2004 Elections

Throughout the 2004 campaign, the grassroots members of Log Cabin will work tirelessly to elect fair-minded Republican candidates to all levels of government. We will educate others in our party about the importance of fairness for gay and lesbian voters. We will dedicate our time and financial resources to creating a more inclusive GOP. We care about our nation's future, so we work to build our party's future on a foundation of freedom, fairness and equality.

Log Cabin represents a majority of the Republican Party who believes inclusion wins. Polls estimate at least one-third of gay and lesbian voters will support fair-minded Republican candidates. With the electorate still closely divided, we represent a powerful voice for fairness.

A winning strategy depends on unifying the GOP electorate, not dividing it. The radical right has sparked a culture war in our party-threatening the GOP's ability to attract the fair-minded swing voters who will determine the outcome of November's election. The GOP risks letting history repeat itself. At the 1992 Republican National Convention, failed presidential candidate Pat Buchanan fired the first shot in what he called, "a fight for the soul of America." His harsh anti-gay, anti-immigrant, anti-family, and anti-free market rhetoric divided the GOP and antagonized swing voters. With moderates alienated from the GOP, a few months later, President George H.W. Bush lost his bid for re-election. Bill Clinton became President.

Two years later Republicans won back Congress for the first time in 40 years by focusing on popular mainstream issues: returning trust to Congress, reforming welfare, making government smaller, and balancing the budget. Republican leaders soon forgot that winning strategy. In 1996, Bob Dole made the same mistakes as the first President Bush-even returning a donation from the Log Cabin Republicans. Again, Democrats won the White House.

In 2000, Republicans again figured out that inclusion wins. George W. Bush united the party by focusing on common beliefs: limited government, low taxes, strong defense, and personal responsibility. Bush defeated Vice-President Al Gore with an estimated 1,000,000 votes from gay and lesbian Americans.

In the 2002 mid-term elections, Bush again led Republicans to victory by uniting the party behind common issues: tax cuts, homeland security, and better schools. However, razor thin victories should not be mistaken for a mandate to govern from the radical right. With an evenly split electorate, it would be a costly mistake for the GOP to again embrace a failed strategy of division and exclusion.

Yet the radical right wants that to happen. They're using anti-gay rhetoric in an effort to force the GOP back to the extreme right on social issues. It's another sign of their desperation. Scare tactics represent the last weapon in their arsenal. They have lost the battle of ideas, so fear is their focus. That was on display after the Supreme Court's groundbreaking decision in Lawrence v. Texas. In June 2003, our nation's highest court offered basic constitutional protection for gay and lesbian Americans.

The radical right has drawn Republican leaders into a culture war as the 2004 election approaches. With polls against them, the radical right has responded with more desperate rhetoric. They're using fears about gay civil marriage in their effort to engineer a public backlash. Scare tactics have failed in the past. They will fail again. That's because most Americans understand the meaning of freedom. It is not reserved for the select few. We all have the right to freedom and personal liberty. The GOP should use history as its guide. Division leads to defeat. If we focus on what unites us, we can win again and build a better America.