Gay Candidate Says It Came Down to Politics

Democrat Jeff Dion quit the House of Delegates race. (Tk - Tk)

Dion's profile was first posted on Black Velvet Bruce Li. Ben Tribbett, author of the widely read Not Larry Sabato, then linked to it. Tribbett, a Democratic activist, said Dion should have taken the profile down before filing for office. He noted that social networking sites have increasingly become fair game in politics.

In 2006, national blogs went so far as to post the profile of congressional candidates' children, Tribbett said. "So for a candidate themselves to have a profile, they have to expect for it to be public game. Anything else would be ridiculous."

Mark J. Rozell, a politics professor at George Mason University, said the posting of the profile on Not Larry Sabato crossed a line but noted that in politics these days the line, if it still exists, is blurred.

"Politics have become a pretty ugly environment in the modern era, not that it hasn't been ugly in the past," he said. "There has always been an unseemly part of political life, but today in the blogosphere, there is an immediacy, and there is not a filter for material that is over the line."

Dion said some bloggers made up news about him by writing that he had been asked early last week to drop out of the race. But no one had counseled him to withdraw at that point, he said. "Some people may have been saying that about me, but nobody said it to me," he said. "But the bloggers reported it as fact."

Dion, who has worked with victims of violent crimes, said he does not see himself as a victim. "You know, in politics, it is called exploiting an opportunity, and that is exactly what people have done with the blogs."

Craig reported from Richmond.