aTypical Joe: a gay New Yorker living in the rural South
Thursday, October 26, 2006
I think not
In terms of so-called “October Surprises” that might affect the election, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruling that opens the door to gay marriage certainly ranks below the congressional page scandal involving former Florida Rep. Mark Foley. But the decision could be a welcome boost for a White House and congressional Republicans who are worried about firing up the conservative base of their party.
They say it won’t make a difference in NJ but:
Measures to ban gay marriage are on the ballot in nine states, including Virginia and Tennessee, and conservative activists will point to the New Jersey decision as a reason people in those states should go to the polls, even if they’re dissatisfied with how the Republican majority has run the country. If that message resonates, the same people celebrating the New Jersey decision could be having mixed feelings about it come election day.
I will have to comment in detail on Georgia in a future post - I have been avoiding it because it is so profoundly depressing to me - but I am not blindly optimistic. I expect 8 of those 9 state ballot measures to pass.
Still, the bigger their win the more to goad reasonable people, the American people, into realizing that the other side has gone way too far. On to 2008!
