Fred Karger is a Republican political consultant, gay rights activist, and potential 2012 presidential candidate. Karger's corporate political career has spanned three decades and has included work on nine presidential campaigns. Most notably, Karger served as senior campaign adviser to Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, and Gerald Ford. 

In 2006 Karger founded Save the Boom!!!, a grassroots campaign to save the oldest gay bar in the Western United States, the landmark Boom Boom Room and Coast Inn in Laguna Beach, California. Save the Boom!!! motivated Karger to more actively pursue his interest in LGBT politics. Soon after, Karger started Californians Against Hate, an organization devoted to bringing public attention to the Proposition 8 campaign.

He is the first openly gay candidate ever to run for the U.S. presidency.