"The only way to stop gay marriage... is to stop Craig Johnson..." Really? Craig Johnson is hardly the entire story. Elliot Spitzer won election to the Governorship overwhelmingly despite his support for gay marriage legislation, an inconvenient fact for the crazies. There is no way to "stop" gay marriage, any more than there is a way to "stop" historical movement to protect human rights, ensure and maximize equality, freedom, dignity and respect of every person. Don't tell this to the Republicans, but all over the globe historic oppression of sexual minorities is being fought vigorously and with incremental success (Colombia, Brazil, Russia are the latest surprise news stories, could the tide of anti-gay persecution begin to turn in those virulently homophobic countries? Perhaps, but if these wingnuts get their way, New York state would remain in the dark ages.)

The Nassau County Conservative Campaign Committee would rather you believed that stopping progress was actually possible, but they never bother to tell you why you should want to "STOP" it. The laughable, but extremely offensive, effort to terrorize "the base" with a gay bashing flyer, admonished the faithful---"Speak Now or Forever Hold Your Peace!"---and insisted that any Republican voter that stayed home on Election Day would actually be casting a vote for gay marriage. (Groan. Welcome to 2007. Even the Republican, Maureen O'Connell was an announced supporter of legal recognition for same-sex couples, she just preferred the second-class citizenship, separate-but-equal, civil union nonsense. Please take your silly wedding cake photo and your anachronistic homophobia and go home.)

The result was a clear defeat for Maureen O'Connell, despite her support by the gay Log Cabin Republicans. With all the district-by-district voter turnout data now available (hat tip: Working Familes Party), it is clear that the Democrat Craig Johnson won because of historical turn out in heavily Democratic districts, whereas O'Connell lost because of depressed turnouts among her loyalists.

Sometimes it is the small, local races that tell a much bigger story. This race, for a New York Senate seat from a relatively conservative Long Island, New York district attracted big names to join in the campaigning (Hillary Clinton, Rudy Giuliani, Elliot Spitzer).

Gay Marriage, Willie Horton: Dead On Arrival. Make notes, Republican Presidential candidates. This issue is no loger fertile ground, so you better come up with something else quickly.