The jury began its discussions Friday and has occasionally asked to see exhibits over the past few days. Jurors have taken a lunch break and will resume talks later Thursday.

The former presidential candidate is accused of orchestrating a plan to funnel money from two wealthy donors to hide his pregnant mistress as he sought the 2008 White House.

He is charged with six felony counts related to campaign-finance violations. If convicted on all counts, Edwards faces up to 30 years in prison, though legal experts predict a term of less than five years would be more likely.

"I'm not aware that the president had any conversation like that or anyone with staff, I'm not saying they haven't but I'm not aware of it," says Jay Carney, the White House spokesman.

Though, there are other Democrats careful not to criticize capitalism, and Romney's team is rolling out highlights as if from an assembly line.

While Republicans seems content to extend this fight, they have to be careful. After all, the president welcomes it.

"This is not a distraction, this is what this campaign is going to be about," Obama says.

Why? Perhaps because in 1994, Ted Kennedy used this exact same tactic to beat Romney. Some Obama ads, practically mirror images and interviews. In fact, some published reports indicate the laid off workers, like Randy Johnson, have been essentially Democratic, anti-Romney operatives since the 90's, flown around the country on the DNC's dime to re-hash the Bain capital critique and relay this message from Vice President Joe Biden

"Making money for your investors, which Romney did very well, is not the president's job,” Biden said. “The president has a different job.”

The PFC Auction house, which is based in the Channel Islands between England and France, said in a statement that the seller had obtained the vial legally at a U.S. auction earlier this year but had decided against proceeding with Thursday's auction.

The decision not to sell the controversial item linked to the 1981 assassination attempt on the former president was praised by the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation in California.

"We are very pleased with this outcome and wish to thank the consignor and PFC Auctions for their assistance in this matter," said John Heubusch, executive director of the foundation.

He said he was pleased the late president's blood will be kept "out of public hands."

The vial had been taken from a laboratory that tested Reagan's blood for lead in the days after he was seriously wounded by a would-be assassin.

"While we contend that the removal of the vial from the hospital laboratory, and the U.S. auction sale in February 2012, were not legal acts in our opinion, we are grateful to the current custodian of the vial for this generous donation to the Foundation," Heubusch said.

Reagan's family, his foundation and his surgeon had earlier this week criticized the proposed sale.

Online bidding on the item had reached about $30,000 when the sale was suspended. It had been set to conclude Thursday evening.

More risky business: JP Morgan’s multi-billion dollar slip-up.

The debt limit debate--again.

And the Archdiocese of Washington attacks Georgetown University for one of its graduation speakers—HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.

In a statement the NAACP says the move is “a continuation of its historic commitment to equal protection under the law.”

"The mission of the NAACP has always been to ensure the political, social and economic equality of all people," said Roslyn M. Brock, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the NAACP. "We have and will oppose efforts to codify discrimination into law."

"Civil marriage is a civil right and a matter of civil law. The NAACP's support for marriage equality is deeply rooted in the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution and equal protection of all people" said Benjamin Todd Jealous, President and CEO of the NAACP.

The release says, “The NAACP has addressed civil rights with regard to marriage since Loving v. Virginia declared anti-miscegenation laws unconstitutional in 1967. In recent years the NAACP has taken public positions against state and federal efforts to ban the rights and privileges for LGBT citizens, including strong opposition to Proposition 8 in California, the Defense of Marriage Act, and most recently, North Carolina's Amendment 1, which changed the state constitution's to prohibit same sex marriage.”

This is the text of the resolution passed by the NAACP board:

The NAACP Constitution affirmatively states our objective to ensure the "political, educational, social and economic equality" of all people. Therefore, the NAACP has opposed and will continue to oppose any national, state, local policy or legislative initiative that seeks to codify discrimination or hatred into the law or to remove the Constitutional rights of LGBT citizens. We support marriage equality consistent with equal protection under the law provided under the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution. Further, we strongly affirm the religious freedoms of all people as protected by the First Amendment.

The Group of Eight economic summit and the national security-focused NATO meeting will be infused with politics from every angle. For Obama, the summits are a unique election-year opportunity to show leadership on the world stage without having to leave the U.S.

But with some new faces around the conference tables, Obama and the other leaders will be confronted by the stark reminder of the political turmoil from Asia to Europe that cost several of their old counterparts their jobs.

Since late 2011, public frustration with Europe's debt crisis has led to the ouster of leaders in Italy, Spain, Greece and most recently, France. Two other members of the G-8, Britain and Japan, have had leadership shake-ups since Obama took office.

Obama is fighting for his own job in a campaign expected to hinge on the economy. He has had the good fortune of being able to hold both summits this year in the U.S., allowing him to tailor the meetings around his election-year messages of expanding the economy, creating jobs and ending the war

The summit locations rotate annually for each organization.

Leaders from the world's eight leading industrialized nations arrive in the Washington area on Friday for meetings at Camp David, the wooded presidential retreat in Maryland's Catoctin Mountains. Immediately following the G-8 summit, Obama and most of the other leaders will fly to Chicago Saturday evening to join other heads of state from NATO.

Obama originally planned both meetings for Chicago, his hometown. But the White House abruptly scrapped those plans in March, announcing with little explanation that the G-8 would shift to Camp David.

It was an unexpected move from Obama, who rarely spends time at Camp David and has never hosted a world leader there, unlike many of his predecessors. The White House said that location would lend itself to more intimate talks. It also will keep them far from the protests that usually flare on the summit fringes.

But U.S. and other diplomats said a major reason for the switch was to appear welcoming to Vladimir Putin, who recently reclaimed the presidency in Russia. Putin planned to skip NATO because of his staunch opposition to the alliance's planned missile defense shield, and separating the two meetings was seen as a way to give Putin cover to slip away less awkwardly.

Yet in a move widely perceived as a snub, Putin told Obama last week that he was skipping the G-8 as well in order to stay in Russia and focus on forming his government. Russia's former president and current prime minister, Dmitry Medvedev, will attend the G-8 sessions, which also include the U.S., Japan, Britain, France, Italy and Canada.

White House officials insisted Putin's presence was not a factor in their decision to move the G-8 summit.

The G-8 talks are expected to be dominated by the eurozone crisis, though Obama administration officials are keeping expectations for tangible agreements low. While the health of the U.S. economy is closely linked to Europe's stability, Obama has made clear that he has no appetite for ponying up American money to help bail out the continent.

