Can marriage-amendment foes succeed at the polls?

The batting average of conservatives who have been pushing state marriage amendments isn't bad - try 19 for 19 and counting.

But a progressive coalition thinks that it has a shot at defeating the 20th proposed state-constitutional amendment - which will be on the ballot in Virginia in November.

"There is a very real chance that we might be able to defeat this," said Joshua Israel, the president of Virginia Partisans Gay and Lesbian Democratic Club, which is involved in the Commonwealth Coalition effort to defeat the amendment that would define marriage in Virginia as being a legal bond between one man and one woman.

"The average Virginian is not in favor of same-sex marriage. But the latest poll on this showed that 59 percent of Virginians support civil unions. And when people see the full text of this amendment - it's long, it's confusing, it's very open-ended and vague - and when they hear about some of the things that this may do, I think people, even though they may not be for same-sex marriage, are going to see that this kind of constitutional amendment goes too far," Israel told The Augusta Free Press.

http://www.augustafreepress.com/stories/storyReader$39679

...and they're counting on the voters to read through a "long...confusing...open-ended...vague" amendment? It's a southern state, and it's an amendment banning gay marriage. It will pass.

Call it stereotyping, but most voters aren't going to get so involved that they will read the entire amendment, much less voters in a Republican-leaning state. If it's given to them as an amendment to ban gay marriage, it will be approved.

Looks like we're getting a Marriage Amendment vote in Illinois. The bigots just announced it this morning. It's not clear if it's even going to be challenged although they squeeked by with just enough signatures. If it was challenged there is a good chance it could be knocked off the ballot. Our side is saying it might cost too much.
My question is where is the Democratic party to help on this? It's in their interest to keep this thing off the ballot as it energizes the Repuke bigot base. Asleep at the switch again or just afraid to take a stand.