Obama Seals His Re-election by Announcing Support of Gay Marriage (He Waited Until the Home Stretch to Tell Us What We Already Knew); Romney Announces Opposition to Gay Marriage as the Kiss of Death for His Campaign (Because That's What He Is Supposed to Do to Ensure He Loses)

Half of Americans believe same-sex couples should have the same right to wed as heterosexuals do, slightly down from a year ago but marking the second year that a majority of Americans have supported same-sex marriage, according to a Gallup Poll survey released on Tuesday. - Half of Americans support legalizing gay marriage: Gallup, Reuters, May 8, 2012

For the first time in Gallup's tracking of the issue, a majority of Americans (53%) believe same-sex marriage should be recognized by the law as valid, with the same rights as traditional marriages. The increase since last year came exclusively among political independents and Democrats. Republicans' views did not change. This year's nine-percentage-point increase in support for same-sex marriage is the largest year-to-year shift yet measured over this time period. Two-thirds of Americans were opposed to legalized same-sex marriage in 1996, with 27% in favor. By 2004, support had risen to 42% and, despite some fluctuations from year to year, stayed at roughly that level through last year. - For First Time, Majority of Americans Favor Legal Gay Marriage, Gallup.com, May 20, 2011

Gay Marriage Reversal Means Cash for Obama

May 9, 2012

BuzzFeed- President Barack Obama is seen on a monitor in the White House briefing room in Washington, Wednesday, May 9, 2012. President Barack Obama told an ABC interviewer that he supports gay marriage.

President Barack Obama’s endorsement of gay marriage carries a political cost, but it also means floods of cash from wealthy gay donors and disillusioned young people eager to be inspired by him again.

After three years of political compromise on issues from health care reform to spending cuts, Obama delivered a surprise gift to what many of his core supporters view as the civil rights issue of the day, simply by saying what everyone assumed he believed. But the distinction between implying a change and saying it outright will more than symbolic in the crucial area of campaign fundraising. Already, gay donors, mostly men, reportedly constitute 1 in 6 of Obama’s top fundraisers known as bundlers. And in the first 90 minutes after the news broke Wednesday, the campaign received $1 million in spontaneous contributions, a Democrat told BuzzFeed.

“This is beyond unifying — it’s electrifying,” said Eugene Sepulveda, a former top bundler who withdrew to take a non-political job early this year. “This man stands for right, despite the political consequences.”

And for a class of disillusioned progressive mega-donors, many of them gay, the completion of Obama’s “evolution” is an invitation reason to return.

“I think the people who were disappointed by the president’s failure to support marriage quality will now have that barrier removed for them,” said Jeff Soref, a longtime Democratic activist in the gay community.

Indeed, top gay donors have been using their expensive access to bend Obama’s ear on the issue for years. Some now feel that their specific pleas have been answered.

“There have been a lot of us urging him to do this for a very long time. I imagine he and Michele felt some pain for us after North Carolina yesterday,” said another longtime gay Obama bundler.

“There are more LGBT co-chairs across the country are raising more money than we’ve ever raised. And you’ll see a lot more of that now,” the bundler said.

Soref said that aside from energizing supporters, Obama’s decision sharpens the choice for the general election.

“There is a contrast between the President and Mitt Romney, and this clarified the contrast, and that will help with fundraising,” he said.

The Obama campaign sees the announcement and the contrast with Romney’s position, as playing into the campaign’s narrative of Obama as the forward-looking candidate and Romney as the one of the past.

Obama Backs Gay Marriage, Answering Speculation on 'Evolving' Position

May 9, 2012

FoxNews.com - President Obama on Wednesday endorsed same-sex marriages, becoming the first sitting U.S. president to take that position following days of speculation about his "evolving" stance on the issue.

The president used a hastily called TV interview to make his position clear.

"At a certain point, I've just concluded that for me personally, it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same-sex couples should be able to get married," Obama told ABC News.

The president, who was previously opposed to the unions, explained that he's gone through an "evolution." Obama said he initially thought civil unions would suffice as a vehicle to give same-sex couples the rights commensurate with those of heterosexual couples.

"I'd hesitated on gay marriage in part because I thought civil unions would be sufficient," he said.

But he said his position evolved over the years, "as I have talked to friends and family and neighbors, when I think about members of my own staff who are in incredibly committed monogamous relationships, same-sex relationships, who are raising kids together, when I think about those soldiers or airmen or Marines or sailors who are out there fighting on my behalf and yet feel constrained, even now that 'don't ask, don't tell' is gone, because they are not able to commit themselves in a marriage."

"At a certain point, I've just concluded that for me personally, it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same-sex couples should be able to get married."

- President Obama

The statement follows days of speculation about his stance. Vice President Biden effectively touched off those questions when, in a Sunday show interview, he expressed support for same-sex marriages. Education Secretary Arne Duncan the next day said he is in favor of the unions. Drawing more attention to the issue, voters in North Carolina on Tuesday approved a state constitutional amendment banning gay marriage.