Instead, Obama will largely play the role of facilitator, urging European leaders to balance calls for austerity, largely driven by Germany, with a growth agenda.

"This is really for Europe to sort out," said Heather Conley, a Europe expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "We are sitting on the bleachers a bit. And we are going to have to watch how this plays out with the frustration in recognizing that it will have a profound impact for the global economy and for the U.S. economy."

Obama will have a new ally in his calls for a growth agenda in Europe, new French President Francois Hollande. But administration officials say Obama plans to caution Hollande, France's first socialist president in 17 years, that Europe cannot abandon budget-cutting entirely.

Obama will host Hollande at the White House for a meeting Friday before the G-8 summit begins.

Hollande will be in the spotlight as the weekend of summitry moves to Chicago, where NATO will firm up plans for how the alliance will finish its shift from a combat role in Afghanistan to an advisory role next year. The alliance will also reaffirm its commitment to fully ending the combat mission in Afghanistan by 2015.

Hollande campaigned on pledge to speed up the withdrawal of France's 3,400 troops from Afghanistan and pull them out by the end of the year. But he recently acknowledged that a fast-track pullout might force the French to leave behind some military gear, and some U.S. officials believe he is likely to try to find some wiggle room, perhaps by leaving some forces in Afghanistan in an advisory role.

The NATO-backed plan for drawing down in Afghanistan is an important part of Obama's campaign message about the increasingly unpopular war. But Obama is not expected to announce the next steps in the U.S. withdrawal plan from Afghanistan during the summit.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai will be in Chicago, and NATO also has extended an invitation to Pakistan, which has a vital role in ensuring stability in the region after the U.S. and other foreign forces draw down. The invitation to President Asif Ali Zardari was a signal of rapprochement between the U.S. and Pakistan and a sign that Islamabad is ready to reopen its western border to U.S. and NATO military supplies heading to Afghanistan.

The NATO meeting also will showcase the effort to get firm financial commitments from inside and outside the alliance for support for Afghan forces. NATO argues that even the projected bill of about $4 billion annually is cheaper than the cost of war. But it is not clear that several European governments have the budget or the will to keep paying. The U.S. expects to pay much of the total, but U.S. officials say Washington cannot do it alone.

WASHINGTON (AP) - A planned graduation speech by Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius at Georgetown University is going forward, despite criticism from the Archdiocese of Washington that Sebelius is an inappropriate choice for the Jesuit school.

The Archdiocese on Tuesday said in a statement that Sebelius' actions as a public official "present the most direct challenge to religious liberty in recent history."

Sebelius helped shape President Barack Obama's 2010 health care law, which includes a mandate that requires employers to provide health insurance that covers birth control for workers.

Catholic bishops have led opposition to the mandate.

Sebelius, a former Kansas governor, is scheduled to speak Friday at a ceremony for graduates of Georgetown University's Public Policy Institute.

A Georgetown spokeswoman said Wednesday that the plans have not changed.

The House voted 77-60 on Wednesday to raise income taxes on single filers who make more than $100,000 and joint filers who make $150,000 in taxable income a year.

The House voted 86-51 for a separate bill to split teacher pension costs over four years and raise taxes on tobacco other than cigarettes.

The House votes ends a special session that began on Monday.

Gov. Martin O'Malley called the special session to avoid about $500 million in budget cuts that were triggered by the General Assembly's failure to pass the budget package during the 90-day regular session last month.

The defense had called a series of witnesses aimed at shifting the jury's focus from the lurid details of a political sex scandal to the legal question of whether the Edwards' actions violated federal campaign finance laws.

Prosecutors spent nearly three weeks trying to convince a jury that Edwards masterminded a conspiracy to use nearly $1 million secretly provided by two wealthy donors to help hide his pregnant mistress, Rielle Hunter, as he sought the White House in 2008.

Many people watching the case believed Edwards would testify so the jury could hear directly from the former U.S. senator and trial lawyer, who had a reputation for his ability to sway jurors. But putting Edwards on the stand was also a gamble: It would have exposed him to withering cross-examination about his past lies and personal failings.

Most experts were convinced calling Hunter to testify would have dredged up more negatives and lies. The defense also elected not to question Edwards' oldest daughter, Cate, who has sat behind Edwards nearly every day of the trial and could have helped humanize him.

At one point during the trial, she ran out of the courtroom in tears during testimony about her cancer-stricken mother confronting her father about his extramarital affair.

The judge told jurors that no more witnesses would be called and closing arguments would be Thursday, with the jury likely beginning deliberations Friday.

Edwards is charged with six criminal counts including conspiracy to violate the Federal Election Campaign Act, accepting contributions that exceeded campaign finance limits, and causing his campaign to file a false financial disclosure report.

He faces up to 30 years in prison and $1.5 million in fines if convicted of all charges.

Edwards has sat quietly at the defense table throughout his trial, whispering with his lawyers and rarely showing reaction to the often emotional testimony from witnesses who were once among his strongest supporters and closest friends. He has made no public statements since October, following a pre-trial hearing where a judge refused to throw out the criminal case against him.

"After all these years, I finally get my day in court and people get to hear my side of this, and what actually happened," Edwards said last year on the steps of the federal courthouse in Greensboro. "And what I know with complete and absolute certainty is I didn't violate campaign laws and I never for a second believed I was violating campaign laws."

At the trial, prosecutors have shown two members of Edwards' inner circle, campaign finance chairman Fred Baron and once-close aide Andrew Young, engaged in a yearlong cover-up to hide the married presidential candidate's mistress from the media. Young, who is married, falsely claimed paternity of his boss' baby and received $725,000 in secret checks from an elderly heiress, using some of the money to care for Hunter.

Baron, a wealthy Texas lawyer, provided Young and Hunter with more than $400,000 in cash, luxury hotels, private jets and a $20,000-a-month rental mansion in Santa Barbara, Calif.

Prosecutors have introduced phone records, voicemails and other evidence showing Edwards was in frequent contact with Baron, Young and Hunter, all while his mistress was in hiding. Former members of Edwards' campaign also testified that Baron spoke of "moving Hunter around" in the candidate's presence and that Edwards told his speechwriter he knew "all along" what Baron was up to.

However, in 14 days of testimony, no witness ever said Edwards knew he was violating campaign finance laws, a key element of criminal intent the government must prove to win a conviction.

