President Obama finally declared himself: He thinks same-sex couples should be allowed to marry. He said he once favored civil unions as a way to recognize same-sex relationships without running into the "that's not a marriage" buzz saw. But you know what, civil unions — if properly defined in a statute — are the same as a marriage in the eyes of the law. And the law is all that politicians should care about. Leave the sacred trappings outside government's door.

It's obvious that the President waited until North Carolina voted to put himself on the record. Had he spoken up before the Amendment 1 vote, it wouldn't have changed the outcome. The polls made that much clear, not to mention the lopsided 61-39 percent vote in favor.

And, of course, a pre-N.C. vote statement by Obama most certainly would've been belittled as evidence, after Amendment 1 passed anyway, that people don't care what the President thinks.

Thirty-one states have now voted on the question of banning same-sex marriage, and all of them have come out in favor of banning it. But Minnesota, which will take up the question in a referendum this November, could break the string. Polls there show opinion to be closely divided.

In North Carolina, we're at rock bottom today. Mark this as the end of the beginning.

You can follow the returns with me as they come in on the State Board of Elections website.

[Update No. 2. It's midnight, and I've made one final pass at the numbers. With all the votes counted, the outcomes are the same as two hours ago. So again, I'll make a very few changes as needed and call it quits for the night.]

[Update: It's about 10 p.m. Roughly two-thirds of the precincts are in, and almost 2 million votes are counted statewide. Not much has changed, so I'll change the text below only as needed.}

Amendment 1 was approved with nearly some 61 percent of the vote. a tremendous disappointment. In October, when Public Policy Polling first tested it, Amendment 1 was favored 61-34 percent. That three-fifths majority held solid despite a strong effort by the amendment's opponents and $2.5 million poured into the opposition campaign.

The only grace note, if any: The amendment was rejected in Orange County (79 percent voted against); in Durham County (70 percent); in Wake County (57 percent), and in Chatham County (54 percent). So don't blame the Triangle. Don't blame Charlotte either, or Asheville: Mecklenburg and Buncombe counties also voted against by 54 and 51 percent, respectively.

In other elections of interest, it looks like Lt. Gov. Walter Dalton will be the Democratic nominee for governor, beating former Congressman Bob Etheridge by a 46-38 percent tally; ormer state Rep. Linda Coleman, D-Wake, is the nominee for lieutenant governor.

In Wake County, it appears that Wake Commissioners Chair Paul Coble will still be with us going forward.

Coble is losing lost his U.S. House District 13 primary to George Holding, who if he wins will have bought it fair and square with his family's money. Holding is at about 44 percent, enough to avoid a runoff. Coble trails by about 10 points. Bill Randall is pulling a respectable, and somewhat surprising, 22 percent.

Coble's defeat is bad news for transit proponents who hoped he'd be on his way to Washington and no longer an impediment to getting the 1/2-cent sales tax for transit in front of Wake County voters this fall.

Coble's mate on the commissioners, Tony Gurley, is locked in a three-way struggle for two placesfinished second in a five-way primary and qualified for a runoff for lieutenant governor, GOP-nomination category. Assuming Gurley wants it, the runoff will be against front-runner Dan Forrest, who got 33 percent to Gurley's 25 percent. The House Speaker Pro Tem, Dale Folwell, finished with 24 percent, unexpectedly failing to make it into the top two.

By the way, if either Gurley or Coble — or both — should move up, they'dhe'd be replaced by another Republican. Thus, a 4-3 Republican majority would continue on the county board.

Still, if they leave the supposedly pro-transit Republican Commssioner Joe Bryan might be allowed to take charge. With Coble and Gurley aboard, Bryan's strictly a petty officer.

Then there's our trio of Wake County school board members, Republicans all, looking to get out of Dodge Cary (where the school board offices are) after what we'll tastefully term an eventful two-and-a-half in charge of the schools.

Chris Malone, of Wake Forest, looks like he's won his primary— for the District 35 seat in the state House of Representatives. House 35 is overwhelmingly Republican, and no Democrat will oppose Malone, who prevailed if does indeed prevail over Wendell businessman Duane Cutlip. Malone won by 57-43 percent. Malone will run in the fall against Democrat Lori Millberg, an ex-school board member who was unopposed in her primary.

