Ferrablog

Then don't read this.

The Republican Party, desperate to rush the Federal Marriage Amendment to vote, and in the process attempt to paint the Democratic Party as a bunch of queer-lovers, have seen the effort spectacularly blow in up their collective face, to the point now where the Republicans are filibustering their own amendment:

Washington -- Sharp internal divisions sent Senate Republican leaders scrambling behind closed doors Monday to salvage a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage from an embarrassing defeat that could leave it short of even a simple majority.

The disarray broke out just two days before Republican leaders had planned a politically sensitive vote to put senators on record about whether a constitutional amendment should declare that marriage remain the union of one man and one woman.

But instead of a landmark debate, Republicans found themselves filibustering their own amendment to stop it from coming to the floor on Wednesday for a straight up-or-down vote -- out of fear that it might fail to get even 51 votes, much less the 67, or two-thirds majority, required to amend the Constitution.

Republicans apparently were taken by surprise when Democrats, sensing a huge victory, offered to lift their own objections and proceed to direct consideration of the measure.

BAD IDEA.

As reported on Noted Now, ABC News' political news update page, the RNC came up with this response to the Democratic Convention lineup:

RNC PAPER RESPONSE: "It will take an extreme makeover of John Kerry and the Democrat Party's rhetoric to make both presentable to Americans... Those who have been watching the Democrats over the last year may not recognize what emerges each day, but don't worry. We will be there to help, ready with the real record," says Communications Director Jim Dyke...

This coming from the party that will keep Rick Santorum, Tom DeLay, James Inhofe and other conservatives in the closet during their convention, while moderate Republicans like Rudy Guiliani, The Governator, and John McCain (more maverick than moderate, but you get the drift) get the speaking spots. In fact, the closest thing to a "conservative Republican" who will speak prior to Cheney and Bush is nominal Democrat Zell Miller. Extreme makeover, indeed. Bait and switch is more like it. The Democrats aren't hiding anyone - hell, even Ted Kennedy is going to speak, and there isn't a bigger poster boy for liberalism.

In yesterday's St. Pete Times, there was an interesting piece from Adam Smith about how, on an anecdotal basis at least, he had heard from numerous Bush voters in 2000 who will vote for Kerry this year, but virtually nobody who voted for Gore stating they'd vote for Bush this time around. And it's not just Smith - this phenomemon was even noted last week in The Note, ABC News' pre-eminent political news roundup.

Well, to add a related anecdote to the list, my wife informed me this morning that she spotted a Kerry bumper sticker on a vehicle that featured a "Choose Life" Florida license plate. Now, I realize she may have come across a pro-life Democrat, but the odds on that one are somewhat slim. After all, it was the mailing list for the "Choose Life" plate holders that Florida Republican politicians were salivating over last year.

Between the anecdotal evidence, the latest Rasmussen poll which has Kerry up 48-43 here, the fact that 10,000 lined up in the heat to see the Kerry/Edwards rally in St. Pete the other night, the fact that you can't overvote in this state any more, and this weekend's announcement that the flawed list of felons was being junked (gee, we had blacks on there, but not Hispanics - go figure), I think Florida's electoral votes are looking quite good for the Kerry column, and he should be the favorite in this state.

Last week, after the Edwards announcement, Bush-Cheney04 started running an ad titled "First Choice", which featured praise from John McCain for Bush. The implication of the ad title (which does not appear in the ad itself) is that McCain was Kerry's first choice for running mate, and ha ha, he really supports Bush. Aside from whether McCain was in fact Kerry's first choice (nobody ever confirmed an offer was made to McCain), isn't George W. Bush America's second choice?