The defense also undercut the credibility of Young, whom bank records showed siphoned off most of the money from Mellon to build his expansive $1.6 million dream house. Baron wired another $325,000 to the company building Young's house.

Jurors were also read a stipulation about a sex tape the Youngs had, purportedly showing Edwards and a pregnant Hunter. Jurors were told Andrew Young considered selling the tape, and during his last personal encounter with Edwards on a rural North Carolina road, he told Edwards he had the tape.

The tape had only briefly been mentioned during the trial until Wednesday.

Before his indictment, Edwards rejected a potential plea agreement with federal prosecutors that would have allowed him to serve as little as six months and keep his law license.

A graduate of the University of North Carolina law school, John Edwards made his fortune handling medical malpractice and corporate negligence cases before turning to politics following the death of his 16-year-old son Wade in a 1996 auto accident. Edwards was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1998 and was John Kerry's running mate in 2004.

Edwards' wife, Elizabeth, died of cancer in December 2010. He is now a single parent of two school-aged children, ages 13 and 11, who live with their father at the family's gated estate outside Chapel Hill. Edwards' 30-year-old daughter Cate is a lawyer who married last year.

After years of denials, Edwards admitted fathering his and Hunter's baby in January 2010, shortly after agreeing to pay child support. The girl, now 4, lives with her mother in Charlotte.

Defense attorneys said they would make a decision later Tuesday, but it was not immediately clear when they would make it public.

After testimony ended for the day with the trial still focusing on financial records, Edwards team said they had not made a final decision on whether to call Edwards, his oldest daughter Cate or his mistress, Rielle Hunter.

They could also recall Edwards' once-close confidant and aide, Andrew Young. Lead defense lawyer Abbe Lowell said they may call some or all of the remaining potential witnesses. "We may also very well be done tomorrow," Lowell told the judge overseeing the case.

Records introduced Tuesday at Edwards' corruption trial show his campaign finance chairman paid the candidate's mistress a $9,000 monthly cash allowance, on top of other living and travel expenses.

Wealthy Texas lawyer Fred Baron is one of two political supporters who combined gave nearly $1 million to help hide Edwards' pregnant mistress Rielle Hunter as the politician sought the White House in 2008.

Evidence introduced at the trial showed Baron, who died in 2008, was making regular deposits into Hunter's checking account, the sum totaling $74,000.

Money from the wealthy donors was also used for private jets, stays at luxury resorts and a $20,000-a-month California rental mansion.

Edwards' oldest daughter, Cate, could take the stand as early as Tuesday afternoon.

Two weeks ago, she dramatically ran out of the courtroom in tears during testimony about her cancer-stricken mother confronting her father about his affair with Hunter.

It's not clear how her testimony could help her father's defense. Edwards has pleaded not guilty to campaign finance violations stemming from the money used to support his mistress.

He faces up to 30 years in prison if convicted. His attorneys have said that Edwards did not know about the money from Baron and Mellon - and that even if he did, the cash was not a campaign contribution because it was intended to hide Hunter from Edwards' wife, not the public.

Earlier Tuesday, Edwards' former lawyer Wade Smith testified about conversations he had with Alex D. Forger, an attorney for wealthy heiress Rachel "Bunny" Mellon.

Forger had earlier testified for prosecutors, saying he told Smith that Edwards acknowledged some of the "Bunny Money" had been given for his benefit. Smith said Forger misunderstood the conversation they had.

"I would not ever quote my client to someone else," Smith testified, saying that would violate attorney-client privileged.

On Monday, Edwards' attorneys began his defense by attempting to shift the focus away from the sex scandal to the technical issue of whether Edwards' alleged behavior violated campaign finance laws.

Defense attorneys have not yet indicated if they will call Hunter or Edwards to testify.

Before winning a U.S. Senate seat in 1998, Edwards made a fortune as a personal injury lawyer renowned for his ability to sway jurors. But his testimony would expose himself to a likely withering cross-examination about his past lies and personal failings.

In an email to supporters, Paul urged his libertarian-leaning backers to remain involved in politics and champion his causes despite the apparent end of his presidential aspirations.

Paul has found success in wrecking the selection process for delegates to the party's late-summer nominating convention in Tampa, Fla., and trumpeted that he has delayed Romney's expected nomination.

"Moving forward, however, we will no longer spend resources campaigning in primaries in states that have not yet voted," Paul said in his statement. "Doing so with any hope of success would take many tens of millions of dollars we simply do not have. I encourage all supporters of liberty to make sure you get to the polls and make your voices heard, particularly in the local, state and congressional elections, where so many defenders of freedom are fighting and need your support."

Paul's supporters have proved successful in winning state GOP conventions in places such as Maine and Nevada.

His supporters in Iowa and Nevada were chosen to lead the state central parties. Paul's flock is likely to make similar inroads this weekend in Minnesota, which Paul was slated to address.

Paul has already dominated the state's congressional district conventions, winning at least 18 of the 24 national delegates selected, even though he finished a distant second to Rick Santorum in local caucuses in February.

"Our campaign will continue to work in the state convention process. We will continue to take leadership positions, win delegates and carry a strong message to the Republican National Convention that liberty is the way of the future," Paul vowed.

Primaries have not been Paul's strong suit - he hasn't won a single primary or caucus. But Paul's supporters have successfully navigated the convention process in a number of states, adding to Paul's delegate total while gaining influence over state parties.

At the center of the push - the president's most forceful attempt yet to sully Romney before the November election - is a biting new TV ad airing Monday that recounts through interviews with former workers the restructuring, and ultimate demise, of a Kansas City, Mo., steel mill under the Republican's private equity firm.

"They made as much money off of it as they could. And they closed it down," says Joe Soptic, a steelworker for 30 years.

Jack Cobb, who also worked in the industry for three decades, adds: "It was like a vampire. They came in and sucked the life out of us."

The ad, at the unusual length of 2 minutes, will run in five battleground states: Iowa, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Colorado.

The campaign declined to describe the size of the ad buy though it's in the middle of running a $25 million, month-long ad campaign in nine states.

A longer version of the ad was being posted online Monday. Romney campaign officials said they "welcome" any discussion about jobs.

"Mitt Romney helped create more jobs in his private sector experience and more jobs as governor of Massachusetts than President Obama has for the entire nation," Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul said in a statement.

The commercial will be coupled with a series of events Obama's campaign is holding this week in Florida, Missouri, Iowa, Nevada and North Carolina to highlight Romney's role at Bain Capital, a company he co-founded.

