TODAY'S SCHEDULE

SATURDAY, AUG. 23

Breakfast
9:30AM-10:45AM

Breakout Sessions
9:30AM-10:45AM

Breakout Sessions
11:00AM-12:15AM

Lunch Plenary
12:30PM-2:00PM

Breakout Sessions
2:15PM-3:30PM

Closing Session
3:45PM-5:15PM

Authors' Café
3:45PM-5:45PM

Not-So-Silent Auction
6:45PM-8:45PM

View the full schedule here

TODAY'S WEATHER

WHAT IS NLGJA?

Find out more about NLGJA at the official website.

MENTORS

A big thanks to our mentors:

Brett Zongker
The Associated Press

Caroline K. Hauser
The Washington Post

Mark S. Luckie
Entertainment Weekly

Larry M. Shaw
ABC

Dennis M. Powell
ABC

Doug Mitchell
NPR

Former Senate candidate shares campaign experiences

by Oscar Raymundo

Washington can be a mean city, said Jim Neal, the former Democratic senate candidate from North Carolina, during Thursday's "Congressional Confidential," a plenary at NLGJA's 2008 LGBT Media Summit.

Neal, an openly gay politician, told moderator Stephen Macias of here! Networks that he never considered his sexual orientation a roadblock. However, the media and the political establishment in Washington had some concerns.

"There were some constituencies in D.C. that had doubts that a gay person could win in North Carolina," said Neal, who in May lost after a grueling grass-roots campaign for a U.S. Senate seat.

The biggest barrier that stood between Neal and the Senate was money.

"I don't think our Founding Fathers intended for money to have such a pervasive and corrosive influence in our democracy," he said.

He spent $125,000 of his own money backing his $400,000 campaign and refused to take any money from political action committees. He traveled to 80 out of 100 counties in North Carolina, giving speeches on several platforms.

That wasn't enough; his campaign ran out of money about the same time that his opponent, Kay Hagan, began television commercials. Neal does not regret embarking on his senatorial campaign, but he does lament that it came down to money.

Charlotte, N.C., QNotes reporter Matt Comer reinforced Neal's perception that his lack of funding was a primary setback.

"Running a small campaign, you have to travel, and people appreciate that," Comer said.

"But lots of voters go in and mark the name that's more familiar. Hagan had the name recognition." Hagan is a state representative in North Carolina; she is competing against Sen. Elizabeth Dole in November.

When Macias asked if Neal thought a gay couple could ever make it to the White House within our lifetime, Neal didn't hesitate to respond, "Absolutely."

"Our country's been all about exceeding expectations," he said. "We've never been ready for anything until someone does it. You live in the D.C. bubble and drink the Kool-Aid, but it is possible."

Neal is ambivalent about running again. The campaign is currently $130,000 in debt, and he is living off credit cards, but he doesn't dismiss the possibility of one day returning to the campaign trail to try to make his way back to Washington.

"It was hard, and it hit me," he said. "The campaign was not about me. I don't have an ego. I didn't want to go to Washington and climb up the food chain. I knew I could make a difference and had trouble deciding whether I would be more effective with or without the political establishment."

Neal foresees a solution to his money problem.

"I think that the Internet, with small donors from all over the country, is going to lead the way to campaign finance reform," Neal said.