John Aravosis at gay.americablog.com has an interesting account of the interplay between the DNC, the Obama administration, the New Jersey governor's race, and the No On 1 campaign here in Maine.

One very interesting point he makes is that the 2008 presidential race had far more people cast ballots than the 2009 No On 1 race.

Deirdre's morning-after-the-election blog post had a line early on that really struck me: she mentions the "sheer disbelief that so many people have a worldview that is so radically different from my own."

I don't think Deirdre is ignorant, or stupid, or insular - quite the opposite of any of that. But her perspective is enlightening.

According to the Bangor Daily News numbers as of 9:25 am, here is the breakdown by county, and a handy map (made with the help of Microsoft MapPoint) showing exactly how little of Maine voted for marriage equality (remember, Yes is to repeal equality and No is to protect it):

I'm very sorry. Personally, professionally, everything. This is terrible. But it has to be said. Jesse Connolly just gave what can only be described as a concession speech at the Holiday Inn by the Bay in Portland. Sure, he said they'd keep fighting, and make sure every vote was counted. But nobody talks that way if they're winning.

The National Catholic Reporter has a story about Pamela Starbird Beliveau of Lewiston, a lector and Eucharistic minister in her Catholic parish, who wrote an op-ed piece in the Sun Journal supporting same-sex marriage - and who very quickly received a letter from her parish priest saying she would no longer be allowed to lead worship services, specifically because of her pro-equality stance.

The National Catholic Reporter carried a story yesterday about the split in the Catholic Church in Maine, with many practicing Catholics publicly breaking from Bishop Richard Malone, who has led the anti-same-sex-marriage fight. (The Church has put up a lot of money, but so has a group reportedly closely tied to the Mormon Church.)

The latest Repeal Equality Campaign ad (embedded below) just outright says that gay sex will be taught in Maine's grade schools. Suddenly, it seems, the Catholic Church, which is a major backer of this campaign, is concerned about kids learning about sex at a young age, and is concerned about the appropriateness of what they are learning.

Stats analyst Nate Silver, who became famous for his blindingly accurate meta-polling during the 2008 presidential campaign, has tackled Question 1.

I have blogged before about the complacency and backwardness of the No On 1 campaign strategy: "Will Maine discriminate? Only if cowards and defensive-minded people hedge and engage with this kind of idiocy.

I just read and digested Deirdre's post, responding to my post from last night.

As I told her (we do also talk in the office, rather than just posting back and forth) I agree with about 98 percent of what she wrote - possibly even more. I especially agree with her that the anti-same-sex-marriage crew are not really engaging in debate about marriage itself (or partnership or even civil unions) but are actually still denouncing homosexuality and homosexuals, whether they want to get married or not.

Scott Fish, the AsMaineGoes-er who is now spokesman for bigotry in Maine, has sent a whining message suggesting that his organization's issues are not being fairly investigated by the Maine media.

Specifically, he wants to know why we have reported that his campaign's claim that "gay marriage will be taught in Maine schools" is a lie.

According to a recent poll, 92 percent of Iowans are either not gay or lesbian or are but didn't want to get married anyway.

The Des Moines Register polled Iowans about their opinions on same-sex marriage four months after the state's highest court legalized the practice. And 92 percent of them (with a margin of error of 3.

Last evening, after the historic day on which Governor John Baldacci became the first governor in the nation to sign into law a same-sex marriage act, there was a medium-sized gathering in Monument Square to celebrate. (It would have been bigger, we're sure, but the Maine Civil Liberties Union annual dinner was going on at exactly the same time up in Freeport.