With a family history of leadership and activism in organized labor, Barnes was an acknowledged leader in the lesbian and gay civil rights movement and Democratic Party politics. Barnes elected more members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community to office than any other political consultant of his time. Among the many candidates whose campaigns Barnes guided were: State Senator Carole Migden; San Francisco Mayor Willie L. Brown Jr.; San Francisco County Supervisor Leslie Katz; Assemblymember Mark Leno; San Francisco Board of Education President Juanita Owens; San Francisco Board of Education member Dr. Dan Kelly; San Francisco College Board trustee Lawrence Wong; San Francisco College Board trustee Natalie Berg. Other clients have included the San Francisco and Santa Clara County Democratic Parties; the Fresno Democratic Women’s Caucus; the Alice B. Toklas Lesbian/Gay Democratic Club; and the Los Angeles County Labor Federation.

Barnes’s direct mail expertise produced hundreds of well-targeted mailers for candidates and issues, and for a variety of specialized statewide lesbian/gay, Democratic, absentee and education-oriented slate mailers. Barnes developed a highly accurate statewide lesbian/gay database and had a proven record in detailed demographic targeting.

Barnes also managed several state and local initiative campaigns. He served as the Northern California spokesman for No on Prop 5, working with the business and labor communities on the 1998 tribal gaming measure that was the largest ballot measure campaign in California history.

Barnes and John Whitehurst co-managed the successful campaign to finance the reconstruction of San Francisco’s Laguna Honda Hospital, a campaign that was viewed early on as unable to get the required two-thirds majority at the polls. The bond passed with 71% of the vote. In 1998, Barnes organized an innovative issue advocacy campaign by building a unique coalition on behalf of San Francisco non-profit organizations; his work involved polling, advertising, direct mail, lobbying and qualification of an initiative through the signature gathering process, as well as general media relations.