Nationally, gay voters seem to be overwhelmingly supporting Democrats in the 2008 presidential campaign, with Hillary Clinton holding onto a clear lead; but that's not true for gays in Chicago or the Midwest, at least not for those with money to give to their favorite candidates. Instead, Chicago's gayest neighborhoods are funneling a lion's share ( 80 percent ) of their dollars to native son Barack Obama, with only 12 percent and 8 percent going to Clinton and Edwards, respectively. And the Midwest appears to be doing much the same: 76 percent to Obama, 16 percent to Clinton and 8 percent to John Edwards.
That's what data from the first two quarterly fundraising reports suggest. The Federal Elections Commission made the July quarterly report available online last week ( July 15 ) . That data, added to the April quarterly, provides an indirect measure of support inside areas with heavily gay neighborhoods.
Looking at contributions to the top three polling Democratic candidates for president, the data from the first two quarterly reports of the 2008 campaign season show that, nationally, Clinton is leading in heavily gay areas with 48 percent of the contributions, Obama in second with 39 percent, and Edwards trailing with 13 percent. Looking at all six candidates –top three Democrats and top three Republican-- she's leading with 37 percent of the contributions.
Clinton's portion is down slightly—from 51 percent in April to 48 percent now. Edwards' number is up slightly, from 10 percent in April to 13 percent now. Obama's percentage ( 39 ) has not changed.
Edwards supporter and longtime Democratic gay activist David Mixner attributes the increase in Edwards' portion to the campaign's outreach to the LGBT community, saying it 'has been incredible.'
'Elizabeth Edwards is becoming one of our great supporters and that is exciting to see it unfold,' said Mixner.
Both Edwards and Clinton have made highly visible and concerted efforts to court the gay vote.
Still, there is no evidence that the 'gay dollars' are weighing especially heavy in any candidate's coffers or that gay contributors have maxed out. Clinton has raised a total of $52 million from individuals, thus far; the $2.2 million she's raised in the 33 gayest zip code areas amounts to about four percent. Obama has raised $58 million; so the $1.7 million from the gayest zip codes amounts to about 3 percent of his total. Contributions from the gayest zip codes amounted to about three percent of Edwards' overall $22 million raised.
In gay zip code areas, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani raised the most ( $759,926 ) among the top three polling Republicans, and he even raised more than Democrat John Edwards ( $604,255 ) . But Giuliani's percentage of dollars dropped dramatically between the April and July quarterly reports.
Unlike with Democrats, who collected money in every zip code area, there were several areas where the top three polling Republicans were shut out. The Northhampton zip code of 01062 has given zero dollars to Giuliani, Romney or McCain thus far this year. San Diego's University Heights ( 92116 ) , San Francisco's Mission ( 94131 ) , and Chicago's Andersonville ( 60640 ) have completely snubbed Giuliani and Romney. And Philadelphia's Southwark ( 19147 ) has rebuffed Romney and McCain.
In examining the April and July reports together, this reporter looked at 33 zip codes with well-known heavily gay neighborhoods. The zip codes spanned 20 cities in 12 states and were chosen based on three criteria: the number and percentage of same-sex households counted in the 2000 Census; their rankings in a gay market study ( by gaymarketexpress.com ) of online membership in gay web sites to determine where gay people reside; and a survey of editors in major U.S. cities.
GOOD QUESTION: Why did Hillary Clinton's campaign cancel a scheduled July 27 appearance at a health clinic in Moorefield, W. Va., whose president is a lesbian and a gay resort that caters to the LGBT community? A campaign spokesperson told the Associated Press it was just a matter of insufficient time. But the Mountain Medical clinic administration's lesbian president, Renee Lohman, told the gay newspaper Southern Voice that the clinic simply fell short of its $150,000 fundraising goal for the campaign.