Claire McCaskill Backs Gay Marriage
I know, I know: No big whoop at this point, right? Except that this is Missouri. Of course, McCaskill just won another full Senate term, which means that she has six years for Missouri to finally come around to the point that her backing marriage equality won't be too big of a deal at that point, but even that's still rather telling. The key graph:
This is the first time McCaskill has publicly supported gay marriage, a Democratic aide confirmed. While it may seem par for the course for a Democrat to be on this side of the debate -- after it played such a prominent role during the party's 2012 convention -- the fact that even Red State members like McCaskill now feel comfortable coming out in favor of marriage rights for gays and lesbians is significant. At the very least it’s a reflection of how far the conversation has come.
Exactly. We've reached the tipping point even faster than I believe Nate Silver once predicted. 2004, when 13 states (including my own, sadly) voted to embed anti-same-sex-marriage amendments/laws in stone, is already a distant (and ugly) memory...although sadly, Michigan is still locked under homophobic control for the time being.
In any event, a Democrat siding against same-sex marriage is now pissing into the prevailing wind, so to speak...as is, thankfully, any Republican once they break out of the nomination process.