WASHINGTON – The news that former Bush-Cheney campaign manager Ken Mehlman is now openly gay and will raise funds and strategise for the campaign to legalise gay marriage is a stunning reversal.During Mehlman’s tenure as head of the Republican National Committee and as an adviser to the 2004 Bush campaign, Mehlman helped spearhead some of the most aggressively anti-gay initiatives in American politics.Though his sexuality was something of an open secret in Washington circles, in his public career Mehlman worked on numerous high-profile anti-gay efforts, beginning with the proposed 2004 constitutional amendment to outlaw gay marriage.Back in 2004, gay marriage was still a very effective wedge issue that the Republican Party used to generate high voter turnout in a tough election year, despite Vice-President Dick Cheney’s public disagreement with the strategy. (AP)
