Election fever descends upon Pa.

Even though the Pennsylvania primary is more than six weeks away, local LGBT politicos and activists are already gearing up for what promises to be a hotly contested campaign in the Commonwealth.

Jesse Salazar has organized potential voters to support Illinois Sen. Barack Obama since last September. He has focused his efforts around Lewisburg in Union County and other rural areas throughout central Pennsylvania. Salazar, who is a candidate to become a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in August, said he was initially surprised at how many people he said they would vote for Obama.

"I was shocked at how many people were coming out in support for Obama," he said. "These are very, very small communities with 900 here, 1,100 here and I found wide support for Barack Obama."

Salazar is not the only potential LGBT delegate from Pennsylvania. Liberty City Democratic Club co-chair Rue Landau is an Obama delegate. Salazar said he expects local LGBT activists to become even more involved in the campaign in the coming weeks.

"It's going to really intensify," he said. "I know calls have been made and outreach has been done."

Liberty City co-chair Ray Murphy agreed. His organization plans to make its formal endorsement at a meeting at the William Way Community Center on March 24, but he stressed he and his members will examine each candidate carefully before they make their final decision.

"We're going to go through a process to determine the best LGBT-friendly candidate for our organization," Murphy said. "We look forward to finding that candidate and working to get the vote out for them."

Stacey Sobel, executive director of Equality Advocates Pennsylvania, added her organization will join Liberty City and others to urge LGBT Pennsylvanians to vote in the primary. The entire House of Representatives and half of the state Senate are up for re-election this year, and a proposed Constitutional amendment to ban marriage for same-sex couples and a bill to expand the Commonwealth's non-discrimination law are currently before lawmakers. Sobel stressed she feels this election has implications in Harrisburg as well as in Washington.

"Not only do we have a presidential election... but there are significant state and local elections that could impact LGBT people," she said. "We would really encourage people to vote and to find out their candidate's positions on LGBT issues."

Chris Labonte, a member of the Human Rights Campaign's Philadelphia Region Steering Committee, agreed. He added the election provides LGBT people an opportunity to become more involved in the political process.

"It provides an opportunity for the GLBT community in Pennsylvania... to organize ourselves," LaBonte said.

With no clear Democratic frontrunner following primaries and caucuses in Ohio, Rhode Island, Texas and Vermont earlier this week, the April 23 primary could play a pivotal role in determining whether Clinton or Obama receives their party's nod for the general election this November. A Quinnipiac University poll released late last month found Clinton was ahead of Obama by a 49 to 43 percent margin.

Governor Ed Rendell and Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter have both endorsed Clinton while University of Pennsylvania Law School professor Tobias Wolff remains Obama's chief policy advisor on LGBT issues.

Murphy categorized this primary as historic because he feels it marks the first time Pennsylvania voters - including those who are LGBT - could potentially determine the Democratic nominee for the White House.

"What is new is that we are actually having a role in the presidential election," he said. "The Democratic LGBT community in Philadelphia is excited and fired up in having a role in this upcoming primary."

Sobel further stressed she feels LGBT voters have an opportunity to have their voices heard.

"We really urge people to get involved locally and make informed, educated decisions because the people we elect have a direct impact on people in our community," she said.