Heads up: this is a mixture of political and personal. So anyway I'm heavily involved in a special election campaign right now. I think my congressional district has probably gotten the most national and even international media coverage of any U.S. congressional district. First some background for those who aren't familiar... This district attracted national attention last year when the Republican incumbent congressman Michael Grimm, who was already under investigation for illegal campaign contributions, was slapped with a 20-count federal indictment. He later got media attention for threatening a reporter asking him about his scandals in the capitol rotunda: "I'll throw you off a fucking balcony. I'll break you in half- like a boy." (The latter half of that phrasing has been interpreted as homophobic as the reporter, Andrew Scotto, is gay) The Democratic Party is a mess however and last year nominated a dunce. I was volunteering on his campaign, but nothing could save Domenic Recchia- he's that rare Democrat who got his own Jon Stewart segment for the incredibly stupid responses he gave to reporters including indicating he did not even know what the TPP is. Grimm swore throughout the campaign that he was innocent and would have his day in court and be exonerated of all charges. Grimm crushed Recchia 55-42. As soon as he won re-elected, he pled guilty to felony tax fraud. He swore he would stay in office until John Boner arranged a private meeting, I assume a bag of money got passed under the table and the next day Grimminal resigned before the next Congress even began. Anyway, in the Recchia Campaign HQ, I was a volunteer, at the time working for a state assemblyman, but I got to know the paid staff employed by the New York State Democratic Party and funded by DCCC pretty well. In fact I preferred them to my own co-workers and hung out with them after 'work', which I never did with my actual co-workers. Coincidentally 100%, literally every single one, of the white male Recchia campaign workers were gay. All of them. (To be fair the entire office was white, but without teh gayz it would have been all women) 3 of them were coupled up, 2 of them were a couple working there together, and then there was one guy who was/is single. Anyway as mentioned the Recchia campaign was an epic fail, and we all went our separate ways despite swearing to keep in touch via Facebook. However now we are in a special election to replace Grimminal. In order to add a cherry on top of our district's international notoriety, the Republican Party nominated for Congress the District Attorney who is responsible for letting the killer cop who chokeholded Eric Garner go free without an indictment. Eric Garner, as the entire world knows, was a large African-American man who was put into a chokehold by a cop, and despite gasping "I can't breathe" countless times, was left to die. The medical examiner ruled it a homicide. However DA Dan Donovan conducted a smoke-and-mirrors grand jury that did not even indict the killer cop. Indicting a cop and pissing off the police unions can be hazardous to one's political career and campaign contributions. And so we have a special election to replace Grimminal, with Republican Dan Donovan facing off against Democrat Vincent "Vinnie" Gentile, a New York City Councilmember and also a former state senator. (There is some stupid Green Party menace in the race also, forget his name.) And I am back with the old crew. It's going to be a very uphill battle due to a variety of circumstances, but we're all working hard once again to keep another nasty Republican out of Congress. At least we have a competent candidate this time around. His Brooklyn address will be his biggest obstacle since Staten Island makes up the majority of the district. You can see pictures in my album of me standing next to Councilman Gentile, he makes me feel tall. Anyway we've gone out a few times, the old Recchia crew, and the lone single gay guy continues to endear himself to me. Let's call him M. M is 27 and very shy and quiet and responsible. He doesn't have a Facebook and he doesn't text, I had to call him to get to speak to him. We were at this craft beer restaurant arguing politics and the one girl in our group told me I am craziest person she has ever met, M said "I think he's adorable". Later my credit card got rejected- a brand new Citi credit card rejected because I didn't activate freaking Apple Pay. While I was out in the cold calling up Citi to vent about my situation, everyone started coming out, they said M had paid for my dinner. M was also my ride home that night (as he had been on many occasions), I told him he could just drop me off at the train station but he insisted on driving me home. Later as I said I kept texting him and finally had to call him and told him to name a time and place to take him out to lunch or dinner because I owed him one, he just said don't worry about the money, he has to go now because he was about to eat dinner. When I see him at events, it seems like he avoids me. I saw him sitting deep in the back corner at the Staten Island Democratic Association meeting, I kept intending to go say hello. But one second I turned around and he was gone. But that's a big meeting. At the smaller Young Democrats of Richmond County (of which I am a member of the executive board) meeting, he again came in saw me sitting in front and went by himself to the back corner of the room. I got up and moved back to him and jokingly said "You are always avoiding me, but now I have you". I told him in a humorous tone (but serious intent) that "you and I will be working for Congressman Gentile together." I just can't figure him out. The first time I saw him since Wreckia was at the district Democratic Party nominating convention, in which I made fun of how he and the other Recchia staff had to wear "Guest" stickers because somehow their names just happened to disappear off the list of the Democratic county committee, just like Recchia was nowhere to be found. M. was my ride that night too when we went out. Since the Recchia disaster, M is looking for real full-time employment, working part-time at a gym in the meantime, so he is heavily invested in this race. Since mid-March, I am also looking for real full-time employment, having tendered my resignation from the office of the state assemblyman I worked for, so I am also heavily invested in this race. But I just don't know how to read whatever signals M is giving off, if any...I'm not used to this, I'm the quiet shy one, I'm the one who didn't have a Facebook account until only a matter of months ago... what do you think of this guy and how should I proceed? (Feel free to comment on the deranged political circus that goes on here as well.:bang
