Don't go worrying too much about Spitzer putting himself out of the VP running-- he never would have gotten it anyway, too soon for him (he might be an extraordinarily national-caliber state AG, but he's still pretty unknown outside of the NY area regardless and doesn't bring much to the table besides his crusading personality and record to date). And besides, he is smart enough to recognize that and focus on preparing to run for Governor in 2006-- which incidentally I think factors into his calculations here, he is smart enough that in the near term he knows this won't be a good thing in a national race, but that at the rate things are going in NY it will be great to be this out front of the issue in a coupla years. (I'm pretty sure that same kinda thing factored into City Council Speaker Giff Miller's decision to push Bloomberg to license gay marriages-- its pretty well known that he plans to run against him in 2005).

And here comes Portland, Oregon!!!
Multnomah County grants gay marriage licenses

I suppose there are two ways to look at this, and time will only tell. One is that this is too much too fast and invites a massive backlash. Two is that people realize that the sky has not fallen and learn to accept it.

In fact, I think both will happen at the same time with different constituencies. The bigots will get furiated and try to make a backlash. Your ordinary American who is uncomfortable (but not contemptuous) of gays will likely realize that two gals gettin' hitched ain't the end of the world.