Gay marriage may be drawing protesters by the hundreds, the attention of courts in Massachusetts and California, and the scrutiny of President Bush,
The governors are in Washington for four days of discussions at the annual meeting of the National Governors Association. Democratic governors see it either as a distraction from the failures of President Bush or a wedge issue that the GOP can use to rally conservative voters in the fall, and they insist the matter should be dropped. "Let's stay focused on jobs," Bob Holden of Missouri said Monday.
he topic isn't high on the agenda for many Republicans either.
But some GOP governors believe it undermines moral values in the country and view that as a factor that could help GOP chances in the fall elections. "It grieves me that we even have to think it would be necessary to pass a constitutional amendment to define marriage as between a man and a woman," said Republican governor Mike Huckabee of Arkansas. "It never occurred to me that we would have states that would define marriage in a way that has no historical precedent ever, none." (Huckabee, who is a minister and a GLUTTON is my governor here in Arkansas. Note: If you ever go to prison in Arkansas, just find Jesus and Huckabee will let you out, regardless of your crime)
He and several other Southern or conservative GOP governors expressed strong support for an amendment and decried what they saw as activist judges and mayors challenging the laws that they are supposed to uphold. Thirty-nine states have passed laws banning gay marriage. The issue has leapt ahead in the public debate, as the Massachusetts supreme judicial court ruled this month that anything less than full-fledged marriage for gays in Massachusetts would be unconstitutional. Since then, San Francisco officials have begun performing same-sex marriages and have challenged their state law banning such unions.
Democrats just want the question to go away. "As I travel my state, people want to know where the next job is going to come from. 'Are my children being well educated?"' said Iowa governor Tom Vilsack, a Democrat. "Those are the issues that people address to me." Gay marriage? He doesn't hear about it, Vilsack said in comments echoed by many other Democrats. "It's not an issue in my state," said Gov. Jennifer Granholm of Michigan.
"I'm certain the Republicans want this as an issue. There will be an attempt to make it an issue, a wedge issue."The GOP has looked at it and seen that for some voters the issue is important enough for them to get out and vote, according to Bill McInturff, a GOP pollster who briefed a meeting of the Republican Governors Association over the weekend. "This is going to be a part of the 2004 campaign," McInturff said.http://www.advocate.com/new_news.asp?ID=11425&sd=02/24/04
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