"I think it could be a sleeper issue," Larry Sabato, a politics professor who directs the University of Virginia Center for Politics. "I don't think it will determine the election, but I think it's more of an issue than the Washington-New York crowd thinks because they're in places where gays are almost completely accepted and where gay marriage is considered de rigeur." He puts the topic at No. 3 in people's minds behind the dueling issues of national security and the economy.

While the issue of gay marriage has received its share of television news and talk show time, it has been largely absent from TV series until now. Showtime's "Queer as Folk" charges into the debate in the season's last two episodes, in which partners Michael and Ben (Hal Sparks and Robert Gant) ponder marriage and decide it's right for them.

The federal administration for children and families (ACF) is waiting on a ruling from the department of justice about whether or not any spiritual or religious content can be used in marriage education programs funded by ACF.

Nearly everyone knows that a whole lot of people respond better to marriage education resources and materials that integrate spiritual and religious content, including theological statements and scriptural references, than they do to "clean," sterile, purely secular content. At the same time, federal and state statutes often prohibit the use of religious content. So you either limit publically funded service delivery to the few people who like to learn about marriage in a purely secular fashion, or you allow religious content and face continual challenges about the legitimate uses of public dollars. Very frustrating for everyone, including those working for the government. On a macro level this is a very serious problem, because if you only fund secular resources, you dramatically reduce the number of people you can serve to who will willingly, voluntarily, sit through hours of secular marriage education. Many (most) Americans, and many (most) low income Americans respond better to instruction that inspires them spiritually, morally, theologically, and ethically.

I had worked out a model where we used public dollars to train people to provide marriage education and then let them loose to provide their classes. We would use private funding for vouchers for marriage ed for low income couples. That way they could take classes from instructors whose theology and ethics closely matched their own. Maryland submitted the proposal, then seven months later gave it a second thought and decided they simply could not abide it. After speaking with liberal legislators and their lawyers they decided they wanted the public dollars to pay for "direct services" -- as in only those classes that served just low income people and had no religious content. And thus the assertion, which I heard, that it would be better to serve 50 low income couples than 4500 couples, 2000 of whom were low income. Take that national and you have services provided to maybe 20,000 low income couples who will sit through secular marriage ed, as compared with compared with 800,000 couples who will receive marriage ed in a setting where they feel comfortable and at home.

How is the public better served by insisting that low income couples learn about marriage not from their pastors, clerics, or priests but rather from an employee of the department of social services?

Mr. Kerry has a 100 percent voting record with Naral Pro-Choice America, and has often spoken about his commitment to abortion rights and the appointment of judges who will uphold them. But in an interview with The Telegraph Herald in Dubuque, published Sunday, Mr. Kerry emphasized his personal opposition to abortion. He also tried to counter the criticism from within his church hierarchy that an elected official could not advocate the right to abortion and be a good Catholic. Mr. Kerry said he was abiding by both his conscience and the line between church and state in America. "I oppose abortion, personally," he told the newspaper. "I don't like abortion. I believe life does begin at conception. But I can't take my Catholic belief, my article of faith, and legislate it on a Protestant or a Jew or an atheist ...who doesn't share it. We have separation of church and state in the United States of America."