Initiative 1192 A No GO, What That Means.

Well on Tuesday the backers of Initiative 1192 other wise know as I 1192 conceded that they did not and would not have enough signatures by the deadline of July 6th to make it onto the November ballot.  The backer of the  241,000   which would have changed state law to once again read that marriage is between one man and one women.  The backer of the measure Stephen Pidgeon, who is also a candidate for the state attorney generals office, (How unseemly) blamed the inability to collect enough signatures on the backers of Ref 74, and went so far as to say that the backers of Ref 74 chorused signature gathers to sabotage his Initiative campaign!  What this means though is that there is only one fight to be fought now on the November ballot and that is Ref 74.  Of-course like everything in this fight this is both good new and also some bad news at the same time. 

The good news for our side (and theirs) is that there is one simple message to get out to the voters on how to vote when it comes to marriage equality on the November ballot and that is vote YES to keep marriage equality and vote NO to take it away.   There is no muddling like there would have been if I 1192 had made it on the ballot in which case the required voting positions would have been flipped on their heads, with a yes meaning changing the definitions of marriage back to "one man and one women" and a no meaning keeping marriage equality in place.  So in this case both sides dodged a built on voter confusion.

That dodge may be an extra boost for our side as with limited resources the few messages you have to get out the easier it is to stretch them and use them strategically. For our side it also means that there is now only one issue requiring fundraising it also means that there will be no competing battle for donations, which given the true grassroots nature of the pro-equality campaign which needs to get its funds from every day men and women the vast majority of whom live and work in the state, is a very good thing.  Especially since we face having to fight off super PAC money from out of state groups like NOM.  As it is Washington United For Marriage has raised $1.9 million dollars so far, as of last Tuesday (7/3/12) which is far more then ether of the groups opposing us have raised, however it is expected that like in California and Main, lots of out of state money will flood in to support the anti equality campaign of Preserve Marriage Washington who are the backers of Ref 74.  With Washington United For Marriage expecting them to spend about $5-7million like they did in California and Main, which is a lot of money.  

We also still hold a polling advantage of support for gay marriage with 51% supporting and only 42% opposed which means that about 7% are undecided.  Now we cant count on these number but it is promising to be leading with an over 50% support number in polls, but it also means that we have our work cut out for us not only insuring that those who support us vote, but also in trying to captrue as many of those undecided votes as we can which will be a tough fight as we only have a very small window to do it in. This time frame is even sorter then it is in other state as Washington is a vote by mail state and ballots get mailed on October 15th so many voters have their vote cast well before election day.  So while the last minute election day push may get some votes for a large chunk of the vetoing public like mean by the time those last minute pushes come they have already cast their blot and mailed it back in.  So in many ways that battle is won or lost by mid October.  

IF any of my readrs are so inclined, you can fallow this link to Washington United For Marriage and make a donation to help fund the fight to protect marriage equality in the state of Washington.   As always readers thank you.