Last week came the news that the Republican National Committee was conducting focus groups to determine how much they could play to people's racial and gender prejudices without coming off as racist or sexist, a warning that we can expect a pretty ugly election. Who knows if they see any downside to voters finding them homophobic, but it's looking pretty clear this election is going to have plenty of gay baiting, as well.

It started with John Edwards who was called a "Breck girl" by conservatives, was discussed in one National Review column titled "He Feels Pretty and Witty and...." while a Wall Street Journal writer managed to work in "poof" (you might have to watch an ad to follow those links) and Ann Coulter threw out the f-word they were all hinting at.

Now that Edwards isn't in the race, I expect we're going to see similar gay baiting aimed at Barack Obama ... and here's the first hit.

Conservative talk radio host Kevin McCullough wrote about Obama's ads targeting LGBT voters under the headline "Obama: Hey Homos, I'm Your Dude" McCullough calls the ads a message to "the homosexual elite radicals" ... Dude, elite? I got excited over a sitcom because it was pitched as coming "from the makers of Kingpin." Check out the screen cap above, which also uses a picture of Obama in Kenyan garb to make him look like a scary foreigner.

This isn't the first time McCullough has taken his pen against LGBT Americans. Pam Spaulding has collected some of his hits, including his thoughts about Mary Cheney and why we gays seek to destroy marriage.

Sadly, the game here is obvious. Offer "red meat" to the base and while pretending to have no connection to the message. But what's the best way for LGBT voters to respond? Do we raise awareness of these attempts to play to homophobia, forcing discussion of the bigotry on display ... or does that risk fanning anti-gay sentiments? 2008 is going to be one ugly year.