From: LezGetReal.com – by Bridgette P. LaVictoire – The ad war in Maine has begun. Maine’s supporters of marriage equality have begun to air ads supporting the defeat of the voter veto attempt which has been largely underwritten by the Catholic Church in Maine and by the National Organization of Marriage from outside the state. While the majority of the money coming in to support the voter veto initiative, the majority of the money supporting the ads against this veto initiative is coming from within Maine. According to the latest polls, Maine’s population is almost evenly split between those who support marriage equality and those who oppose. Whether the ad campaign can affect this balance is something that will have to be seen.
The issue of the voter veto initiative may be one of those odd contests in New England where Prop 8 style ads are more likely to turn off voters than to get them out, and the donations given to this cause by the Maine Catholic Church has already become a problem for the clergy as many parishioners have looked upon the shuttered parochial schools and wondered why the Church can spend money on a political campaign while that is occurring.
The campaign to get the voter veto initiative has also caused problems for those who oppose marriage equality in part because the campaign to get this on the ballot cost them a lot of money while those who support marriage equality have been able to rest upon their money waiting for the day that the petition was certified.