By Gary Barlow

Staff writer

Last February, when he stood on the steps of Illinois’ Old State Capitol in Springfield and announced his run for the presidency, Barack Obama called it “an improbable quest.”

Last week, as his effort to reinvigorate his faltering campaign got lost in a controversy over his ties to a minister who’s anathema to many gays and lesbians, Obama’s early assessment looked more prophetic than ever.

Obama came under a firestorm of criticism for inviting the Rev. Donnie McClurkin to headline an Oct. 28 campaign event for him in South Carolina because McClurkin espouses the belief that faith and prayer can help gays become straight. McClurkin claims he knows that’s possible because he’s done it.

In fact, at the event in South Carolina, rather than play down the controversy, McClurkin told the audience, “God delivered me from homosexuality.”

That’s a belief that most gay advocates—indeed most mental health professionals—call harmful and just plain wrong.

For Obama, having McClurkin represent him to socially conservative black voters was meant to be a way to try to chip away at Hillary Clinton’s widening lead in the race for the Democratic nomination. But while McClurkin may have helped the Illinois senator with some South Carolina voters, it could prove to be a huge mistake with gay and lesbian voters around the country.

Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese, along with other gay leaders, strongly urged Obama to take McClurkin off the bill at the South Carolina campaign event, but Obama refused, telling gays that while he disagreed with McClurkin’s views on homosexuality, including the popular black minister and gospel singer in his campaign was evidence of his desire to bring people of different opinions together. To try to illustrate that, Obama’s campaign even invited an openly gay minister to lead a prayer at the event.

That didn’t appease many gays and lesbians, judging from the protests in the Carolinas and the reaction around the country, and the controversy overshadowed Obama’s effort last weekend to take a more aggressive approach to the highlight differences between himself and Clinton.

Obama’s new campaign strategy, attacking Clinton on issues such as the Iraq War and Social Security, comes as he falls further and further behind the New York senator. Some polls show Clinton leading Obama by as much as 30 points. Specific polls in key states underscore that—polls in the past 10 days show Clinton with double-digit leads over the Illinois senator in states such as Ohio, Maryland, Florida and New Hampshire.

That lead is also translating into an emerging financial advantage for Clinton. After trailing Obama in fundraising early in the year, Clinton pulled ahead of him in the most recent quarter, and a major Democratic fundraiser deserted the Obama camp in favor of Clinton just last week.

The one recent highlight for Obama came in a poll that showed him almost even with Clinton in Iowa. A victory in that state’s caucus Jan. 3 could reenergize the Obama campaign and stop the growing sense that Clinton’s nomination is inevitable.

But even that poll carried a bit of bad news for Obama; Clinton’s narrow lead marked the first time this year that she’s pulled ahead in the University of Iowa poll and could be a sign that her support is peaking at just the right time in the Hawkeye State.

If Clinton wins in Iowa, which she’s repeatedly called her “hardest state,” Democratic political strategists say it would be a tough loss for Obama and other Democratic contenders to overcome.

“If Hillary wins Iowa, she can practically start shopping for a running mate,” Democratic strategist Dan Newman told the Associated Press last week.

Much as he may want to focus on his differences with Clinton, the McClurkin controversy left Obama on the defensive on gay issues as he appeared in Iowa at the beginning of the week.

At the Cedar Rapids Public Library Oct. 29 Obama faced tough scrutiny from a mother who grilled him over what he would do to give her gay son the same marital rights as heterosexuals.

“You want the word marriage and I believe that the issue of marriage has become so entangled—the word marriage­—has become so entangled with religion that it makes more sense for me as president, with that authority, to talk about the civil rights that are conferred” with civil unions, Obama said, according to the Des Moines Register.

While that mirrors Clinton’s position, it didn’t satisfy the questioner, who said, “There isn’t an electable candidate out there that has given me the answer I want.”