Gay Republican Strategist Running for Prez in 2012?

[Matt Collins]

Fred Karger is apparently considering a run for President:


Fred Karger (born January 31, 1950) is a top Republican (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republican_Party_%28United_States%29) political consultant (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_consultant) turned gay rights activist (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gay_rights_activist) and watchdog (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watchdog) in the United States. Karger’s corporate political career spanned three decades, including work on nine presidential campaigns and serving as a senior consultant to the campaigns of Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush and Gerald Ford.[1] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Karger#cite_note-Mencimer-0)[2] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Karger#cite_note-fk-1)[dead link (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Linkrot)] Karger was a partner of one of California's premier campaign consulting firms, the Dolphin Group.[1] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Karger#cite_note-Mencimer-0)[2] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Karger#cite_note-fk-1) He retired after 27 years and has since used his skills in working as an activist on gay causes, from protecting the landmark gay bar The Boom (http://www.savetheboom.com/) to aggressively investigating the Mormon Church (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mormon_Church)’s and the National Organization for Marriage (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Organization_for_Marriage)’s campaigns to repeal gay marriage (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gay_marriage) through his organization, Californians Against Hate (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Californians_Against_Hate).[3] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Karger#cite_note-Morain-2)




On April 10, 2010, Fred Karger held a press conference at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Republican_Leadership_Conference) (SRLC) in New Orleans (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Orleans), to announce that he is “seriously considering becoming a candidate for President of the United States in 2012 as an Independent Republican.”[20] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Karger#cite_note-S_Mencimer-19) He attended the SRLC with other potential Republican Presidential hopefuls such as Sarah Palin (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Palin), Ron Paul (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Paul), Rick Santorum (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Santorum), Newt Gingrich (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newt_Gingrich) and Gary Johnson (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_E._Johnson).[21] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Karger#cite_note-Montopoli-20) Since making his announcement, Karger has been to Iowa (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iowa) and New Hampshire (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Hampshire) several times, holding Town Hall Meetings (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Town_Hall_Meetings), talking to voters, as well as meeting with political, LGBTQ , AIDS organization leaders and the media.[22] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Karger#cite_note-New_Hampshire-21)[23] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Karger#cite_note-K_Ocomb-22)




SOURCE:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Karger

[BuddyRey]

This is the first I've heard of him. I'd like to wish him the best of luck, but I sure hope he's more libertarian than the politicians for whom he labored.

[BuddyRey]

//

[doctor jones]

What are his personal political views?

[AlexMerced]

this would make the debates and the race very interesting, I'm still an RP guy, but I would very much like to see this guy run just for the attention he'd bring, since he'd be the first openly gay primary contender in either party that I can remember that'd sure one up the dems.

[fisharmor]

So, you guys do realize that the entire Republican propaganda machine was directed against a guy who just wants to stop killing brown people, right?
What chance does a gay activist have, really?

[james1906]

So, you guys do realize that the entire Republican propaganda machine was directed against a guy who just wants to stop killing brown people, right?
What chance does a gay activist have, really?

As long as he doesn't expose all the closeted gays in party (and not just the open secret ones like Graham and Dreier), he won't be a target.

[Jordan]

I'd like to see him on stage. He'd give Ron Paul some relative credibility.

[Matt Collins]

I really don't see what his sexuality has to do with anything to be honest.

[AlexMerced]

It has nothing to do with real issues, but let's not pretend his candidacy wouldn't get a lot of media attention and maybe tempt a lot of other gay voters to register R in the primaries which can really change the dynamics of the race for both parties.

His candidacy could really have implications for the race, although hsi sexuality has no real bearing on his qualifications or the issues, but that's not how the public and media operate.