Win=Win.

I don’t intend to get political often, because I think being irritated at Rhode Island crosses all sociopolitical boundaries. But sometimes I can and will get riled up about something in the political realm. This is one of those times, even though I realize I'm a little late to the party on this one.

I have a full-time job and a toddler, so these days I’m not watching all that much TV. When I do, it’s on my DVR (bless that invention), on my time, and without commercials. However, I did manage to see a real-time commercial recently while I waited for the news to tell me if my child’s daycare was going to be closed the next day due to the awful, awful weather that won’t go away.  It was that kind of snide, bitchy commercial one usually sees during election cycles, the kind that chastises a politician for supporting a certain thing and urges “you” to contact said politician to tell him he’s wrong. In this case, the subject gay marriage. Now, if you don’t live in Rhode Island, and maybe even if you do, you probably don’t know that we elected Lincoln Chafee governor last fall. You might not also know that he was a US Senator from the state for a while, and was the only Republican in that body to speak out in favor of marriage equality for gays and lesbians. He was really a Republican in name only, and when he ran for governor, he did so as an independent against a Democrat and someone from his old party. The Democrat maturely, and somewhat famously, told President Obama to “shove” his endorsement after he did not offer one (how does one shove something that isn't given in the first place?), thereby shooting himself in the foot and handing the race to Chafee, who won with 36 percent of the vote. One of the first issues on his agenda is to introduce legislation that would make gay marriage legal in the Ocean State. And to that I say: right on.

Now lots of people, including  a whole lot of ProJo commenters and the out-of-state group who spent $100K to fund this particular commercial, seem to believe that the fact that Chafee won the election with less than a majority of the votes somehow dilutes his power as governor. (The group is the National Organization for Marriage, and you can google it if you want to, but I’m not linking to that nonsense.) “Chafee [got] just 36 percent of the vote,” the announcer sneers in the ad. “That’s less than the Cool Moose Party! Now Chafee claims a mandate to push gay marriage with no vote of the people?!”

Okay. First of all, the candidate from the Cool Moose Party did not run for governor. He ran for lieutenant governor in a field with only one other candidate. It is a moot and dumb point. And B, who cares? He won. Deal with it. Here in Lil’ Rhody the winner is decided by a plurality, not a majority. (And yes, there are forces at work now to change that, but whatever. ) The last governor barely squeezed into his second term with 51 percent of the vote, and no one stepped up to say that that chucklehead was just over halfway in charge, although that would have been lovely.

I think the issue is that NOM knows that this will pass in the Rhode Island legislature. But maybe, just maybe, if it’s put to the people, they and likeminded malcontents can throw a lot of money and advertising to push the vote in their direction. And you know what, NOM? Bring it. Like it or not, and regardless of how it comes to pass, it will pass. Rhode Island will join much of the rest of the civilized world in recognizing the right of two people to commit to each other and enjoy all the fun-filled privileges of marriage, like claiming your dead spouse's body! Woo! 

Even if those people happen to look the same from the waist down.