Seniors officials told Fox News that Obama was always planning to come out in favor of same-sex marriage before the election, even before the Democratic National Convention. But advisers had not nailed down the timing of that announcement. The officials acknowledged that Biden's comments sped up the timetable dramatically, and that the vice president's remarks were not part of an orchestrated roll-out of the president's position -- in other words, the president was not planning to address the issue this week.

Obama's decision was met with immediate praise by gay advocacy groups.

"President Obama's 'evolution' is now complete. Congratulations, Mr. President, for making history today by becoming the first sitting president to explicitly support marriage for same-sex couples," said Rea Carey, director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.

Yet the endorsement entails political risk, particularly among independents who were vital to Obama's 2008 victory and even socially conservative black Democrats. While the list of states that allow gay marriage is growing, a total of 30 states have constitutional amendments or laws barring those partnerships or both.

Those states, several of them battlegrounds in November, are worth a total of 309 electoral votes in the presidential general election -- it takes 270 to win.

Senior officials said they're not sure how the announcement Wednesday will play politically, but they downplayed the idea that it would depress turnout among black voters. They plan on demonstrating a stark contrast with presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney on the issue.

Conservatives meanwhile pilloried Obama on Wednesday, with former GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum accusing the president of putting on a "charade" all this time.

"The charade is now over, no doubt an attempt to galvanize his core hard left supporters in advance of the November election," Santorum said.

Romney, asked about the president's statements, said that his view remains the same.

"I believe that marriage is a relationship between a man and a woman," he said. "States are able to make decisions with regards to domestic partnership benefits, such as hospital visitation rights, benefits and so forth ... but my view is that marriage itself is between a man and a woman, and that's my own preference."

The Republican Party also reiterated its opposition to gay marriage after Obama's statement.

"While President Obama has played politics on this issue, the Republican Party and our presumptive nominee Mitt Romney have been clear. We support maintaining marriage between one man and one woman and would oppose any attempts to change that," Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus said.

Obama said Wednesday that he's tried to stay "sensitive" to the fact that for many people "the word marriage was something that evokes a very powerful tradition." He also reportedly said he still thinks states should be able to decide the issue.

Obama actually expressed support for same-sex marriages during a 1996 race for Illinois state Senate. He later backed off that support, stating during the 2008 presidential campaign that he believes marriage is between a man and a woman. Later in his presidency, Obama had said he was "evolving" on the issue.

At the same time, Obama pushed to repeal the "don't ask, don't tell" policy barring gays from serving openly in the military. And his Justice Department stopped defending the Defense of Marriage Act defining marriage as between a man and woman.

As Obama's personal beliefs came under scrutiny in recent days, his aides repeatedly pointed to those two stances to argue that he's in favor of gay rights -- without putting the president on record for or against gay marriage.

Mitt Romney Reaffirms Opposition to Gay Marriage

May 9, 2012

The Ticket - Mitt Romney reaffirmed his view that marriage is between "a man and a woman," offering a sharp contrast to President Obama who announced earlier today that he now backs the right of gay couples to marry.

Speaking to reporters after a campaign event in Oklahoma City, Romney said his position on same sex marriage is unchanged despite Obama's shift on the issue.

"I have the same view on marriage that I had when I was governor. I believe marriage is a relationship between a man and a woman," Romney said. "I have the same view I've had since, well, running for office."

Romney's comments come just hours after Obama told ABC News he now backs the right of same sex couples to marry. At a campaign event in Colorado earlier Wednesday, Romney had declined to comment on the president's shift when questioned about the news by reporters.

"Not on the rope line," he told Politico's Reid Epstein.

Romney did address the topic of same sex marriage in a local television interview earlier Wednesday. Asked by Fox affiliate KDVR-TV about a bill that would have allowed civil unions for same-sex couples in Colorado, Romney reiterated his belief that marriage is between a man and a woman.

"Well, when these issues were raised in my state of Massachusetts, I indicated my view, which is I do not favor marriage between people of the same gender, and I do not favor civil unions if they are identical to marriage other than by name," Romney told KDVR. "My view is the domestic partnership benefits, hospital visitation rights, and the like are appropriate but that the others are not."

Romney's campaign has been muted in its reaction to Obama's gay marriage shift. Aides to the presumptive nominee did not respond to requests for comment on how they see the issue playing in the 2012 campaign or whether Romney will use the issue to whip up support among social conservatives this fall.

But in a statement, Republican National Commitee chairman Reince Priebus suggested it would be an issue the party would focus on heading into November.

"While President Obama has played politics on this issue, the Republican Party and our presumptive nominee Mitt Romney have been clear," Priebus said. "We support maintaining marriage between one man and one woman and would oppose any attempts to change that."