The little things that shape History
This is an interesting posting. (below) Just think... we picked North Carolina for the Democratic convention because it was a narrow (and somewhat surprising) win in 2008. The North Carolina passed their anti-gay amendment. So suddenly there's the specter of a nasty scene, with a movement to move the convention. So that (prospective) division is swept away by endorsing same-sex marriage.
And all in anticipation of how vociferous the left of the party would be about the convention being in NC. So being the squeaky wheel works... even if some may think the squeak sounds like "whining." Rock on, malcontents who won't back down.
Michael Yaki
Member, U.S. Commission on Civil Rights :
This is both moral courage and political smarts. The fact is, with the DNC convention occuring in North Carolina,
he had to defuse a potentially volatile situation involving the site selection (Charlotte, even though Charlotte as a whole voted against Amendment 1) and the platform. As the National Platform Chair in 2008, we worked to finesse then-candidate Obama's position by using the code word "families" for same-sex couples, which has legal importance as far-reaching as the word marriage, but less politically loaded. Now, four years later, the party and the president can move united towards the convention without distraction and keep the attention and attacks squarely focused on Romney.
http://www.politico.com/arena/