Supporters of the November ballot measure to overturn a state Supreme
Court ruling legalizing same-sex marriage in California targeted
justices on the high court - not gay couples - in their first TV
advertisement. On the other side, ban opponents opened their TV campaign with a
30-second spot featuring a straight couple in a long-standing
traditional marriage. The question of same-sex marriage splits Californians, forcing both
campaigns to tiptoe through a political minefield in an attempt to
avoid angering the swing voters each side needs to win Nov. 4. While a Field Poll last month showed only 38 percent of likely
voters backing Proposition 8, with 55 percent opposed, those figures
may not reflect how Californians feel about same-sex marriage. A Field
Poll in May, for example, found that 51 percent of registered voters
opposed giving same-sex couples the right to wed. "If Californians were forced into a straight-up vote on same-sex
marriage, we win," said Jeff Flint, a political consultant for the
Prop. 8 campaign. But that's not what's on the ballot. Prop. 8 would overturn the
California Supreme Court's ruling in May that gave same-sex couples the
right to marry, and the measure asks voters to change the state
Constitution to bar such nuptials. "Californians won't be willing to take away rights the government
already has granted," said Steve Smith, consultant for the opposition
campaign. "These are folks who are our neighbors, our co-workers, our
family, people just like you and me." Local election officials were validating the signatures for the
initiative that became Prop. 8 when the state's highest court, on a 4-3
vote, overturned voter-approved Prop. 22, which banned same-sex
marriage in the state in 2000. (Prop. 22, unlike Prop. 8, was not a not
a constitutional amendment.) Starting June 16, same-sex couples across
the state were allowed to wed, and such marriages now take place
everywhere in the state. SOURCE:SFGATE.COM