Fred Karger, gay rights activist and Republican, wants to run for president

[alp227]

Paul Harris of The Observer, the Sunday edition of the London newspaper The Guardian, profiled 61-year-old veteran Republican operative Fred Karger for the February 13 edition in the story "Gay rights champion aims to become Republican presidential candidate." In the interview, Karger said: "I am a fighter and I am trying to change the Republican party and to open it up to everybody. If every gay person left the Republican party and went to the Democrats, that would be stupid. I believe in smaller federal government and personal responsibility just like my hero, Ronald Reagan."

Karger is already hard at work getting his name out:

Like Karl Rove, he was a disciple of the controversial Republican tactician Lee Atwater. Indeed, Karger played a key role in publicising the "Willie Horton" adverts that destroyed the Democratic candidate Michael Dukakis in 1988. Horton was a jailed murderer let out on a Dukakis-backed weekend release programme in Massachusetts who committed armed robbery, assault and rape while at large. Karger toured the country with relatives of Horton's victims, dealing a fatal blow to Dukakis's image. He does not regret it for a moment. "No, not in the least," he said with a smile.

But there is, obviously, doubt over Karger's chances in a field likely to be dominated by people with higher name recognition who are heterosexuals in a party with a dominant social conservative wing. Yet Karger is already at work in Iowa and New Hampshire, the key first states in the nomination process. He has visited Iowa five times and New Hampshire 11 times in the past year. He has had aired TV adverts (the only potential candidate to do so) and held town hall meetings, attracted volunteers and even hired staff.

Karger was excluded from the homophobic CPAC this year:

Perhaps, then, it is no wonder the Republican establishment is trying its best to exclude him. Last week's meeting of the influential Conservative Political Action Committee in Washington did not invite Karger to speak, though Karger used the snub to generate media attention to his cause. "I cannot help but think that I have been excluded solely because I happen to be gay... I am not some two-headed monster. I want to squash the anti-gay rhetoric," he said.

[derby378]

1. Good luck, man...

You've chosen one hell of a mountain to climb.