Same-Sex Marriage in the House: LIVE VIDEO

Well, not from us. WPTZ channel 5 is live streaming here, starting at 3 p.m.

Follow Shay Totten's updates on Twitter.

The Night of the Living Robo-Calls

The National Organization for Marriage (NOM) based out of New Jersey has rolled out what appears to be a statewide robo-call effort urging Vermonters to call their local reps and urge them to support Gov. Jim Douglas' veto of the same-sex marriage bill.

I didn't record the call because I answered the phone and just listened to the recording. I'm surprised for a couple of reasons. First, my state rep was one of the original sponsors of the legislation (Democratic Rep. Mark Larson), and second I'm a journalist. Thirdly, it not only had my rep's name, but his number, too.

This leads me to believe that the call list was probably not a political list, but one that contains most, if not all, households. And this has to be expensive.

Not sure that having an out-of-state group lobbying for their cause is going to help the in-state opponents of same-sex marriage. They are also behind an e-mail campaign to Vermont lawmakers. I've placed calls and emails to the organization to get more details about their efforts in Vermont and will post any responses I receive. They claim to have an ad running as part of their Northeast Action Plan to stamp out same-sex marriage efforts in New England. I haven't heard one yet in Vermont.

Several readers who alerted me to the calls they received had this same question: The ad specifically mentions that lawmakers should support Gov. Douglas. Did he give his blessing to this group to use his name? Probably not. His name also appeared on a rather hate-filled rant that landed on people's fax machines this week from a Utah-based group America Forever. This group also robo-faxed Vermont businesses before a public hearing on same-sex marriage last month.

As for tomorrow's House debate, I'll provide play-by-play coverage on Twitter. You can follow me by clicking here. I'll also be intermittently posting to Blurt. It promises to be a very busy, and very long day.

The House convenes at 9:30 a.m., but according to the official calendar they will be taking up the budget bill before they get to marriage equality. Download your copy of the calendar by clicking here and then clicking on the Thursday House calendar link (a PDF will then download).

Alien Lands on Conant!

"We got to work this morning and heard this huge, screeching crash and looked out the window, and right outside the shop an alien had apparently just landed!" So went Steve Conant's story when I called him about the female "alien" clinging to the side of his building. I saw her when I walked to work this morning, but it turned out I'd missed all the "action." Which was a "hazmat" crew — conveniently located inside the Conant Metal & Light building — suppressing the "fire" from the alien's body-sized space ship. After their work was done, the crew set up a caution tape around the crash site, a job that reportedly met with the approval of  Burlington Public Works.
    Speaking of bodies, Ms. Alien was about six feet tall and, according to Conant, "fully articulated and anatomically incorrect." He's not sure what will happen with the figure after she's removed at the end of the day. Me, I'd like to see her continue to climb the walls.
    Oh, and happy April Fool's Day!

Same-Sex Marriage Surveys are All the Rage

In this week's "Fair Game" we made mention of a phone poll regarding same-sex marriage being conducted by the Vermont Republican Party throughout the state.

The party has polled voters in 16 legislative districts, and plans to conduct several more before tomorrow's House debate and vote on the same-sex marriage bill. There continues to be pressure on House members, as well as the governor, to pass the bill. A rally last week in Montpelier brought more than 300 supporters under the Golden Dome (click here for videos of the rally).

Executive Director Rob Roper said the poll is based "grassroots" response, and they aren't cherry-picking districts. "It's not us dictating which districts should be polled," said Roper. "People are coming to us and asking us to poll in their district."

While not exactly a state referendum on the issue, Roper hopes the poll will offer lawmakers some guidance. 

Here's how it works. Each poll costs $400, so anyone who wants a district polled can write a check to the Vermont GOP and they'll have the poll conducted.  As of yesterday morning, the GOP had polled 9924 people in 16 legislative districts encompassing more than 40 towns throughout Vermont.

The poll asked respondents three questions, as you'll see in the results posted below. Given space constraints in the print edition, I thought I'd post the entire results here.

One analysis, i.e. spin, being offered is when you combine the first and second questions you have a strong majority of Vermonters who either oppose or want to wait on a same-sex marriage law. But, if you exclude the first question — since obviously lawmakers aren't waiting  — you see an even 8-8 split between districts opposed and those in favor.

As you'll see from the results, it does seem ironic that most of the polls (save a couple) are being conducted in swing districts where Democrats have been vulnerable in the past.

None of the polls conducted so far could be considered "scientific", not even the Town Meeting Day poll by the venerable State Sen. William Doyle (R-Washington). In that poll, of 13,000 respondents, 55 percent favor same-sex marriage, with 38 percent opposed and 7 percent not sure. In 2007, voters were split 46-46-8 on the same question. In 1998, 61 percent of Vermonters opposed same-sex marriage, 32 percent were in favor, and 7 percent were not sure.

We'll see if any of these polls have an effect on lawmakers, along with the words of former Gov. Howard Dean who urged fellow Dems Saturday night to "vote your conscience, not your district. Stand up for humanity — put human rights above politics."

Others are beginning to come "out of the closet" so to speak. Alex Aldrich, the head of the Vermont Arts Council, posted to his blog this week encouraging everyone to get informed.

Aldrich writes: "Many of you have already made up your mind one way or the other on gay marriage. This post, however, is directed to those of you who have NOT made up your mind about whether you support or oppose gay marriage." For "fair and balanced" links he directs readers to Take it to the People and Vermont Freedom to Marry Task Force.

He then adds, "Still haven’t made up your mind? Go back and do it again, and yet again if you have to. I truly don’t care what your position ends up being. I just don’t want you or your children, grandchildren, or great-grandchildren to feel any regret that you didn’t take a position and communicate it to your legislators when you had the chance."

"As to where I personally stand on this issue, feel free to draw your own conclusions," he concludes.

Thanks to the GOP poll, we know how some of you feel. Below are the poll results, by district, and the names of legislators who represent each district. My guess is both "sides" on this issue will find something in these numbers worth cheering.