things do get better. maryland s candidate martin o malley said he would legalize same sex marriage in maryland, and the mayor pledged her support for gay marriage. a state senator named marilyn hogan announced she would support the bill. she said, i know this announcement makes me the so-called 25th vote, a vote of passage. she said she needed time to recognize my beliefs as an american, as a legislator, as a wife and mother who can t deny to others the joys and benefits i enjoy. this is the right vote and it is the vote i will cast when this measure comes to the floor. and, meanwhile, also today we had some serious and worrying news. from the family and from the office of republican senator
bill today to legalize same-sex marriage in maryland. this follows on the heels of christine gregoire announcing her support for same-sex marriage rights and her introduction of state marriage equality legislation. today in olympia, washington, at a legislative hearing on this issue, a democratic state senator named mary hougen announced that she would support the bill. she said, i know this announcement makes me the so-called 25th vote, the vote that ensures passage. in a statement she said she needed time to make up her mind on the issue to reconcile my religious beliefs with my belief as an american, as a legislator, and as a wife and a mother who cannot deny the to others the joys and benefits i enjoy. this is the right vote, she said, and it is the vote i will cast when this measure comes to the floor. and, meanwhile, also today, we had some serious and worrying news from the family and the office of republican senator mark kirk in illinois. senator kirk was elected in 2010
the republican party s nominating contest in an anti-abortion primary. they might think that is good politics for them but leaves democrats wide open to lock up every pro choice vote in the country and then some. it seems like now they are finally trying to. joining us is alan grayson, represented florida s 8th district, nice to see you again, thank you for joining us. thank you. how central is rolling back abortion rights to what florida republicans are all about right now? i think it s quite central. our polling shows locally and this is true throughout the state, around 10% of the republican voters are strictly anti-choice vote. by the way, 10% of the democratic vote is a pro-choice vote, they are relatively equal. the difference is the republicans have nothing else going for them. if you ask the republicans what is your policy to get people back to work, hear blah, blah, foreclosures, homeless necessary, nothing.
semi-rationale people. i see small business supporting newt gingrich. mitt romney. i see fundamentalist christians whose vote is now split between gingrich and santorum. almost all of them in florida protestant and libertarians voting for ron paul. i do think that gingrich and santorum are fighting over the same vote and that vote will consolidate for one or the other. back to the abortion issue, anniversary of roe versus wade, always a big march around the time, a lot of promises and crowing from the anti-abortion movement. we really have seen a remarkable year. in a remarkable year of restricting abortion rights, florida stands out. 18 different pieces of anti-abortion legislation including five new anti-abortion restrictions passing in the state.
abortion was the most important issue motivating their vote. also in south carolina, you got destroyed, the one group of voters where you won majority of the vote, abortion was the moe important thing motivating their vote. the only other group was voters who said the most important kwaul i knquality was a strong character. you can see gingrich an romney down the field on that one. because he has already locking up the anti-abortion vote, but that is not enough to help him do well overall, it is a like strange that rick santorum chose to do a big high profile wall street journal op-ed, doubling down on what is his single issue of abortion. dude, you re winning the anti-abortion primary. what you re supposed to try to wins the race for the republican nomination. unless the race for the republican nomination sort of is the anti-abortion primary. so far the dirt y tricks we know about in the campaign, nasty