ARIZONA REPUBLICAN GAY BLADE, JIM KOLBE, LEAVING CONGRESS

There are plenty of gay Republicans in Congress-- in fact, according to one right-wing homophobe, the entire Republican Party is crawling with closeted homosexuals. But only one gay Republican congressman has come out of the closet officially-- and he only did so to beat THE ADVOCATE to the punch when they announced they were outing him because of hypocritical votes on gay issues. That's John Kolbe-- and he just announced he isn't running for re-election. (Yes, yes, everyone knows that GOP right-wing congressloons David Dreier, Jim McCrery and Mark Foley are also very gay but they all try to keep up a front and get photographed with beards and stuff to hide it from their constituents.)

It's been buzzing around the rumor mill all week but today Jim Kolbe confirmed that he's not seeking re-election for a 12th term in his Tucson district. A.P. writer Paul Davenport reports that the 63 year old Kolbe (locally known to get more than a little inappropriately and lustfully aggressive towards young Latino boys) wants to find "new avenues of service."

With no incumbent this district could be a prime Democratic pickup. Remember, 2 weeks ago voters in the Tucson city councilrace kicked the right-wing creationist loons off and elected progressive Democrats to replace them. The district is basically pretty moderate and the GOP front-runner is a raging neo-fascist maniac who challenged Kolbe in last year's primary. Hopefully MoveOn.org will find a progressive grassroots candidate before Rahm and the DCCC/DLC move in with some putrid rich person calling themselves a "moderate Democrat" and all ready to support a right-wing agenda.