InterstateQ.com

Now the Carolina spotlight disappears

Wonderful evening. Exciting and engaging. You could practically feel the energy among North Carolinians yesterday. For the first time in a really long time (like the first time in my life, although that doesn’t mean much, lol), North Carolina’s primary actually meant something.

In case you missed the results (victor in red):

President (Democrat)
Hillary Clinton (DEM) — 41.47% — 660,747
Mike Gravel (DEM) — 0.78% — 12,448
Barack Obama (DEM) — 56.30% — 897,017
No Preference (DEM) — 1.45% — 23,123

U.S. Senate (Democrat)
Kay Hagan (DEM) — 60.25% — 811,566
Duskin C. Lassiter (DEM) — 4.60% — 61,985
Jim Neal (DEM) — 18.04% — 242,967
Howard Staley (DEM) — 4.47% — 60,232
Marcus W. Williams (DEM) — 12.64% — 170,263

Governor (Democrat)
Richard H. Moore (DEM) — 39.87% — 601,071
Dennis Nielsen (DEM) — 4.02% — 60,653
Bev Perdue (DEM) — 56.10% — 845,698

Governor (Republican)
Bill Graham (REP) — 9.26% — 46,800
Pat McCrory (REP) — 46.25% — 233,877
Robert F. (Bob) Orr (REP) — 6.74% — 34,104
E. Powers (REP) — 0.88% — 4,451
Fred Smith (REP) — 36.87% — 186,402

Lt. Governor (Democrat)
Walter H. Dalton (DEM) — 45.47% — 609,744
Hampton Dellinger (DEM) — 33.89% — 454,449
Pat Smathers (DEM) — 13.67% — 183,281
Dan Besse (DEM) — 6.97% — 93,462

Lt. Governor (Republican)
Timothy Cook (REP) — 11.97% — 53,257
Greg Dority (REP) — 10.04% — 44,685
Robert Pittenger (REP) — 59.06% — 262,808
Jim Snyder (REP) — 18.94% — 84,265

Unfortunately, my candidates weren’t the lucky ones last night. Obama took North Carolina over Hillary, Jim Neal couldn’t push off Kay Hagan and Dan Besse hardly registered at all when it came to polling day.

I had hoped Hillary’s upward movement in the polling leading up to the primary meant she had some sort of momentum. It was a long shot, but I at least still dreamed of a Clinton victory.

My biggest worry about the presidential race is that McCain will win in November:

A solid majority of each Democratic hopeful’s voters said they would not be satisfied if the other candidate wins the nomination. Nearly two-thirds of Clinton voters said they’d be dissatisfied with Obama, compared with 52 percent in 25 primaries where the question was asked previously. About six in 10 Obama voters said they would be dissatisfied with Clinton as the nominee, more than have said that in any state to date.

Just how dissatisfied? A third of Clinton backers claimed they would vote for Republican John McCain if he faces Obama in November. One in five Obama supporters said they would vote for McCain over Clinton.

There will continue to be a lot of unhappy folks if the party doesn’t do some serious healing.

Regarding the Senate race, I dreamed of a Jim Neal win. I’ve run into lots of folks who voted for Kay Hagan. “Being gay is just a small part of my life,” they say. “Why should I base my vote on my sexual orientation?” The answer is that you shouldn’t, but you should also consider who is the best candidate. If Kay Hagan wins in November then we’ll have a Democratic senator again — wonderful, great and yay. If she doesn’t win, however (and I think it is a long-shot trying to unseat Liddy Dole), then we’ve wasted an entire political season that could have been spent talking about truly progressive, North Carolina ideals.

From Pam Spaulding, Jim’s concession speech:

Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory, the one who all but ignores his LGBT citizens, will face Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue in the race for the Governor’s office. Both McCrory and Perdue will no doubt be able to pull together the financial and organizational resources to run a tight and effective race. Given North Carolina’s historically Democratic nature, it’s going to be a long-shot for any Republican to win against any Democrat for the gubernatorial races.

Despite the numbers from May 6, I’ll come around and coalesce behind my Democratic nominees. I’ve said it many times before: While I might not think the nominee was the best choice from the Party itself, I can at least believe that any Democrat is going to be better than a Republican (at least those Republicans we have to choose from).

Stay tuned to next week’s May 17 issue of Q-Notes for post-Primary coverage and how the results impact the LGBT community.