Ken Mehlman’s Gay-Marriage Mission
For The New Yorker, Richard Socarides considers the work of Ken Mehlman, the openly gay former political director and campaign manager for George W. Bush, as well as the former chairman of the Republican National Committee, in gaining support among conservatives for same-sex marriage. Socarides argues that Mehlman’s personal relationship with many high-profile conservatives was key in his success: “How was Ken Mehlman able to go to all of these people who signed this brief for gay equality and ask them for help? It was because he had worked with and known many of them for decades, and because now they finally knew him.”