The Gay Empire State

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Anyone with a link to yea/nay?

Saland, Grisanti are the two flippers, everything else stayed as it was (Lanza, Ball voted No)

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This is huge.

Really huge.

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(and military excluded )

I don't hate anyone (French people excluded)!

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http://www.capitaltonight.com/2011/06/salands-statement-on-his-vote/

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Seriously, are gay marriage proponents beginning to find strong allies in powerful and wealthy political donors, especially Republican ones?

Of course, without that, this would have never happened.

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This is the best NYT story I've read all year, lots of sources basically directly connected to Cuomo, http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/26/nyregion/the-road-to-gay-marriage-in-new-york.html

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This is the best NYT story I've read all year, lots of sources basically directly connected to Cuomo, http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/26/nyregion/the-road-to-gay-marriage-in-new-york.html

Was just reading that a few minutes ago. Fascinating story behind it all and Cuomo gets mad props for being so determined to get this done.

Cuomo obviously leaked the story, fwiw.

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I have to say, it's nice to have an issue where I have complete moral clarity in my stance.  Most political issues, I end up playing the "on the one hand, on the other hand, on the other other hand" so much that when I have a position, I immediately end up arguing with myself. 

I have the EXACT same position and need to explain it to friends who wonder why I'm so passionate about certain issues like gay marriage. Most issues I admit I could be wrong on, but not this.

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Cuomo 2016

fwiw he has totally pissed off his progressive base in NY with his attacks on education spending and public unions.  he is more popular with Republicans than Democrats per one of the Quinnipiac polls.  I personally would beware of falling into the same cultural issue trap that all of those white working class voters supposedly did in 2004.

In a crowded field, it doesn't necessarily hurt to have some distinguishing characteristics, as long as they make sense in terms of his overall brand.

In this hypothetical, he'd argue that budget realities and the desire to not raise taxes constrained his progressive goals, but that he's an economic pragmatist.  He's raise plenty of money as a result too, so he'd stay competitive.

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Also, who had union's support first in 2004? Dick Gephardt (kinda)

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Of course the Democratic Party is not a labour party. Still, there's a difference between a candidate being the lukewarm favourite of unions and unions regarding a candidate as their enemy. At least in principle.

A few unions consider Cuomo the enemy, but not all of the NY ones, trust me.  The first step in winning political victories is dividing the opposition, and Cuomo's no stranger to that concept.

And this is 2011, Cuomo has a few years before 2016 when the budget situations won't be catastrophic and increased revenues (and public union expenditures) will be present.

I doubt Cuomo would run in 2016 and the anti-union candidate. He'd try and paint himself as pragmatic most likely for his brand, but present himself as pro-business to donors, I think.  And five years is a long time, even if he wanted to change his brand.