The Democrats usually don’t experience much stress when it comes to recruiting candidates. They’ve got two behemoths running for Governor. They’ve got candidates running against Congressmen Robin Hays and Walter Jones. And they’ve even got a candidate running for Congress in the Tenth District – where a Democrat hasn’t been elected in forty years.

But they’ve struck out down the line when it comes to Elizabeth Dole. The only candidate to actually declare is a Wall Street investment banker from Chapel Hill which – since every Democrat from Richard Moore to Hillary Clinton is pummeling Wall Street this election – didn’t look too promising. Then it got worse. Jim Neal, the investment banker, announced he is gay.

That sent Democrats into a tailspin.

Ian Palmquist, executive director of Equality North Carolina, a gay advocacy group, tried to reassure them saying, hopefully, “Voters are a lot more interested in what a candidate has to say about the issue that matters to them, than their sexual orientation.”

Don’t count on it. Most folks are a lot more interested in sex than politics.

At any rate suddenly faced with the prospect of either Beverly Perdue or Richard Moore sharing podiums this fall with North Carolina’s first openly-gay Senate candidate – and listening to debates on gay marriage – Democrats put on the full court press to get another candidate. And state Senator Kay Hagan obliged by changing her mind and announcing she will run.

In the meantime, Elizabeth Dole must be counting her lucky stars.

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