It's unclear whether Obama, himself, will criticize his Republican rival on the subject when the president appears at events in New York on Monday or whether he'll leave the skewering to campaign surrogates as he prepares to meet with foreign leaders during the G-8 and NATO summits later this week.

Also this week, Vice President Joe Biden holds two days of events in Ohio, where he's expected to discuss Romney's role as a corporate buyout specialist.

Romney previously had accused Obama of attacking free enterprise and called the criticism of his business background an attempt by Democrats to distract voters from the president's record. Both candidates were entering a new week in the campaign seeking to shift the focus back to voters' No. 1 issue, the economy, from social issues that dominated after the president announced his support for gay marriage.

The two campaigns contend that in a nation where unemployment is hovering around 8 percent, voters will choose between Obama and Romney based on economic arguments.

Obama is trying to convince voters to stick with him as he heralds an economic rebound, as sluggish as it is.

Romney counters that Obama has had enough time, and only he - with his deep background in business - knows how to jumpstart the nation's job market.

Obama, hosting his first campaign rally earlier this month in Columbus, Ohio, gave a preview of the new line of attack, saying Romney had "drawn the wrong lessons" from his business experience at the helm of Bain.

"He doesn't seem to understand that maximizing profits by whatever means necessary - whether through layoffs or outsourcing or tax avoidance or union-busting - might not always be good for the average American or for the American economy," Obama said then.

Romney, a multimillionaire, left Bain in 1999 to run the Salt Lake City Olympic Games but maintained a financial interest in the company after departing.

He has said that his firm had a strong overall track record, creating jobs in prominent companies like Staples and Sports Authority, while acknowledging that some companies Bain invested in were unsuccessful. Obama's new ad, which reprises criticism leveled at Romney during the Republican primaries, focuses on one of those unsuccessful companies, GST Steel.

Bain was the majority shareholder in GST Steel beginning in 1993. The company eventually filed for bankruptcy in 2001, a period in which the U.S. steel industry was roiled by a flood of cheap steel imports. About 750 workers lost their jobs, and were left without any health benefits and reduced pensions.

The federal government was forced to infuse $44 million into the company's underfunded pension plan. Bain received $12 million on its $8 million initial investment and at least $4.5 million in consulting fees, according to a January report by Reuters.

The commercial shows interviews with former workers at the Kansas City plant who said Bain's role led to job losses and slashed benefits.

It intersperses their claims with clips of Romney promoting his business background and empathizing with the jobless during campaign events.

There also are images of a closed factory, run-down buildings and a road sign that says "Dead End."

"Bain Capital walked away with a lot of money that they made off this plant. We view Mitt Romney as a job destroyer," said steel worker John Wiseman.

David Axelrod, a senior adviser to Obama's campaign, said Romney wants to "create the illusion that somehow his experience equips him to lead the economy but there's nothing about the record that would support that."

"His central premise is that he's an economic wizard who can really get this economy moving and if that's the only claim he is making for this office, that's a premise worth examining," Axelrod said.

The cover story for the upcoming edition of Newsweek is a piece written by Andrew Sullivan, an openly-gay political columnist, who declares that President Barack Obama is the first 'gay president.'

Sullivan's story comes in the days after President Obama told ABC's Robin Roberts that his personal views on gay marriage had changed and that he now supported the rights for same-sex couples to wed.

As Yahoo!'s The Ticket blog reports, Sullivan says that President Obama's remarks made him extremely emotional.

"He let go of fear," Sullivan writes in an excerpt of the story published on The Ticket. "He is clearly prepared to let the political chips fall as they may."

Another political columnist, Charles Babington of the Associated Press, called Obama's stance a "watershed moment in U.S. politics."

The stunning cover image comes on the heels of Time publishing a story about attachment parenting, which featured a woman breastfeeding hear nearly 4-year-old child.

The statement resembles the one that writer Toni Morrison made in 1998, when she called Bill Clinton "the first black president" in a commentary published in the New Yorker.

READ MORE at yahoo.com.

Lawmakers convened Monday for a special session that's expected to last about three days.

Democratic Gov. Martin O'Malley and the Democratic House and Senate leaders have hashed out a budget deal that includes income tax increases for individuals making $100,000 or more and households making $150,000 or more.

O'Malley says the tax increases are needed to avoid cuts to education and other critical services. But Republicans say the state has a spending problem, not a revenue problem.

Sen. David Brinkley, R-Frederick, says the tax increases will attack job creators in the state. Delegate Kathy Afzali, R-Frederick, says people are leaving the state due to high taxes.

Black Christians, a group who strongly supported Obama in 2008, now seem divided on whether or not they still support the president in November.

"I love the president, but I cannot support what he has done,” said
“I'm not mad with the president."

Black pastors and churchgoers tackled the topic of same-sex marriages Sunday, days after the president expressed his support for it.

At Shiloh Baptist church in D.C., where the Obama family celebrated Easter last year, Reverend Wallace Charles Smith says he would have preferred the president not weigh in on the issue.

“Will this hurt the African-American community's support for the president in the upcoming election? Well I would hope not,” he said.

But up the road in Baltimore, Pastor Emmett Burns, also a state legislator, is so upset, he publicly withdrew his support for President Obama Sunday and says the issue will cost him the election.

“I don't plan to vote for Romney for sure. And right now I plan to stay home,” Burns said.

The debate may get about jolt Tuesday when the president appears on ABC’s “The View” to explain his evolved views. The show airs live Monday -Thursday at 11:00 a.m.

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (AP) - On the upper eastern edge of Ohio lies a valley built on the sweat of the working class, where steel mills sit mostly shuttered but a once-struggling Chevy plant endures. It is a place filled with union halls and blue-collar families for whom the auto bailout meant survival, delivered by a president many here see as their savior.

The Mahoning Valley is, without question, Barack Obama country. And native Andre Allie is very much a Barack Obama man: An African-American who "went with history" by voting for him in 2008. A retired auto worker who made air-bag parts. A lifelong Democrat and union member whose wife, brothers, aunt, cousins are all Democrats and union folks, too.

But Allie is also a deeply religious man, an elder deacon at his Baptist church who quotes from the Bible with ease. And he fervently opposes what the president last week decided to publicly support. "It's wrong. Period. It's just wrong," Allie, 54, says of the latest issue to push to the front of the presidential campaign.

