When Archpundit passed this site to me for a few weeks, he noted that blogs were, basically, vanity sites. I would like to think that my posting today resulted in the press release out of Hynes’s campaign, but even I am not that vain.
That said, here is the openning paragraph of their release:
"Illinois Comptroller Dan Hynes received the endorsement today of the state’s leading, openly gay, progressive elected officials, State Representative Larry McKeon (D-13th) and Alderman Tom Tunney (D-44th)."
Now this only makes one of my key points: that Hynes would be able to access the support of the GLBT party regulars. McKeon has been a member of the House for many years, and Tunney is in his first year as an alderman, being tapped by the Mayor, only after two other straight candidates said no to the job. Tunney’s slating came after an openly gay lawyer and neighborhood activist, who is not a party regular — that is, who is independent of the Mayor — pushed the long-time straight alderman of the 44th Ward, which includes the geographic heart of the GLBT community in Chicago, out of the race. Neither Mckeon nor Tunney have ever made waves or backed an independent running in Chicago.
These endoresments are significant, however, particularly if Hynes follows through with a major push for GLBT votes. What he can’t do is rely on McKeon or Tunney for get-out-the-vote, because neither have field operations. But these endoresments can be leveraged in operations designed to get out GLBT voters.
Finally, a bit of free advice: although in some peoples’ political world the mayor of Oak Park, or city council people from Oak Park and Wheeling, or Cook County judges may not be "leading" figures, there are openly gay and lesbian electeds in these posts, so I would suggest that the Hynes’s campaign tread lightly with the adjectives.