Obama Makes Gay
Ad Buys in Ohio, Texas

Provided by Obama '08

The Obama campaign is lavishing some of its cash advantage on LGBTs with targeted ad buys in Ohio and Texas leading up to the critical March 4 primaries in both states (Rhode Island and Vermont also vote that day). According to Obama LGBT steering committee member Eric Stern, the campaign has just completed an ad buy with queer newspapers in the four largest LGBT markets of those two states -- Columbus, Cleveland, Dallas, and Houston.

Full-page ads will appear starting this Friday in Outlook Weekly of Columbus, the Gay People's Chronicle of Cleveland, the Dallas Voice, and OutSmart, which is Houston-based. Buying a full-page four-color ad that appears one time typically costs anywhere between $1,000 and $2,000 in weekly publications. In the Gay People's Chronicle, for instance, the ad cost about $850, according to the paper's advertising manager; the same ad went for about $1,500 in the Dallas Voice.

The ads were the brainchild of Stampp Corbin, cochair of Senator Obama's National LGBT Leadership Council. Stern called the coordinated buy "the icing on the cake" in terms of the Obama camp's outreach to the gay community in Ohio and Texas. "It's a direct appeal to LGBT voters, asking for their support," he said, adding that the ad includes information about how people can get involved with the campaign. The Obama campaign has actively been trying to cut into the long-standing ties between gays and lesbians and Sen. Hillary Clinton. Stern paraphrased the message of the ad as a "call for the country to come together and unify around creating national progress toward equality for LGBT Americans." (Kerry Eleveld, The Advocate)