CA votes overwhelmingly for Obama, but supports prop 8. What does this mean for democrats?

[Cant trust em]

If California is a so-called blue state how does prop 8 affect our platform? Is marriage equality a wedge issue even within our own party? I really don't know how to read the identity of democrats on this issue.

[Eric J in MN]

1. California will probably pass an amendment canceling Prop 8 in 2010 or 2012.

Prop 8 was a close vote (52.24% for), and public opinion is shifting in favor of gay marriage.

[county worker]

2. Dems come in all stripes and colors.

I think we some times think that the majority opinion at DU is the opinion of all Democrats. It isn't. We do not have an ideology like the right does.

[Comedie]

18. majority opinion

"I think we some times think that the majority opinion at DU is the opinion of all Democrats."....... that is correct. Here's the pragmatic view:
CA is not all that blue. Can fairly easily turn red. Just tie being Democrat to something unpopular with the majority and watch. Hispanics are the fastest growing group in CA, are largely responsible for the shift to the State voting blue, and I haven't met many who want to see gay marriages. Want to create a backlash, well pushing gay marriage as a Democratic stand has that potential. CA politicians knew it was unpopular, distanced themselves from the SF mayor, and did not take it on as a Democratic platform (much less as their own personal platform).

Politicians care mostly about getting elected and then staying in office. Most of the time, less than a 10% shift is enough to determine a winner in CA. The CA politicians know it, and given that CA has the most electoral votes, the national parties know it. Clothing yourself with an issue that is divisive or unpopular amongst those who can vote for you is a strategy to lose.

But whatever... CA has plenty more to worry about than gay marriage right now. Unemployment is going up, revenues are way down, spending has not been righted for years, and the State is looking at bigtime cuts everywhere you look. Much bigger fish to fry. But partially because CA more than any other state makes or breaks Presidential bids, I suspect a handout of some form is coming.

[Captain Hilts]

3. Many so-called 'progressive' voters are okay with sexism. nt

[SoCalNative]

4. Not within the party

but within ethnic groups within the party.

[EFerrari]

10. Black voters were blamed and we had a long, cranky discussion about that.

The real numbers didn't match the hype.

We have a much smaller issue in the black community than we do among older voters, for example. Or among voters who vote their religion. We have a much bigger issue with vote counting in Los Angeles County, that we HAVE to win, than we do with any voters in that county.

[LeftyMom]

11. I know a lot of older, religious people who are very much in favor of equality.

Unfortunately exit polling doesn't separate good people and assholes into separate demographic groups in their breakdowns. That, IMO, is where the real dividing line can be found.

[EFerrari]

13. In San Francisco, for example, the map of pro-H8 vote was a map of high density

senior housing. My mom is one of those other kind. :)

ETA: We lost it in Los Angeles County and that should NEVER have happened. That's the key to this whole thing, imo.

[LeftyMom]

16. My elderly, uberCatholic aunt in Belmont was PISSED days after the election

I think a big difference with the elderly is that many of them didn't grow up with anybody who was out. The ones who did are usually on the side of right. My Aunties are all super Catholic but also highly in favor of equal rights because they see anything less as being disrespectful to their late brother's memory.

[EFerrari]

17. That makes sense to me. Add to that, a lot of seniors don't have family

to be in touch with. They were heavily courted by the RW and those suitors came in the guise of church activists when they slimed their way in.

Neiderauer is a sneaky creep. He had the whole program down up to and including honoring a gay philanthropist publicly as the season started up to throw everyone off his scent.

[Hello_Kitty]

20. It's still kind of mystifying.

Religious Democrats regularly go against their beliefs on abortion to vote for pro-choice candidates, so why the sudden insistence on adhering to them on this issue? Yes, it was a stand-alone ballot initiative but anti-choice initiatives fail all the time, all over the country. I'm not in CA but people I know who live there tell me they were getting robo-calls (falsely) claiming that Obama supported Prop 8 so that may have had something to do with it.

[EFerrari]

21. The short answer is because Arch Bishop Niederhauer

who is in charge of a vast area and HQ'd here and is a Vatican player decided he needed this feather in his cap. HE was the real brains behind this atrocity and HE was the one who invited the Mormons and their money into it and HE was the one who seems to have orchestrated this whole blame the blacks and Latinos thing.

Before he came here, he worked in Salt Lake and apparently has some good friends in the Mormon mafia there. It was like two crime families deciding to legalize prostitution in Nevada.

[The_Casual_Observer]

5. Has there been a case yet where one of these state votes has

been pro-gay marriage?

[bluedawg12]

14. Civil rights should not be decided by popular referendum.

Vermont was the fourth state to legalize gay marriage — and the first to do so with a legislature’s vote.

Remember well this day. What goes around comes around.

Karma is a bitch. :grr:

[EFerrari]

6. I looked at the numbers a long time that night and the next.

This was about the RW muttery getting out the older vote and the Catholic vote -- while Niederauer had signalled that he wouldn't fight for H8 very hard. PLUS, you had to vote no to keep gay marriage and yes to tank it -- that was confusing to a lot of people.

We were sideswiped, imo. And I don't think we can get, will get or even need the Democrats who have been overwhelmingly cowards on this issue. I doubt we can even get Newsom right now with his gubernatorial campaign ramping up.

Jmo.

[robinlynne]

7. It means maybe we should look at accurate vote counting? 55% of California's votes

are tabulated by Diebold. LA COunty's votes, while tabulated by another system, are not verifiable or verified, nevertheless.

You are making the HUGE GIGANTIC assumption that the prop 8 votes were in fact counted as cast.

I mean do you actually believe that Obama only recieved 52% of the votes in this country? I do not.

[EFerrari]

9. Bingo. n/t

[mitchtv]

8. It means I'll be thinking twice about any Dem

I vote for the cowards. Dianne and Newsome are the only ones who stood up for us.

[bluedawg12]

12. My vote and my donations go to supporters of gay rights. n/t

[mitchtv]

15. Let's hope you add "only" to that proviso

[Libertyfirst]

19. I maxed out to a lot of democrats. From now on none of my money goes

to any candidate, but only to the groups that support equal human rights for everyone.

[CreekDog]

22. yes, it's a wedge issue

a chunk of Democrats voted for Democrats and Prop. 8 last November.