescending behavior towards me over the last few weeks didn't help matters either. The failure to communicate after repeated polite contact with his campaign and after in-person promises by the candidate himself were disturbing -- it shouldn't be like pulling teeth to have his positions on LGBT issues added to his web site and come on the Blend to do a liveblog in a timely manner for voter consideration. The fact that good, hard-working pro-equality people inside that campaign supporting Cal on many other issues urged the candidate to address LGBT equality early on to no avail is distressing. To me that indicates influences terribly out of step and out of touch with North Carolina in 2010.
I cannot endorse Cal Cunningham in this primary.
Given a campaign is in many ways a reflection of the candidate, an inability to respect and acknowledge polite inquiries about significant topics with a group whose votes he/she wants, but indicates being public about it is a liability, speaks volumes about future constituent services and handling of high-profile, potentially controversial votes.
That said, he would be a vast improvement over Burr should he prevail in the primary. And most importantly, I do believe that good politicians can learn from mistakes -- it was clearly a tough message for his campaign to swallow that many in our community are no longer willing to be engaged in the closet. It's a matter of just being "smart shoppers" when it comes to candidates, and have to be sold on them based on actual positions, not back-room promises and position statements only given to those with gay dollars to donate to a campaign.
Ken Lewis
I couldn't ask for a more forward-thinking candidate than Ken Lewis, who was first out of the gate first to contact the Blend to share his views in an interview back in December. He has a stellar, accessible campaign that gives one confidence that he could serve the public well. At that time he little name recognition, but wide experience in politics, though he has not held public office before. He has worked behind the scenes in politics for a long time, fundraising and organizing for the U.S. Senate campaigns of Harvey Gantt and Erskine Bowles, and in 2008, served on the finance team here for the Obama campaign. He was very clear about his philosophy on matters of equality:
In turning to LGBT issues, I asked him why he felt comfortable discussing equality issues, particularly as a candidate who, if elected, would be the first black U.S. Senator to represent North Carolina. He has to turn out the large black population in this state, a sizeable part of which is religious and socially conservative. Lewis didn't miss a beat -- "Basic human rights for all people is the right way to see this -- we struggle and we've made tremendous strides racially, and we will continue to make strides to change minds about those issues as well."
Asked whether he would speak about LGBT issues and legislation before black church groups he didn't shy away, noting that during 2008, candidate Obama did challenge audiences in the black community not accustomed to open discussion of LGBT issues, never mind calling for introspection about discrimination against any group of people. Ken Lewis said it's short-sighted for communities of color to not engage these issues because the silence has come at a terrible cost. "The African American community has many issues with HIV/AIDS and has failed to come to grips with people who are in the closet and are not allowed to be who they are."
His campaign was extremely responsive to Blend readers; positions on LGBT issues were placed prominently on his web site over time, and articluated in a manner reflecting commitment to equality.
Lewis has garnered a lot of support around the state, and when he faced off at the Durham for Obama's U.S. Senatorial Candidate Forum against Marshall, Cunningham and Marcus Williams, he blew them away in the straw poll:
Ken Lewis 57.67%
Elaine Marshall 32.42%
Cal Cunningham 8.25%
Marcus Williams 1.65%
But it's hard to avoid noting that the recent polling statewide doesn't favor Lewis, but there are a lot of undecideds out there:
Elaine Marshall continues to be the leader in the North Carolina Democratic Senate primary, but with 45% of voters undecided it's too early to count out Cal Cunningham or Kenneth Lewis with three weeks remaining to election day.
Marshall checks in at 23% this month to 17% for Cunningham and 9% for Lewis. Minor candidates are getting the other 6%.
In thinking very hard about my endorsement, what kept coming back to my mind was that I really want to be able to vote for him because of his principles and commitment to justice and rebuilding the state's economy -- just not for U.S. Senator at this time. I would love to see Ken run for a statewide office to receive my vote and to show us his legislative/executive chops. All that taken into consideration, I have no doubt that Ken Lewis would make a fine U.S. Senator if the dice roll his way.
Elaine Marshall
A great candidate and campaigner, she has set an unbelievable standard for responsiveness regarding presentation of LGBT issues. And I mean that regardless of any specific position she has taken. What the goal for the Blend this year was to ensure clarity and lack of finessing statements of support on specific legislation so that the LGBT and ally voters can decide for themselves who will best represent them on the Hill.
The campaign is always a reflection of the candidate, and the people Elaine Marshall chose to surround herself with to ensure clarity of message and outreach has been superb; special mention here goes to staffer Mike Nellis, who not only engaged readers in the comments; he went back to ensure that the campaign's website evolved to ensure Marshall's views were clearly stated -- and with remarkable turnaround time.
Constituent services regarding our federal office holders has been a pet peeve of mine for some time now. It's time for another Senator who is able to reach the level of service of the late Jesse Helms, a reviled man who still knew that responding and taking seriously every constituent inquiry, even if he disagreed with them, was acknowledged and received respect. And that was one reason he managed to get re-elected.
Based on positive interaction at this level during the campaign, Senator Marshall will understand this need and establish clear and effective channels of communication to her constituents and restore the people's confidence in the ability of federal office holders to remember who sent them there to serve.
Good luck in the primary, Elaine.
NOTE FOR NC VOTERS: One-Stop Voting began on Thursday, April 15, 2010 and ends on Saturday, May, 1, 2010. Here is the list of one-stop voting sites in your county; check the hours for each site.
A summary of candidate positions pulled from campaign web sites and the liveblogs to date.