Obama's declaration in support of gay marriage was undoubtedly a milestone in American politics and culture. But six months from an election that will decide whether the president keeps his job, a question hovers over the moment: Was it, somehow, a game-changer?

In three very different regions of a state where the election could be won or lost, voters themselves have been considering that. And their reflections reveal something far more pragmatic than an electorate that shifts its views because of the headline of the day, no matter how historic.

Allie is but one example, a voter as adamant in his opposition to same-sex marriage as he is in his support - still - of Obama. In his words: "The world is bigger than gay marriage."

And yet something has sprung from the dialogue the president's words compelled. It may be far more subtle than a changed mind or a changed vote, but it is there all the same.

Among Democrats hungering for inspiration from the man who instilled hope four years ago, you hear talk of newfound respect for a candidate they supported, before this, only halfheartedly. The word "courage" comes up again and again.

"I'm really proud of him," said Margie DeLong, a retired nurse in northern Lake County who plans now to volunteer for the Obama campaign, as she did in 2008.

The Rev. Courtney Jenkins found something else to celebrate in her Mother's Day sermon at Euclid Avenue Congregational Church. Jenkins preaches to a mostly black congregation in Cleveland, where high turnout among African-Americans will be one make-or-break factor for Obama in Ohio. She knows there are those who theologically disagree with his position; she heard as much from one colleague last week. Still, that person told her, "This is the president I've been waiting on. One who will stand up and say: This is what I believe."

Said Jenkins: "I think that's really what voters were looking for. He preached change. We've been waiting on change."

For some Republicans here, the gay marriage comments only reinforced long-held suspicions of, and opposition to, Obama. But more than that, this statement feels like another in-their-face reminder that the country is headed off-track in ways that have nothing to do with job numbers and debt statistics.

"This is the Bible Belt, and we still believe what the Bible says," said Harty Wallingford, a civil engineer in Ohio's Appalachian region. "They can change the Bible in the city, but we won't change it here. We're not like California. They've just gone crazy there."

Will this renewed debate go so far as to be a decider in the state that itself could determine the election? Probably not. Will it dominate the discussion as the campaign goes on? Not likely. This is a place, like much of America, far more concerned about jobs and foreclosures, but also matters such as student loan costs, collective bargaining rights and fair elections laws.

But has gay marriage entered into the dialogue here on the ground? Absolutely. And what we find in those conversations is what we may already know as Americans: That while our families, our pocketbooks and our communities may drive our choices come Election Day, our hearts - whether motivated or alienated - play a part as well.

Just listen to some of the many people talking now all across this bellwether state.

To the east of Cincinnati, city sprawl turns to rolling hills where farm tractors and cars compete for space on the road. This is rural southern Ohio, the Appalachian region that shares a border with Kentucky and is home to tiny villages dotted with barns and Amish-owned shops. Life really feels a little slower in this place where, to so many, God and family matter more than anything material.

A few days after Obama's comments, Ohio Sen. Rob Portman campaigned across the region with Brad Wenstrup, a Republican candidate in the congressional House district that Portman formerly represented. Portman, whose name has been bandied about as a possible running mate for presumptive GOP nominee Mitt Romney, opposes same-sex marriage but doesn't think Obama's statement in support of it changes the paramount issues.

"I mean, what people care about is how are we going to turn this economy around and what do you do with these record debts and deficits."

That's still mostly true in a part of Ohio that can sometimes swing in election years.

There are strong Democratic roots in the region but of the "Reagan Democrat" variety, because of views that can lean conservative on both fiscal and cultural issues. Democrat Bill Clinton carried this predominantly white and blue-collar swath of the state both times he ran. But then it became George W. Bush country, and Republican John McCain won over Obama here in 2008.

Paul Hall is the GOP chairman in Brown County, where the double-digit unemployment rate hovers above the national average. He said that while the economy ranks way above gay marriage as an issue, Obama's support of the matter won't help attract votes. "That won't play well here," he said.

Wallingford, the engineer who also serves as head of the Adams County Republican Party, echoes that remark. When Portman and Wenstrup made a stop at the Olde Wayside Inn in West Union, 62-year-old Wallingford wanted to know Wenstrup's views on gay marriage, abortion and guns. (The response: Against, pro-life and all for.)

Wallingford does put such social issues above even the economy in this election, and the gay marriage debate has only bolstered his views and his support of Romney, who opposes same-sex marriage.

"No. 1 for me is the morals of this country," said Wallingford, who believes his friends and neighbors will feel the same. "He (Obama) just lost this county. There's no way."

The bustling campus of Ohio State University in Columbus is where Obama, little more than a week ago, decided to officially kick off his campaign for re-election. It was a nod to the role young voters played in helping him win Ohio in 2008, but also to the importance of getting that vote out again in 2012.

With a robust gay and lesbian community, Columbus last year was recognized as an "up-and-coming gay city" by readers of the website GayCities.com, while OSU was ranked by Newsweek as one of the top 10 most gay-friendly colleges in the United States.

If Obama's evolution on gay marriage was meant, at least in part, to invigorate both young and gay voters, he may have succeeded at least with some.

Student David Achille, 25, last year went to New York to marry his partner, Edward, after Ohio in 2004 passed a referendum banning same-sex marriage. One day last week, Achille was standing inside a jail-like cage on the grassy "Oval" where students hang out, dressed in a firefighter costume to raise "bail" money for the gay men's fraternity Sigma Phi Beta.

He heard about Obama's statement on Facebook, then watched for himself on YouTube. He said it "kind of made me rethink everything."

"I was already an Obama supporter, but then that just kind of sealed the deal. We want the equality. We always want to fight for the gay rights. ... And now we have the president behind our backs."

Alyssa Price, 20, a bisexual woman studying neuroscience and psychology, had a slightly different take. She called Obama's comments "reaffirming," ''sweet," ''touchy-feely," even said she hopes it does turn out more gay voters, especially Log Cabin Republicans. "I think that would be cool." But she was already an Obama supporter and felt no more or less motivated to work on his behalf.

Even Michael Flannagan, a gay student who is the Obama campaign's campus leader at Ohio State, cautioned that students, no matter their sexual orientation, are hardly single-issue voters. "We care about our jobs and our future. We care about the world that's going to be left to us when we take over."

