If John Oxendine has his way, the next time the Republicans gather for their national convention, they’ll do it in downtown Atlanta. Yes, the anti-gay state Insurance Commissioner wants to put together a bid for the GOP’s 2012 convention.

Oxendine, a candidate for governor in 2010, is in Minneapolis this week along with bunches of other big names from the state party. They all seem interested in competing against Oxendine for the Republican nod — Karen Handel, the flip-flopper on gay issues and current Secretary of State; Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, whose sedate public image belie a deeply religiously conservative background; and House Speaker Glenn Richardson, whose personal problems might make him a long-shot.

How anti-gay is Oxendine? There’s plenty of time to get into that as well as Handel’s mishandling of gay issues. But here’s a little sample, courtesy of Southern Voice:

This is not the first time Oxendine faced legal action over an attempt to limit domestic partnership coverage. He fought the City of Atlanta’s attempt to add domestic partner benefits for its employees by repeatedly turning down requests from the city’s insurers to offer the coverage.

The city sued, and in 1999 Oxendine was ordered to approve the policies by Fulton County Superior Court Judge Wendy L. Shoob, who called his actions “arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion and not in accordance with the law.”