Democrat or Republican, few in either political camp seemed pleased or comfortable Wednesday with the Massachusetts court decision upholding gay marriage.
The issue is likely to help mobilize social conservatives -- the most loyal of Republican voters -- who see Tuesday's court decision as a "wake-up call," as one advocacy group put it.
But President Bush doesn't much care for "moralistic debates," said one White House advisor, who described Bush as reluctant to exploit the gay marriage issue in his reelection bid.
At the same time, Democrats -- who tend to be more supportive of gay rights -- have their own reasons for disquiet over the decision guaranteeing the right of marriage to Massachusetts' gay and lesbian couples.
A broad debate over gay marriage could "make it harder" for the party's candidates in 2004 by prying away voters who might otherwise support their stance on economic and other issues, said a Democratic strategist involved in congressional races across the country.
Overall, the issue is probably "a net benefit for the Republicans, if they play it correctly," said James Guth, a political scientist at South Carolina's Furman University. But, he said, "it works best for the Republicans if they sort of let the issue play itself, rather than harp on it too much."
Political strategists on both sides agree that if the GOP pushes its opposition to gay marriage too hard, the party risks seeming harsh and intolerant. That, in turn, could put off the moderate "swing" voters that both parties covet.
"They risk a backlash from average Americans who may have fuzzy views on this whole issue and don't feel one party should try to exploit it at the expense of the other," said Paul Maslin, a pollster for Democratic presidential hopeful Howard Dean. The former Vermont governor signed the nation's first gay civil union bill into law in 2000.
In short, the politics of gay marriage seem every bit as complex as public attitudes on the larger question of gay rights -- a subject the candidates can no longer easily ignore.
A new Los Angeles Times poll underlines the public's mixed feelings. The public was closely divided on civil unions, which would afford gay couples legal protection in areas such as inheritance, taxes and hospital visits; 40% opposed the concept, 36% supported it.
However, government-sanctioned gay marriage was opposed, 55% to 31%, in the poll, which was conducted from Nov. 15 through 18.