The northern Rust Belt region that includes the Mahoning Valley is as blue as blue can get on the Ohio electoral map. Mahoning County, with Youngstown as the county seat, went almost 63 percent for Obama in 2008. To win Ohio again, Obama needs this slice of the state to turn out strong as much as Romney needs the south.

Yet the president's comments left some of the Valley's Democratic faithful wondering if he'd lose the blue-collar voters who comprise the base here.

"It's the kind of town that votes Democrat but probably is not in support of gay marriage," says Matt Bins-Castronovo, 38, a workers'compensation lawyer who was born and still lives in Youngstown. He completely agrees with the president's position but was annoyed by the timing, calling it "a silly thing to do at this point."

"I guess I'm looking at it through my isolated Youngstown, Ohio, shell. ... Who am I to judge how people will vote and why, what they deem to be more important than other things? But I do think it'll hurt him somewhat. Maybe not enough to lose, but I don't know."

Down the road in Lordstown, Glenn Johnson is president-elect of United Auto Workers Local 1112, representing employees at the General Motors plant that proudly advertises itself nowadays as "Home of the Cruze." Gay marriage, he said, simply can't trump what matters most to his members: Being able to provide for their families.

The union credits the Obama administration's bailout of the auto industry for revitalizing the Lordstown plant. Workers once laid off were rehired after the plant in 2010 began manufacturing the Chevy Cruze, and today some 4,500 people are employed there.

"If you are what I consider the three Gs - gays, God or guns - this may change your opinion of President Obama," Johnson said. "But if you look at the big picture of what he's done for our industry and for working families of this valley .... then you will do the right thing. The majority of our members are more concerned that they have a job."

The Obama campaign office in downtown Youngstown is papered with signs reflecting that sentiment: "This Valley Runs on Obama Power" and "Autoworkers Can't Trust Romney."

Just north of Youngstown, in one of the few swing counties in northeastern Ohio, a group of friends convened at week's end at a wine bar in a place called Painesville in Lake County.

At one table were four Republicans, at another four Democrats. All had plenty to say about the gay marriage debate, a subject on which they - perhaps surprisingly - found more unity than dissent. These friends, all in their late 60s or 70s, wholeheartedly agreed that gay couples should have the same rights as heterosexual couples.

For them, the issue itself wasn't the issue. Did it recharge some of the Democrats? Margie DeLong, the retired nurse who plans to now campaign harder for Obama, was part of this group. The answer for her was a clear yes. But also for Candace Forest, a Painesville native who lives now in San Francisco and promised: "I will engage more."

The Republicans were instead dismayed by what they considered a political ploy and worried it would move the conversation away from more pressing concerns.

"For now I think there's a whole bloc of people who are going to side with (the president's) 'from the heart decision,'" business owner Don Pomfrey said.

In the end, though, these Democrats and Republicans in a swing county of a swing state found one more point of agreement. As glasses were drained and dinner plans made, they had a final chance to reflect on what they all thought would, in the end, make the difference on Election Day. To them. To Ohio. And, maybe even, to the nation.

They offered up a two-word response, and it had nothing to do with the news of the past week but rather the issue of the times.

Almost in unison they said: "The economy."

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As she prepares to visit the Smithsonian Institution and National Zoo next week, White told The Associated Press she "very, very much favors" President Barack Obama in the election.

The 90-year-old actress said Friday she is very bi-partisan and has stayed away from politics all of her life. She usually never says who she is for or against because she doesn't want to turn off any of her adoring fans.

White says in this year's election, she likes what Obama has done and "how he represents us."

Her comments come after Hollywood turned out at George Clooney's home to raise $15 million for Obama's re-election, a record for a single fundraiser.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Sorry, Mr. President.

After nearly single-handedly pushing gay marriage to the forefront of the presidential campaign and inadvertently pressuring President Barack Obama to declare his support for same-sex unions, there was only one thing left for Vice President Joe Biden to do: apologize.

Biden's mea culpa came Wednesday in the Oval Office, shortly before the president sat for a hastily arranged interview in which he told the American people that he now supported gay marriage.

The vice president expressed remorse and regret for declaring his support for same-sex unions ahead of Obama, said a person familiar with the exchange, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the private conversation. Obama accepted the apology, saying he knew Biden had only been speaking from the heart.

Biden's apology followed days of frustration in the West Wing after the vice president went off script, something he had done plenty of times. Without White House approval, Biden declared on a Sunday talk show that he was "absolutely comfortable" with same-sex married couples having the same rights as heterosexual married couples.

Usually Obama can swat away Biden's free-wheeling ways. But not this time.

The vice president had publicly broken rank with the president on a politically sensitive issue. And his remarks focused a fresh spotlight on what Obama had vaguely referred to as "evolving" views on gay marriage.

What few people outside of Obama's inner circle of six or seven close aides knew at the time was that the president had, in fact, finished that evolution months earlier and was waiting for a suitable opportunity to inform the public of his views.

Biden's comments accelerated those plans.

And they raised questions about political motives when Obama eventually did embrace gay marriage. If Obama had evolved on gay marriage months ago, why had he waited? And if Biden hadn't spoken out of turn, would the president have spoken out before the November election?

Obama insisted he always planned to talk about his personal views on gay marriage before his party's convention in early September. And he said he wasn't angry when told by aides that the vice president had jumped the gun.

But in an interview with ABC News that aired Thursday, Obama did gently chide the vice president, saying that Biden "got a little bit over his skis" in his remarks on gay marriage but that he believed Biden did so out of a "generosity of spirit."

"Would I have preferred to have done this in my own way, in my own terms, without I think, there being a lot of notice to everybody? Sure," Obama said. "But all's well that ends well."

People close to Biden insist he was simply speaking of his personal beliefs, not trying to push the president to reveal his.

"Joe was being Joe," said Ed Rendell, the Democratic former governor of Pennsylvania. "He probably wasn't thinking about the fact that the president was going to make a statement about it on his own."

And for some White House aides, that was exactly the problem. There was a plan and Biden hadn't stuck to it.

Biden's words set off a scramble in the White House. A transcript of his interview with NBC's "Meet the Press," taped on Friday, landed on the desks of some top Obama aides in the West Wing. Highlighted in yellow were his comments on gay marriage.

Suddenly it was Biden being showered with accolades by liberals for his bold stance on gay right issues, not Obama, the president responsible for pushing through the repeal of the military's ban on openly gay service members and ordering the government to stop enforcing the Defense of Marriage Act.

