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Jon
Christensen
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Anti-Gay Zealot Goes Down in
Flames as Moderate Wins Nomination
Fundamentalist Christian
Breaks Down in Tears During Concession Speech
Compiled by
Badpuppy’s GayToday
From a Log
Cabin Republicans Report
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One-time Nebraska front-runner
Rep. Jon Christensen's last-minute attacks in the Republican gubernatorial
primary backfired as Lincoln Mayor Mike Johanns easily won the nomination
Tuesday.
Christensen, wept as
he gave his concession speech, then looked down at a row of photographers
in front of him.
"You guys up front here taking
my picture -- I beg...that you don't use one of me crying," he said. "This
may be the last time I'm in the paper."
With 64 percent of precincts
reporting, Johanns had 41 percent of the vote. State Auditor John Breslow
was second with 29 percent, while Christensen trailed with 28 percent.
Christensen had been a front-runner
in the race after a late entry. In the final days of the campaign, Christensen
announced he would never hire a gay or lesbian person to work in his state
government, and won the endorsement of anti-gay leader James Dobson of
the Colorado-based Focus on the Family. Dobson, along with far right activist
Gary Bauer, has mounted a multi-million dollar effort to defeat moderate
Republicans in primaries, and has threatened the GOP with a revolt if it
does not adopt his extreme social agenda.
Christensen also bragged
to reporters that his fiancée, a former Miss America, was a virgin,
and unleashed a barrage of negative attacks against Johanns, who positioned
himself as the centrist in the race, including the mailing of a flier accusing
Johanns of not doing enough to remove an "obscene and racist" program from
Lincoln's public-access cable station.
Johanns vehemently disputed
the allegations. The 47-year-old father of two said he had tried to stop
the program -- which showed a man urinating -- but could not because federal
law protected it. Christensen, a 35-year-old fundamentalist Christian,
stood by the flier, saying it would "be a rallying cry for social conservatives."
Johanns welcomed the backlash.
"Thank you, Jon Christensen, for energizing my team with your shabby campaign
tactics," he said. "They are motivated and going to be out there in droves."
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