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Jim Neal was born in Greensboro and lived here until his sophomore year of high school. He graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill in December 1978. He then lived in New York until 2006, and now he wants to be your next U.S. senator. The Chapel Hill Democrat made news last week when he confirmed that he was gay, a revelation that focused national attention on his campaign. Neal sat down with political reporter Mark Binker to talk about growing up in Greensboro, the campaign and whether it matters he is an "out" candidate.

Q. What do you remember about growing up in Greensboro? What do you tell people about the city?

A. I remember going fishing with my grandfather, who loved to fish and took me with him a great deal....You know he took me out in the country to some lake. It was near Sedgefield. I remember going up and getting McDonald's when it first opened, and you could get a wrapper and that would entitle you to like a free ticket to a matinee at the Carolina Theatre....I do remember vividly going to those matinees and there were two lines. And I would see the woman who was a housekeeper for one of my aunts. She and her kids would be off to the line on one side, and her children who, when she came over and babysat for me and my brother, we played with. But I'd see them at the movies and I never quite understood. All the black kids, the African American kids, went up and sat in the balcony, and of course, that was the cool place to sit, but we were going in separate entrances. And I never got that, I never understood it. I never understood why it was.

Q. What else?

A. I was a pretty good junior tennis player. I won the state championship in the 14-and-under division when I was 14 years old. And in fact, there was an article in the Daily News and I remember the headline was "Neal: 'I just can't believe it.'"

Q. From the time you graduated college until 2006, you lived out of the state. Are you still someone who understands North Carolina issues and can represent the state in Washington?

A. Well, I didn't live here for a number of years, but I never left here. People would ask me where I was from and where I lived. I said, well, I'm from North Carolina but I live blah, blah, blah. I always knew I'd come back. It wasn't a question of "if," it was a question of "when."
In terms of understanding the issues before the people of North Carolina, yeah, I understand them real well. I understand them well enough to know there were 120,000 kids that were abandoned by Sen. Dole when she voted against providing health-care coverage for kids, from working-class families....I understand we are engaged in refereeing a civil war and we're spilling blood in Iraq. ... We have an urgency to protect our environment, including issues like do we support outlying landing fields in our marshlands. Of course not. That was an issue the senator should have been out in front on. She waited; she led from the rear. The community, the people of the state had voted, had been out in front of the issue way before Sen. Dole picked up the phone and called the secretary of the Navy. I understand that.

Q. You have worked at Goldman Sachs, received an MBA from the University of Chicago, worked as an investment banker. These are not classic credentials for the political progressive, or liberal, that your stands on policy would make you. How did you get from having that background to being the candidate that you are?

A. I would say, No. 1, one of the things that is is trying to pigeon-hole people. I'm a liberal. I'm a conservative. I'm right wing, left wing, those kind of monikers that are attached to people. So, let me tell you what I am. First and foremost, I'm a father, and that's been the most important job I've ever had in my life, and it didn't end when my kids hit adulthood, believe me.
Secondly, I'm somebody who has worked and lived in the real world with people from all walks of life from the time I was born to this very day. I'm not an elitist by a long stretch of the imagination. I'm anything but an elitist. ... Therefore that kind of defines me as an outsider. I don't owe anything to anybody right now and I don't intend to. I'm going to have my debt, my obligation, to the people of this state.
I'm a strong believer and proponent of fiscal responsibility. You don't work on Wall Street, you don't run businesses, and you don't graduate from the University of Chicago or any business school and not understand how markets work and how they don't work and understand about living within your means....This is an administration that has been reckless in their spending.

Q. What should the U.S. be doing about our involvement in Iraq?

A. We need to get out of Iraq. Period. Bring our troops home. We're spilling blood trying to referee what has become a civil war, an ethnic conflict, in a country that has the tools, has a government in place, that has failed to take any action or accountability.
The real question, after you make a statement that we need to get out, is the devil is in the details. When? How? We have to set benchmarks just as you would with a child. There has to be consequences for certain behavior. And the (prime minister Nouri al-) Maliki government needs to understand that we are going to be drawing down our combat troops in an orderly way. ... The decision to get out of Iraq ... lies with the commander in chief, with the president. Because the Congress has proven that their ability to affect legislation is very blunt right now with the narrow majority the Democrats have. ... But regardless of who is in the Oval Office and what happens, as sitting senator, I'll support benchmarks, a timetable for getting out of Iraq.

Q. What should the Congress be doing in terms of national health care policy?

A. It is an issue that must be addressed by the Congress....Members of the Congress have health care provided by the government. We don't refer to that as so-called socialized medicine for public employees. And if there's a kid that's sick in North Carolina, if a child can't get health care because of their income, then neither should the Congress. It's not fair and it's turning our back on the responsibility we have to the people in our country who don't have the means to buy private health insurance or don't qualify, if you will, for public health insurance. ...
I think we're going to have to move slowly. I don't think we're going to move to universal health care in one sweeping motion. I think that's too ambitious, not that it's not a noble or correct policy but I think it's too ambitious. I think right now many people are comfortable in this country with the private insurance they enjoy. The question is being able to provide insurance options for those who can't afford it or don't have it. And the federal government is going to have to step into that breach, absolutely.

Q. How has it been to live in the news cycle since it has become widely known that you are gay? I imagine it might have been sort of surreal.

A. First of all, the response that we've gotten has been inspirational, to say the least, in terms of the people who are stepping up and donating $10, $5, $25 to the campaign. It's been extraordinary. As well, the phones have been ringing off the hook with people volunteering, wanting me to come out and speak, wanting me to come out and meet with local officials, local leaders and hear about their problems. ... But has it been surreal? Look, the only thing that's been kind of surreal about it is we are all, including me, many things.
If you gave me a checklist to write down every identifier that I have, my sexuality would be one of them, but it's not all of them. And I'm not running this campaign as the quote-unquote gay candidate. I've always been out, and I'm an outsider. Sen. Dole is in, she's the insider, so there's a great metaphor in a sense. ...
But there's no secret and there never has been. ... I realize, I'm not nave, I realize it's going to be a source of controversy and perhaps whip up some opposition. But I believe, I have a lot of faith in the ... innate goodness of mankind and especially the people of North Carolina to kind of look beyond the voices of the fearmongers and look into the character and the heart and the words as me as a candidate.

Q. Have you thought about what an opponent's or third party's campaign ad that targets your sexuality might look like and how rough that might be?

A. That's why I've assembled and continue building an extremely talented campaign staff and group of consultants and advisers who are prepared to run underscored a fiercely competitive campaign. ... In terms of the fear factor, I got over that real quickly. I didn't sit here and think oh, they may ask me if I'm gay or if I have blue eyes, or whatever ...

Q. Your biography says you live at home with one of your children in Chapel Hill. Do you also live with a partner?

A. In response to that question, there is a firewall around my personal life. I think many people who are in elective office or running for elective office have done so. People who are close to me, my family, my children, my friends, whoever they may be, they're not running for office. I am. Not everyone is going to be comfortable being in the spotlight, is going to be comfortable getting a knock on the door or a phone call from you or another reporter. So, I won't respond to a lot of questions about my personal life.

Q. Eastern or Western barbecue?

A. You are really going to accuse me of being a politician when I give you that (answer). I actually like all barbecue, all of them. I really do.

Q. Even that stuff from South Carolina?

A. No, that's not barbecue. And that stuff from Texas ain't either. Barbecue is pork, not beef.