Cleaning up Biden's mess wasn't new to the White House. His penchant for gaffes is legendary in Washington and was cause for some concern during the selection process for Obama's running mate. But over time, Biden's slip-ups became more of a running joke than a policy problem.

There was the time he was caught by cameras using an expletive to show his excitement over passage of the president's health care overhaul. And the time he offered his blessings to the deceased mother of the Irish prime minister, only to quickly remember that she was, in fact, alive.

Getting ahead of the president on a politically sensitive issue like gay marriage is hardly just a gaffe. But aides say Biden won't be punished for his remarks.

While Obama headed to the West Coast on Thursday, Biden was at the White House headlining an event with student groups and higher education organizations. And he'll soon be back out on the campaign trail raising money for the Obama-Biden ticket.

The Republican presidential candidate issued the apology during a hastily arranged radio interview after The Washington Post reported Thursday that he had held down classmate John Lauber and cut off his bleached blond hair when they were students at a prestigious boarding school in the wealthy Detroit suburb of Bloomfield Hills, Mich.

The Post suggested Lauber was bullied because he was gay.

"The people involved didn't come out of the closet until years later," Romney told a Fox News radio show. "I had no idea that this person might have been gay."

"I participated in a lot of hijinks and pranks during high school and some may have gone too far. And for that I apologize," he added.

The report and Romney's defense come as his inconsistent record on gay-rights - though iron-clad opposition to gay unions - is coming under scrutiny following President Barack Obama's embrace of same-sex marriage. He defended some gay rights when he ran for governor of Massachusetts but was a leading voice against gay marriage when courts made it legal in the state.

The Post report cites five classmates of Romney's at Cranbrook School recounting details of Romney's encounter with Lauber, whose bleached blond hair fell into his face. Romney led a group of boys that tackled Lauber. Romney cut off his hair with scissors as Lauber's eyes were "filling with tears," according to the Post.

The paper also recounted another incident where Romney shouted "atta girl" at a different student who, years later, came out as gay.

Romney was asked about Lauber during the radio interview. "I don't remember that incident," he said. "I certainly don't believe that I thought the fellow was homosexual. That was the furthest thing from our minds back in the 1960s."

Lauber is now deceased, the Post said.

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama said Vice President Joe Biden got "a little bit over his skis" in publicly embracing gay marriage, forcing Obama to speed up his own plans to announce his historic support for the right of same-sex couples to marry.

"Would I have preferred to have done this in my own way, in my own terms, without I think, there being a lot of notice to everybody? Sure," Obama said. "But all's well that ends well."

Obama, who was ready Thursday to dive into the embrace of Hollywood's wealthy elite at a gala fund-raising event, said he had planned to announce his support for gay marriage before his party's convention in early September. But he told ABC News that his hand was forced by Biden, though he said his vice president spoke out in support of same-sex marriage out of a "generosity of spirit."

The president made his historical endorsement on the eve of a sold-out fundraiser Thursday evening at the Los Angeles home of movie star George Clooney.

The timing of the event is creating a blockbuster confluence of high celebrity, big money and committed activism. Hollywood is home to some of the most high-profile backers of gay marriage and the 150 donors who are paying $40,000 to attend Clooney's dinner Thursday night will no doubt feel newly invigorated by Obama's watershed announcement the day before.

Overall, the dinner is expected to raise close to $15 million - about $6 million from the guests and the rest from a campaign contest for small-dollar donors, the winners of which get to participate in the dinner. It is an unprecedented amount for a single event. And it means that in one single evening the Obama camp and the Democratic Party will collect more than Mitt Romney, the presumed Republican challenger, has amassed in his best single month of fundraising.

Obama will also hold fundraisers earlier in the day in Seattle, where he was expected to collect at least $3 million toward his re-election effort. On Friday, he will fly to Nevada, a highly contested state, where he will call for housing relief in a speech in Reno.

But Obama's support of gay marriage, announced in an ABC interview Wednesday, will be dominant, culminating in yet another fundraiser Monday in New York sponsored by gay and Latino Obama supporters.

"I have hesitated on gay marriage in part because I thought that civil unions would be sufficient," Obama said in the interview. But he added that now, "it is important for me personally to go ahead and affirm that same-sex couples should be able to get married."

Even though Obama doesn't have the power to make same-sex marriage legal, his announcement was the first by a sitting president.

Gay rights advocates, who had long urged Obama to state his support, immediately cheered his declaration.

Obama's re-election campaign also quickly sought to take advantage of Obama's embrace of gay marriage and draw a sharp contrast with the president's Republican rival Mitt Romney.

By day's end Wednesday, the campaign had emailed a clip of the interview and a personal statement from the president to its vast list of supporters, drawing attention to his stance. On Thursday morning, the campaign released a web video claiming Romney would roll back some rights for same-sex couples and calling the Republican "backwards on equality."

When asked in a portion of the ABC interview that aired Thursday morning on "Good Morning, America" if his public statement was part of his re-election strategy, the president replied, "It would be hard to argue that somehow this is something that I'd be doing for political advantage because frankly, the politics, it's not clear how they're going to cut."

Gay marriage remains enough of a divisive issue that there could be political risks. If opposition to gay marriage drives even a sliver of the voting population, it could make a difference in close swing states. Moreover, it could boost fundraising for social conservative groups that are mounting their own campaigns against Obama and galvanize conservatives still uncertain about Romney's commitment to their causes.

"Twenty-four hours ago, we were talking about what Romney had to do to get social conservatives on board," said Ralph Reed, chairman of the conservative Faith & Freedom Coalition. "Now, they're scrambling for a seat in first class."

Romney, meanwhile, quickly reiterated his opposition to same-sex marriage. "I believe that marriage is between a man and a woman," he said while campaigning in Oklahoma.

In announcing a position that he said had been evolving for some time, Obama emphasized that it was his personal view. Aides said he continues to believe that marriage is an issue best decided by states.

His decision came just a day after voters in North Carolina, a state the Obama camp hopes to be in play in November, approved an amendment to the state constitution affirming that marriage may only be a union of a man and a woman. It also came just days after Biden unexpectedly ignited a discussion of the issue by declaring he was comfortable with same-sex marriage.

In some ways, Obama is a lagging voice among Democrats on gay marriage. Besides Biden, former President Bill Clinton has expressed support and Obama's education secretary, Arne Duncan, said Monday that he backed gay marriage as well. In addition, former Vice President Dick Cheney and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg have taken stands in support.

