Recap of NLGJA Panel: "Will Gays Matter in 2008?"

Sorry for the delay in getting part two of this posted. I promised it yesterday but got a little busy. This political panel took place on Saturday morning as part of the National Gay and Lesbian Gay Journalists Assn. conference. It was organized by IN Los Angeles political reporter Karen Ocamb who moderated the following panelists: Steve Elmendorf, representing the Hillary Clinton campaign; Jeremy Bernard from the Barak Obama campaign; Jason Mida of Victory Fund; Daily Variety Managing Editor Ted Johnson, who does the Wilshire & Washington blog; and conservative blogger Scott Schmidt of the BoiFromTroy site.
Gay marriage was the hottest topic of the session with Elmendorf, who worked on the Kerry-Edwards campaign in 2004, makiing a point of saying "Bill Clinton NEVER called [John] Kerry to tell him to support the anti-marriage federal bill." He said such assertions are "completely and totally untrue."
As far as Sen. Clinton goes, he re-iterated her stance of being in favor of civil unions but leaving marriage up to the states.
Added Bernard: "The front tier candidates are not for marriage. I don't think Edwards is against marriage nor is Hillary. But they're not going to do it politically."
Schmidt, a gay Republican, defended Rudy Guliani's record on the issue noting that the former NYC mayor, thrice-married, acknowledges civil unions at the city and state level, but not federal: "Rudy Guliani actually created civil unions in New York - the only one to accomplish something substantive while he was mayor."
Wondered Mida: "Why does Rudy Guliani have the right to talk to anyone about marriage? He has no place to be talking about the sanctity of marriage."
Bernard lamented that gay marriage is being used as a wedge issue because "it effects lives and it ruins lives. It's horrible for young people coming out and hearing their parents say, 'We have to vote against gay marriage.'"