Gay Republicans are exhaling a big phew tonight, happy that Mitt Romney braked Newt Gingrich’s one-state surge.
Faced with an antagonistic Gingrich, or Romney, who doesn’t support gay marriage but isn’t anti-gay, Republican gays in Florida were pushing for a Romney win.
“Having Gingrich out there reminding voters that Romney has stated support for gay rights will probably play well in Florida,” said Clarke Cooper, executive director of Log Cabin Republicans, the party’s 22,000-member gay organization.
In advance of tonight’s overwhelming victory for Romney, the group held a caucus last weekend and Romney won. At a meeting of club executives, Romney out-polled Gingrich 26-4.
“Overall, the general populous in the Sunshine State has become increasingly supportive of gay rights related positions such as employment non-discrimination and the freedom to marry,” Cooper said in an interview. “Any candidate attempting to use gays as a dividing rod in the 2012 election is bucking public trends of inclusion and will find themselves unable to win a general election. Politics is about addition and the long term gains are made through building coalitions, not employing wedge issues,” he added.