"It was probably untenable to keep in a position of evolving and not stating where he is, given the course of events," said Anna Greenberg, a Democratic pollster who has conducted a number of surveys on gay marriage.

With his position declared, Obama now heads to Hollywood, which has been outspoken in its support of gay rights. But though Obama will be in a liberal bastion, California itself illustrates the crosscurrents of gay marriage. Californians have twice voted to ban gay marriage, most recently in 2008. The most recent ban, known as Proposition 8, is being fought in the courts.

Clooney's dinner was organized by Jeffrey Katzenberg, the CEO of DreamWorks Animation, and will include such celebrity guests as Robert Downey Jr. and Barbra Streisand. The event was initially to be a spring gala hosted by Katzenberg at his house. But Katzenberg's home is under renovation, so Clooney offered to host instead.

That prompted the Obama campaign to conceive an online raffle for the general public. Tens of thousands of people participated, drawn by the campaign's pitch: "For a chance to hang out with President Obama at George Clooney's house, donate $3 or whatever you can to be automatically entered to win."

As a result, nearly two-thirds of the money raised for the event will be from people who won't attend. The two winners are each allowed a guest. Their names will be announced Thursday night.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Public opinion about gay marriage has changed so rapidly that President Barack Obama's historic embrace of it may pose as many political risks to Republicans as to the president and his fellow Democrats.

The president's dramatic shift on the issue - a watershed moment in U.S. politics, even if many people felt it was inevitable - is the latest sign that Democratic hopes increasingly rest on younger, college-educated and largely urban voters, whose lifestyles are shaped by social mobility more than religious and community traditions.

Many young adults find the notion of discriminating against gays and lesbians as incomprehensible as their parents' and grandparents' accounts of living through racial segregation.

Yet same-sex marriage remains provocative in some places, including once-reliably Republican states such as North Carolina, where Obama won a narrow but stunning victory in 2008.

Only hours before his Wednesday announcement on ABC News, North Carolina voters turned out in huge numbers to approve a constitutional ban on gay marriage.

The immediate reactions to Obama's statement on gay marriage weighed the political tradeoffs between embracing a social trend that's important to Democrats' liberal base, and risking potentially intense opposition from social conservatives in battleground states.

Mainstream Republicans, for the most part, moved warily. They focused their comment on the political calculations involved, not on the actual substance of letting same-sex couples marry.

Democrats, meanwhile, said Obama at last had found a cause that could begin to recapture some of the excitement of his barrier-breaking 2008 "hope and change" campaign.

"This gives the Democrats a fresh chance to mobilize young people and other base voters they need to turn out in November," said Democratic strategist Doug Hattaway, who worked for Hillary Rodham Clinton in the 2008 presidential primaries. "Many of them turned out to make history in 2008, and they will find this leadership from the president inspiring."

Hattaway noted that polls show substantial public support for same-sex marriage. "Mainstream Republicans aren't likely to make too much hay out of this," he said. "The smart ones realize that the GOP's gay-baiting threatens to alienate a whole generation of voters."

Initial reaction to Obama's announcement on ABC News suggests Hattaway is right.

"The president's position on gay marriage has been one of cold political calculation," said Terry Holt, one of several Republican consultants who steered clear of the issue's moral and religious implications. He said Obama seeks to "win over a group of voters that he absolutely has to have to get re-elected."

House Speaker John Boehner, arguably the nation's highest-ranking Republican, told Fox Business Network: "I have always believed that marriage was between a man and a woman. But Republicans here on Capitol Hill are focused in on the economy."

Mitt Romney, the party's presumptive nominee for president, on Wednesday restated his opposition to same-sex marriage, which he called "a very tender and sensitive topic."

That's not to say Obama's move is risk-free. It could energize social conservatives in North Carolina, Virginia, Florida and other states that Obama carried four years ago.

It's hard to say how the dynamic might play out. A minority of Americans care intensely about gun ownership rights, but the highly organized National Rifle Association has played a disproportionately powerful role in that area for years - so much so that Democrats including Obama rarely talk about gun control any more.

For now, few veteran Republican operatives seem to see a similar dynamic for gay marriage. Brian Nick, a North Carolina-based GOP consultant who closely followed the state's referendum banning same-sex marriage, played down the notion that Obama's move could cost him a chance to win the state again.

"I think the economy is going to be the issue that's voted on" in November, Nick said. "President Obama is clearly a liberal's liberal, and this is just another example."

But the embrace of gay marriage is likely to inspire the Democratic base as much as it might turn off persuadable centrists, Nick said. He called the issue "sort of a net wash" in North Carolina.

Some gay-rights advocates said Obama's move wasn't particularly courageous or pioneering. Former Vice President Dick Cheney and former first lady Laura Bush are among prominent Republicans who have endorsed same-sex marriage.

A new AP-GfK poll of adult Americans showed Obama with a 21 percentage point lead over Romney on the question of who is most trusted to handle "social issues such as abortion and same-sex marriage."

Starting last year, small majorities of Americans told the Gallup poll that gay marriage should be legal.

Republican consultant Matt Mackowiak said Obama needs to fire up liberal potential donors and seems willing to worry about blue-collar workers in swing states later.

"Obama's decision will hurt him in Indiana, Virginia, North Carolina, rural Pennsylvania, northern Florida, rural Missouri, lots of places that he needs," Mackowiak said. "The map just improved for Mitt Romney."

Perhaps. But few Democrats expect Obama to try hard in Indiana and Missouri. And he can easily win re-election without North Carolina and Virginia, provided he carries Ohio or Florida and doesn't lose states such as Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.

Jen Psaki, a former Obama aide, said Democrats might be able to turn the issue against Romney.

"In his pursuit of acceptance by conservatives," she said, "Mitt Romney's support for a federal marriage amendment would be the first time we amended the Constitution to deny Americans equal rights, which is alarming to most people."

It seems highly unlikely that the U.S. Constitution will be amended to ban or safeguard same-sex marriage. Obama's comments Wednesday were more symbolic than substantive. But symbols matter when they come from the White House.

Democrats believe the president has his finger on the pulse of a fast-changing society. From a presidential election standpoint, opposition to same-sex marriage will matter only in the handful of states truly up for grabs on Nov. 6. If that opposition is sufficiently intense and organized, it could deal a surprising blow to the president.

For now, Romney, Boehner and mainstream GOP strategists seem more willing to focus on the struggling economy.