GOP strategists are unsure how much the gay marriage debate will help the beleaguered party in November's elections.
"There is a significant amount of disenchantment, but most of the disenchantment is on the economic side" of the administration's performance, said veteran Republican strategist Eddie Mahe.
Pat Toomey, head of the anti-tax Club for Growth, agreed. He said the GOP's biggest problem was anger about federal spending and the deficit among fiscal conservatives and small-government advocates.
"I don't think [the gay marriage amendment] is going to help much," Toomey said. "The social conservative wing of the Republican Party is the part that's happiest -- their most important thing was getting" conservatives added to the Supreme Court, he said, referring to the confirmations within the last year of Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr.
The gay marriage amendment is the source of a rare public disagreement between Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, whose youngest daughter is a lesbian.
During the 2004 campaign, Cheney said he believed decisions about same-sex marriages should be left to each state.
Two years ago, when Republicans brought the amendment to the floor less than four months before the 2004 presidential election, 48 senators voted to end debate. The GOP gained Senate seats in the '04 election, but not enough to appreciably improve the chances of reaching the 60-vote mark.
Even if the measure were to pass the Senate -- and then win a two-thirds majority in the 435-member House -- the arduous process for amending the Constitution could derail it. After clearing Congress, it would require ratification by three-fourths of the 50 states.
