Neal doesn't get HRC endorsement
A couple of folks who follow politics from a LGBT perspective have written about the non-endorsement of Human Rights Campaign, a political action committee that advocates on behalf of gay causes and candidates, in the U.S. Senate race between Chapel Hill investment advisor Jim Neal and State Sen. Kay Hagan.
From a Washington Blade writer by way of the Southern Voice website:
Joe Solmonese, HRC president, said the organization would wait until after North Carolina holds its primary May 6 before endorsing Neal or his main primary opponent, veteran state Sen. Kay Hagan."She has a good record," he said. "It's a tough race to call in terms of the primary, and so I think, you know, our community down there — sometimes sitting here in Washington, Jim Neal is certainly someone who a lot of people have really been following here in Washington as an openly gay candidate, but our community down in North Carolina is really rather split between him and Kay Hagan. So we’ve got another ... couple of weeks, and we're going to wait and see who the nominee is before we make a decision there."
This prompted HuffPo Blogger Howie Klein to write:
But it was a Senate race they chose to ignore that is the most shocking and disappointing element of their announcement today. North Carolina has two extreme right wing senators, Elizabeth Dole and Richard Burr, each of whom can always be counted on to do whatever they can to make the lives of gay men and women less palatable and less safe. One, Elizabeth Dole, is up for re-election in November. There are two Democrats in a neck and neck primary battle to take her on, Republican-lite establishment-backed Kay Hagan and grassroots progressive Jim Neal ... Yes, one of the first times that an uncloseted gay man is running for the U.S. Senate -- in a race he can win -- and HRC is... abstaining.
I don't know that the HRC endorsement would have carried a lot of vote in North Carolina, but Neal certainly could have used the fundraising boost.
