The Trail
On the Gay Bar
Circuit
with Chelsea and the
Gov.
By Perry Bacon Jr.
from the Web, April 19, 2008
PHILADELPHIA -- In her
family's non-stop campaigning in Pennsylvania, Chelsea Clinton got the
post-midnight duty on Friday night: stumping in Philadelphia's gay bars.
Hillary Clinton's big supporter in the state, Gov. Ed Rendell, always heads to
four or five of the most popular of them before elections, and he invited the
former first daughter along for the trip.
And so it was that, as she walked out of Tavern on Carmac after midnight, a
crowd of men outside the bar shouted "We love your highlights!" and "You're
gorgeous, baby."
Clinton turned around, saying "thank you, but that's not why you should vote for
my mom."
As 50 men and a handful of women gathered around her in the middle of Carmac
Street, Clinton gave a five-minute discourse on her mother's education policy,
explaining the flaws of No Child Left Behind and how her mother would fix it.
"The gay community has great feelings toward the [former] president and Hillary
and they happen to love Chelsea," Rendell said.
A crowd of more than two dozen followed Clinton from Tavern to Woodies, a couple
of blocks down the street. After being introduced by Rendell, Clinton gave a
brief speech to the mostly male crowd, which briefly stopped dancing and
checking out the dancers standing on tables (and wearing only briefs) to listen
to her.
"I'm so excited to be here," she told the crowd. She shook hands, posed for
pictures, and thanked her mother's supporters before quickly heading out. Unlike
her mother, she didn't down any whiskey shots.
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