As the U.S. Supreme Court considers two historic gay marriage cases this week, the politics of the issue are also in the spotlight. Five US senators, most of them not liberal -- Rob Portman, Claire McCaskill, Mark Warner, Jay Rockefeller, and Mark Begich -- have all recently announced support for a right to same-sex marriage, the last four this week.
Theres a pattern to these announcements. In the case of Sen. Portman, a Republican, the change of heart came because of his gay son. And hes from Ohio, a battleground state that mirrors the politics of the nation as a whole, which have shown a steady, marked shift toward approval of same-sex marriage. Nationally, the number is now well above 50 percent.
Senator McCaskill of Missouri is a Democrat in a Republican-leaning state who was just reelected and wont be up again until 2018. Senator Warner (D) of Virginia like Ohio, a big swing state is up for reelection in 2014, and probably safe. Senator Rockefeller (D), a liberal, represents increasingly conservative West Virginia, but he is retiring.
Senator Begich of Alaska might be the closest call of the four: Hes a Democrat up for reelection next year in a Republican state. And support for gay marriage in Alaska is at just 43 percent, according to Public Policy Polling. But Begich seems to be counting on a libertarian streak in his state that goes beyond gay marriage.