By Bil Browning
Cross-posted at Bilerico

Give us your best caption to win the fame and fortune that belongs to the wittiest Projector.

By Michael Crawford

We are down to the wire folks with only seven days until election day. In that seven days we can expect McCain, Palin and the GOP to throw as much slime and diversion as they can muster to try to scare, terrorize and fool voters into voting for them.

We can’t let them get away with it. Not this time. Not this year. Not when so much is at stake.

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By Michael Crawford

With a week to go before election day, Sen. Barack Obama delivers his “closing argument” as to why we should elect him as our next president.

John McCain, Sarah Palin and the GOP will throw every bit of slime and diversion they can muster to try to scare, terrorize and fool voters into voting for them. We have to expose their lies and continue to talk to voters about why a victory by Sen. Obama is so crucial for us as LGBT people and for the country.

You know that there is something going on when Oppie, Andy Griffith and The Fonz get together to encourage you to vote.

By Richard J. Rosendall
First published October 23, 2008 in Bay Windows

I don’t remember counting down the days before an election the way I’m doing this year. Others are doing the same thing. Last Friday night outside DC’s Lincoln Theatre, as fans arrived for the Reel Affirmations film festival, I found an old friend who was a proud Hillary Clinton supporter selling Obama Pride t-shirts. The crisp autumn air has brought Democrats the smell of victory.

We’re a long way from last January. Back then, a prominent, progressive gay blogger asked me whom I supported for President. “Obama,” I replied. He was incredulous. “Do you really think a black man can get elected?” he asked. “I don’t know,” I said, “but I plan to vote for him.” “Most white people will never vote for him,” he assured me. One of many satisfactions from an Obama victory will be the disposal of smug dismissals like that one.

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Things may be looking good for Sen. Barack Obama right now, but that does not mean that our work is done and that we can start planning for inauguration day. Two weeks is a long time in an election and the McCain undoubtedly has many dirty tricks up their Rovian sleeves.

We must work as hard as we did when Obama and Sen. Joe Biden were down on the polls and Sarah Palin had just begun winking her way into the hearts of (male) right-wing ideologues. That’s why you should read the following and do all that you can to get out the vote for Obama and Biden on November 4.

TOP 5 REASONS OBAMA SUPPORTERS SHOULDN’T REST EASY

1. The polls may be wrong. This is an unprecedented election. No one knows how racism may affect what voters tell pollsters—or what they do in the voting booth. And the polls are narrowing anyway. In the last few days, John McCain has gained ground in most national polls, as his campaign has gone even more negative.

2. Dirty tricks. Republicans are already illegally purging voters from the rolls in some states. They’re whipping up hysteria over ACORN to justify more challenges to new voters. Misleading flyers about the voting process have started appearing in black neighborhoods. And of course, many counties still use unsecure voting machines.

3. October surprise. In politics, 15 days is a long time. The next McCain smear could dominate the news for a week. There could be a crisis with Iran, or Bin Laden could release another tape, or worse.

4. Those who forget history… In 2000, Al Gore won the popular vote after trailing by seven points in the final days of the race. In 1980, Reagan was eight points down in the polls in late October and came back to win. Races can shift—fast!

5. Landslide. Even with Barack Obama in the White House, passing universal health care and a new clean-energy policy is going to be hard. Insurance, drug and oil companies will fight us every step of the way. We need the kind of landslide that will give Barack a huge mandate.

If you agree that we shouldn’t rest easy, please sign up to volunteer at your local Obama office by clicking here:

http://pol.moveon.org/obama/office.html?source=blog&id=14534-4287560-uoUVCox&t=1

By Michael Crawford
On Meet the Press moments ago Gen. Colin Powell crossed party lines to endorse Barack Obama for president. This is amazing and follows the Obama campaigns announcement of its fundraising totals for September.

David Plouffe, Barack’s campaign manager, reported the news to supporters via a special online video update. The average contribution was $86. The previous record was $66 million set by the Obama campaign in August. The total number of people that have contributed to the campaign is 3.1 million.

This news will undoubtedly make the McCain/Palin campaign and the GOP go apoplectic. They will unleash a wave of racist, xenophobic and slanderous attacks against Barack and Joe Biden unlike anything we have seen in recent presidential campaigns. Already McCain has hired three of the attack machine specialists who spread the lies and innuendo that sunk McCain’s presidential campaign in 2000. Among the lies they spread during the 2000 South Carolina primary was that the Bangladeshi child that McCain and his wife Cindy adopted was McCain’s illegitimate Black daughter. If they are were willing to go after a member of their own party like this, can you imagine the bile they are prepared to unload against Barack?

This makes it all the more important that for the next 16 days we do all that we can to ensure that Barack is elected our next president. The time for the viciousness of hyper-partisan Republican politics is over.

By Michael Crawford
Cross-posted at Bilerico

There has never been a presidential nominee from either political party that is as supportive of LGBT civil rights as Sen. Barack Obama, the Democratic nominee. He has long fought for civil and equal rights for minorities including the LGBT community. And, in the presidential campaign, Sen. Obama has included LGBT Americans numerous times in his speeches.

After the jump is a list of Sen. Obama’s positions on LGBT issues.

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By Waymon Hudson
Cross-posted at Bilerico - Florida

I recently had the chance to talk to Steve Hildebrand, the Deputy Campaign Manager for the Obama Campaign and the highest ranking gay staffer for the campaign.

Steve has spent more than twenty years organizing some of the most targeted and high profile political campaigns in the nation and is recognized as one of the best political strategists in the United States. Working extensively in South Dakota, Iowa and Minnesota, Steve has managed races and ran two political parties. He served as Midwest Political Director for the DNC during the Clinton re-elect in 1996 and as Political Director at the DSCC in 97/98. In 99/2000, Steve ran the Iowa caucuses for Vice President Gore and ran the Women Vote! Program for EMILY’s List in 2000. He managed Senator Tim Johnson’s campaign in 2002 and Senator Tom Daschle’s campaign in 2004. In 2007, decided to serve as the Deputy Campaign Manager for Senator Barack Obama’s presidential campaign.

The full interview, with discussion ranging from LGBT voter outreach to Anti-Gay Marriage Amendments to a fully-inclusive ENDA, after the jump.

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By Michael Crawford

Today the Chicago Tribune endorsed Barack Obama for the presidency. This is the first time in the 161 year history of the Tribune that they have endorsed a Democratic presidential candidate.

Obama is deeply grounded in the best aspirations of this country, and we need to return to those aspirations. He has had the character and the will to achieve great things despite the obstacles that he faced as an unprivileged black man in the U.S.

He has risen with his honor, grace and civility intact. He has the intelligence to understand the grave economic and national security risks that face us, to listen to good advice and make careful decisions.

When Obama said at the 2004 Democratic Convention that we weren’t a nation of red states and blue states, he spoke of union the way Abraham Lincoln did.

It may have seemed audacious for Obama to start his campaign in Springfield, invoking Lincoln. We think, given the opportunity to hold this nation’s most powerful office, he will prove it wasn’t so audacious after all. We are proud to add Barack Obama’s name to Lincoln’s in the list of people the Tribune has endorsed for president of the United States.