I’m sitting here thinking about all of the blood, sweat and tears poured into this battle to defeat Amendment One here in NC. It looks like is NC had the highest turnout for a primary here in a quarter century — 37%. Only 18% were expected to vote.

But the forces of bigotry won this round.

Tonight features important contests in Indiana, North Carolina, and Wisconsin. In Indiana already tonight, Richard Mourdock has made history by beating incumbent Republican Senator Dick Lugar. You can find my thoughts on the Indiana election here.

In North Carolina, Democrats are selecting their gubernatorial nominee and all voters are deciding the fate of Amendment One, which would put a prohibition against gay marriage into the state constitution even though it is already prevented by statute — and also any form of civil union. You can read my primary primer here.

Final thoughts on Indiana – Richard Mourdock defeating a sitting incumbent Senator is a huge deal. Senators very rarely lose their party’s nomination. This should send shockwaves through the GOP. Lugar was, after all, one of the only six real Republican incumbents running this cycle and Orrin Hatch, another Republican incumbent up this year, has spent months also trying to fend off his own primary challenge.

This will send the message to all sitting Republicans that incumbency does not equal safety. If you don’t stick to conservatives’ principles you can be challenged and defeated. I wouldn’t be surprised if elected Republicans were even more unified and conservative moving forward.

The latest PPP polling in NC (May 5-6) still favors passage of Amendment One (full crosstabs) — the conundrum remains: if voters know the scope of the amendment’s harms, they would vote against it, but many aren’t sure about what the language means: Opponents of the amendment had an uphill battle in convincing voters that [...]

Today has turned into a remarkably eventful May 8th primary. Significant contested elections are currently taking place in Indiana, North Carolina, and Wisconsin. Key contests to watch are Sen. Dick Lugar’s primary in Indiana, North Carolina’s anti-gay Amendment One, and the Wisconsin Democratic primary to determine who will oppose Scott Walker in his recall election.

Don’t know who’s standing up to defeat Amendment One in North Carolina. Here’s a handy list from Progress NC of North Carolina leaders and citizens who have spoken out against the initiative.

If the words of the North Carolina NAACP’s Rev. Dr. William J. Barber, shown on the Larry O’Donnell show last night, are heeded by voters today, Amendment One will fall. If people vote because of their fears of disdain for a minority — because this doesn’t “protect marriage” from anything — they are deciding to remove rights already granted to some North Carolina citizens in the form of domestic partnerships, and eliminate the possibility of civil unions for committed couples. Reverend Barber breaks it all down — this has NOTHING to do with religious beliefs on same-sex unions.

Like a cockroach scurrying for cover when the light goes on, House Majority Leader Skip Stam (R), seeing the moral bankruptcy that he has wrought with Amendment One on the ballot, tries to tell the Fayetteville Observer that he actually wanted a kinder, gentler (presumably only anti-gay) ballot initiative, but that he was pressured by a national hate group to use the language people will see at the polls.

Amongst members of the lgbtq community and our supporters, there have been whispering suspicions that one of the reasons why the National Organization for Marriage fights to keep its donor lists secret is because perhaps the Catholic Church leadership itself may be involved with NOM’s efforts to hinder marriage equality at a level which would raise some serious questions regarding ethics and the legality of a religious organization interjecting itself into political battles.

A chorus of voices has arisen over the past few months to warn North Carolinians of the harms of Amendment One. Check out the video.