Rob Christensen, Staff Writer

WINSTON-SALEM - Even while he was pursuing high finance on Wall Street, Hollywood and Silicon Valley, Jim Neal always had one eye trained on a political career.

After returning home to North Carolina in 2006, Neal wasted little time in plunging into a U.S. Senate race that scared away most of the state’s big-name Democrats: taking on Republican U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole.

Neal is running as a political outsider, a newcomer hoping to ride the national mood for change, for new faces and for nontraditional candidates. At a time when Democrats nationally — and in North Carolina — are wrestling with whether to nominate a black candidate or a woman for president, Neal is seeking to become the second openly gay Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in American history.

Despite his background in big business and large-scale political fundraising, Neal says he has fewer ties to special interests than other candidates. Neal’s major rival in the May 6 Democratic primary is state Sen. Kay Hagan of Greensboro, who has the backing of much of the party establishment. Three other Democrats are waging lower-profile, long-shot campaigns for the nomination.

“This is the year when Americans will own our democracy,” Neal recently told a Democratic gathering in Winston-Salem.

On Tuesday, Neal endorsed Illinois Sen. Barack Obama in the Democratic presidential race…

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