Gay marriage questions loom large
SAN FRANCISCO -- Time is short, the state is huge, TV advertising is too expensive, and all Californians want to talk about is gay marriage, an issue that promises to distract the leading Democratic candidates as they land here and make a mad dash to win over voters before Tuesday's presidential primary.
Democratic officials in California already were annoyed at Mayor Gavin Newsom for creating a national stir with his Feb. 12 decision that has allowed more than 3,200 same-sex couples to wed in San Francisco. On Tuesday, President Bush stoked the fire by endorsing a constitutional amendment defining marriage as the union of a man and woman, a controversy sure to soak up time when the four Democrats contesting California meet for a critical, 90-minute televised debate tonight in Los Angeles.
"The candidates wanted this to be about the war in Iraq, Bush's patriotism, and the economy. Instead, they are now onto the culture wars, and it takes them off their message," said Bruce Cain, director of the Institute of Government Studies at the University of California at Berkeley.
"As long as San Francisco is doing what it's doing, the topic has changed, and it's going to be hard for the candidates to avoid talking about it," Cain said.
Senators John F. Kerry and John Edwards both say they oppose gay marriage, support civil unions for same-sex couples, and are against the proposed marriage amendment to the US Constitution. Both Representative Dennis J. Kucinich and the Rev. Al Sharpton support gay marriage, and some activists in the Bay Area are urging gays and lesbians to cast a protest vote for Kucinich in the primary, with 370 delegates at stake.
In Claremont yesterday, reporters bombarded Edwards with questions about gay marriage, and the candidate seemed irritated when asked why he personally did not support it.
A Field Poll released yesterday shows Kerry with a big lead over all his rivals in California. Among registered voters, the survey shows Kerry at 60 percent, Edwards at 19 percent, Kucinich at 3 percent, and Sharpton at 2 percent, with 11 percent of Democrats and 15 percent of Independents undecided. The Field Poll also showed Bush's approval rating among California voters at 43 percent, the lowest in his presidency and down from 52 percent a month ago.
For Kerry, who has won 19 primaries, this heavily Democratic and progressive state has presented an opportunity to attack the president's policies and make the case for his own electability.
With gay marriage now prominently in the mix -- the weddings continue at San Francisco's City Hall and the state attorney general is headed to court tomorrow to stop them -- Kerry is still on the offensive, but over a social issue in which the president has more traction, according to the Field Poll, which found 61 percent of California voters approve the job Bush is doing upholding traditional family values.
In a "Today" show interview yesterday, Kerry called Bush's proposal for a constitutional amendment a political strategy "to drive wedges between the American people and change the topic" from jobs and foreign policy. Kerry said, "I share the same opposition" -- though he did not use the words gay or marriage -- but said it was "absolutely wrong" to address a state issue with a constitutional amendment. Kerry later told the Globe he supports amending the Massachusetts Constitution to ban gay marriage and at the same time provide civil unions and partnership benefits for gay couples.
With 10 states holding contests on Super Tuesday, the candidates have concentrated their campaigning outside of California, and none can afford to advertise here, where a major media buy can cost $2.5 million a week. Kerry will hold rallies tonight in Los Angeles and tomorrow in Oakland, but he has no scheduled stop in San Francisco. Edwards, who campaigned in Claremont, Fresno, and Sacramento, will be in San Francisco today for an event on jobs and the economy, said Edwards's spokesman Roger Salazar.
"There's a tremendous amount of potential for Senator Edwards in California, and the race is fluid. I wish he had a lot more time to campaign here," Salazar said.
Mark Baldassare, research director of the Public Policy Institute of California, a private, nonprofit group in San Francisco, has tracked a growing acceptance among Californians for a range of gay rights, including same-sex marriage. Based on his data, which show young, college-educated, and Democratic voters most accepting of gay marriage, he said Democratic candidates should ignore the conventional wisdom that gay unions are an issue to sidestep.
"There are a substantial number of Democrats here who feel the time has come for same-sex marriage. At this point in time and with what is happening here in San Francisco, I don't see how they can come here and not talk about it," Baldassare said.
A Los Angeles Times poll of state residents published yesterday showed Californians, like most Americans, almost evenly divided on whether to define marriage as a heterosexual union in the Constitution. Among Republicans, 64 percent supported the proposed amendment and 57 percent of Democrats opposed it.
Among all Californians, 32 percent said they supported gay marriage, 38 percent said they supported civil unions, and 25 percent said gay couples should not be permitted to marry or form legal partnerships, according to the Los Angeles Times poll.
"Gay marriage? I say bring it on," said Bob Mulholland, an adviser to the California Democratic Party. "It's an issue that might hurt a Democrat in Alabama or Utah, but those aren't states we probably will be winning." 