Did Dems avoid gay candidate?

(The Charlotte Observer) - Former Wall Street investor Jim Neal of Chapel Hill announced he was running for the U.S. Senate.

N.C. Sen. Kay Hagan of Greensboro declared a week later that she was not running for the U.S. Senate.

Both are Democrats. Guess which one received a phone call from U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer, who heads the Democratic Party's efforts to recruit Senate candidates?

Schumer and the national Democrats, who boast of their party's inclusiveness, effectively ignored Neal, who is openly gay. After he announced his campaign in October, he telephoned Schumer. The call wasn't returned. Neal was the first Democrat to step up to challenge Republican U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole.

Instead, Schumer, of New York, called Hagan, who had taken herself out of the race, and encouraged her to jump back in. She later did.