Thread: Gay republican strategist ponders run for the white house

Note: The headline on an earlier version of this story incorrectly said Fred Karger is running for president. Karger is exploring a possible run for president.

Crashing the party: Republican strategist turned gay rights activist ponders a White House run

video
Karger in commercial "Good Morning, New Hampshire" from his presidential exploratory committee (enlarge video)
Karger appears in "McMillan & Wife" opposite Rock Hudson in 1974 (enlarge video)

By Dan Zak
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, February 2, 2011; 12:31 PM

ON ROUTE 202, N.H. — The candidate can't find his lane. The road is a crunchy carpet of snow. The candidate drifts too far to the right. The rumble strip rattles his car. The candidate drifts too far to the left.

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"I can't tell where — " he says, squinting into the swirling void.

"We're in the middle of the road," says his research assistant calmly.

The car stereo belts the Act 1 finale from the Broadway musical "Wicked," which is about the Wicked Witch of the West and how she chose Evil to get ahead but then chose Good because that's how all fables end.

The candidate — the man behind the wheel, the man who can't find his lane — is a guy named Fred. He's exploring the possibility of running for president of the United States.

He is doing this as an openly gay Republican who's never held elective office, using money he amassed as a conservative consultant who helped torpedo Michael Dukakis with the Willie Horton ads in 1988 and worked for the tobacco industry to stave off smoking bans in California in the '90s.

Fred Karger, 61, is a nice guy.

He wants his country to see that. He wants young gay people to see him run for president. He'd be the first-ever openly gay presidential candidate for a major party if he formally declares. He can see himself as the moderate voice in a debate crowded with hard-liners.

He has visited New Hampshire more than any other presidential prospector in this young election cycle. This skiddy late-night ride from a gathering in Keene to his Concord hotel is part of his 11th trip to the state in the past year. He's slingshotting around, hosting tiny town halls, collecting volunteers one by one and arranging coffee dates with policy experts, academics and state politicians.

This is not a stunt, Fred insists.

* * *

A vital and misleading amendment to the American dream is "Anyone Can Grow Up to Be President."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... id=topnews

Fred Karger

From Wikipedia

Born January 31, 1950 (1950-01-31) (age 61)
Chicago, Illinois, United States
Political party Republican Party
self-identified
Independent Republican
Alma mater University of Denver
Occupation Political consultant
Gay rights activist
Actor
Religion Judaism[1][dubious – discuss]
Website fredkarger.com

Fred Karger (born January 31, 1950) is an American Republican political consultant, gay rights activist and watchdog. Although he has not held elected or public office, Karger has worked on nine presidential campaigns and served as a senior consultant to the campaigns of Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush and Gerald Ford.[2][3] Karger was a partner at the Dolphin Group, a California campaign consulting firm.[2][3] He retired after 27 years and has since worked as an activist on gay rights causes, from protecting the gay bar The Boom to investigating the LDS Church's and the National Organization for Marriage's campaigns to repeal gay marriage through his organization, Californians Against Hate.[4] He is running for the 2012 Republican nomination for president.[5][6][7][8][9]

[edit] Political career[edit] Political consultantKarger's political career began with the Dolphin Group in 1977. He served as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer through 2004. During his tenure, Karger helped lead the campaigns of California Governor George Deukmejian, Lt. Governor Mike Curb, the Presidential campaigns of Senator Robert Dole (R-KS), Senator Paul Laxalt (R-NV), Governor John Connally (R-TX), Senator Charles Percy (R-IL) and dozens of other federal, state and local candidates. He managed statewide and local ballot measure campaigns, judicial campaigns, and served on several campaign finance and steering committees.[2][3]

Karger consulted on behalf of developers, farmers, consumer product companies, the hospitality industry and a variety of other business in their dealings with local, state and the federal government.[3][10]

[edit] 2012 presidential bidOn April 10, 2010, Fred Karger held a press conference at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference (SRLC) in New Orleans, to announce that he is "seriously considering becoming a candidate for President of the United States in 2012 as an Independent Republican."[11] He attended the SRLC with other potential Republican Presidential hopefuls such as Sarah Palin, Ron Paul, Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich and Gary Johnson.[12] Since making his announcement, Karger has been to Iowa and New Hampshire several times, holding town hall meetings, talking to voters, as well as meeting with political, LGBTQ, AIDS organization leaders and the media.[13][14]

In August 2010, Karger announced he had formed an exploratory committee for the United States presidential election of 2012.[15]

In November 2010, Karger aired a weeklong ad campaign in Iowa which was described as the first television commercial of the 2012 presidential race. Steve Scheffler, an Iowa delegate to the national Republican National Committee, has said Karger is part of the radical homosexual community.[16] His campaign has made use of the slogan "Fred Who?" [17]

He has been endorsed by The Real World: Washington D.C. cast member Mike Manning.[18]

[edit] Political positions[edit] Gay marriageKarger supports repealing the Defense of Marriage Act[19]
Karger supports making same sex marriage the "law of the land"[19]
[edit] MilitaryKarger supports ending the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy.[20][19]
[edit] IsraelKarger has compared his pro-Israel record with that of Menachim Begin, former Israeli primer minister and founder of the Likud party.[21]
[edit] 28th AmendmentKarger has proposed a 28th Amendment to the United States Constitution which would grant 16- and 17-year-olds the right to vote. He argues that such an amendment would encourage younger people to participate in the political process. [22]
[edit] OtherKarger says he aims to improve education and create jobs in the U.S.[20] He also supports immigration reform.[20]
[edit] Career as an activistAfter retiring from the Dolphin Group in 2004, Karger became a gay activist. Karger first organized a non-profit group called Save the Boom to save a historic gay bar in Laguna Beach California from the wrecking ball.[23][24]

In July 2008, Karger founded Californians Against Hate to serve as a political watchdog of the major donors and organizations working to take away gay marriage in California through Proposition 8.[25] Through this, Karger and Californians Against Hate published the Dishonor Roll, a list of the over-$5000 donors to Proposition 8.[26] Karger and Californians Against Hate have waged four boycotts of companies whose families gave large contributions to qualify and pass Proposition 8:

Manchester Grand Hyatt Hotel: San Diego developer Doug Manchester donated $125,000 to Proposition 8.[27] Manchester owns the Manchester Grand Hyatt Hotel, Southern California’s largest hotel. Karger initiated a boycott of the Manchester Grand Hyatt Hotel in July 2008, garnering the support of local gay organizations and UNITE HERE Local 30, the hotel workers. Hotel Marketing Director Kelly Commerford confirmed that cancellations resulting directly from the boycott had cost the hotel $7 million just in the first 8 months.[28] Californians Against Hate estimates that the boycott continues to cost the hotel $1 million a month.[29]
A-1 Self Storage: Terry Caster owns A-1 Self Storage; he and his family donated a total of $693,000 to Proposition 8.[30] Caster also claims that gay marriage would create a “sick society.â€