Pat Dollard

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Politico:

The nation’s largest gay rights group is going to war with the leading opponents of same-sex marriage, as gay activists work to quiet tensions within their movement and with their Democratic allies and redirect their energies on their actual opposition.

Human Rights Campaign and the Courage Campaign, a large California grassroots group, have filed an IRS complaint against an affiliate of the National Organization for Marriage and are diving into the California Senate race with a new online ad campaign.

The National Organization for Marriage, founded in 2007, was a key player in a wave of referendums that beat back the spread of same-sex marriage from California to Maine.

“NOM has emerged as the number one anti-gay force in the country. They are heavily involved in defeating pro-equality candidates this cycle as a tax-exempt social welfare organization, without disclosing their donors. This is why HRC has launched a campaign around outing who NOM is,” said HRC spokesman Kevin Nix.

The offensive comes amid a season of finger-pointing and recrimination among gay rights groups and their presumed friends in Congress and at the White House. Some leading gay organizations are directing their ire at Democrats for failing to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act or “don’t ask, don’t tell,” two Obama campaign promises. Other gay groups are also turning their guns inward at HRC, which they accuse of being too conciliatory with the White House.

With the midterm election approaching, gays and lesbians are among the core Democratic groups whose enthusiasm level is in doubt — and the groups attempt to energize their grass roots could have a bearing in the tight California gubernatorial and Senate races, said Ange-Marie Hancock, who studies sexual and gender politics at the University of Southern California.

“The LGBT community here has been very up and down,” said Hancock, who described the anti-NOM campaign as an effort to energize voters for Barbara Boxer and Jerry Brown. “It’s going to come down to turnout.”

As part of their anti-NOM effort, HRC and Courage Campaign have launched the Web portal nomexposed.com, hammering the conservative organization as extreme, rife with religious influence and flush with anonymous cash. The site also includes a page calling for California Senate candidate Carly Fiorina to renounce NOM and its support for her campaign. The groups have also launched a California online ad campaign against NOM and Fiorina.

The groups declined to say how much they’re spending — but NOM President Brian Brown said he welcomed the attention.

“I think the website is a hoot. We’re encouraging all of our supporters to go to look at it” said Brown, who said his group has raised $237,000 in the week since HRC launched its attack.