John Tedesco aspires to be state superintendent of public instruction. He appears to have won a spot in a runoff for the GOP nomination — the winner to challenge Democratic incumbent June Atkinson.

Debra Goldman sees herself as the next state auditor. She, too, appears to be is one of the two candidates who will move on to a runoff. She''ll square off against Greg Dority, a perennial GOP candidate. We were hoping former state Sen. Fern Shubert, would make it; she's an actual auditor — CPA — and a bona fide government watchdog. But Shubert's in third place so far.But Shubert finished third.

Tedesco and Goldman were both involved in five-person primaries, so getting to a runoff ain't bad.

Finally, there's our old friend Kenn Gardner, who's apparently decided being an architect isn't for him and instead would like the no-heavy-lifting job of being state Secretary of State. He was in a four-way GOP primary and battling for one of the two runoff positions. The winner takes on Sec of State Elaine Marshall.

As 10 o'clock approached, Gardner was a solid second in the field and also heads into a runoff against Ed (Eddy) Goodwin, chair of the Chowan County Board of Commissioners.

Another race we were watching that didn't turn out to be a race at all. In state House District 38, Yvonne Holley is the runaway winner in the Democratic primary over second-place finisher Abeni El-Amin. Our friend Lee Sartain, the only openly gay candidate on the ballot, finished a dismal third.

District 38 is majority-black. Holley, with long family ties to the African-American community in Raleigh, won about 60 percent of the vote. El-Amin, also black, got about 25 percent. Sartain picked up 14 percent.

No Republicans filed in this district.

I loved this earlier short by Mimi Schiffman called "Love = Love." I just don't see how you could vote for Amendment 1 after watching it. But then I am always the optimist.

So here's another Schiffman gem. (Thanks for sending it, Mimi.) It's a four-minute film about love, marriage and two guys from North Carolina who went to Washington, D.C., a few days ago because there they could have both.

She calls it "Just a Word."

"You know, everybody says it's just a word, but there's more to it. There's a feeling of belonging," said Jeff Enochs of Charlotte, N.C. "I wanted my state to recognize that we are going to spend the rest of our lives together."

Here's a Vimeo link that you can follow to see other Schiffman films. Schiffman is a graduate student at UNC-Chapel Hill.

Just for the record, there was some thought last night during the anti-Amendment 1 conference call that Obama for America would include a recommendation to the President's supporters to vote against Amendment 1 when OFA issued its pre-primary email blast s today.

President Obama, after all, issued a statement in March opposing Amendment 1.

But no.

Vote for Obama in the Democratic primary, is all that OFA says.

And — uh — you know, make your voice heard at the polls.

Here it is:

Here's a great way folks in North Carolina can show their support for President Obama: Participate in tomorrow's Democratic primary, and cast a vote for the President.

The primary is a great opportunity to come out, meet other supporters in your area, and make your voice heard. And even though we already know that President Obama will be our nominee, it's important that we let him know we're standing with him, now and in November.

Look up the polling place in your neighborhood now.

Here's everything you need to know:

Who can vote: Anyone who will be 18 years old by November 6th, 2012, and registered to vote by the April 13th deadline.

What to expect: Longtime registered voters don't need any form of ID to vote. If you are a first-time voter or are newly registered, bring a photo ID or a copy of any document that includes your name and current address (like a utility bill, government check, paycheck, or bank statement).

What if you're not registered at your current address? Unfortunately, you can't vote in the primary, but there is still time to register and cast a ballot for President Obama in November. To print a registration form, go to www.gottaregister.com or contact your local Obama field office.

When and where to vote: Primary voting runs from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. You can look up your local polling place here. Your vote matters, and this is one of our easiest chances before November to show President Obama that we've got his back.

So whether you've voted in one of these before, or you're brand-new to this experience, don't miss the North Carolina Democratic primary this Tuesday, May 8th.

Find your polling place now:

http://nc.barackobama.com/Find-Your-Polling-Place

Thanks,

Lindsay

Lindsay Siler
North Carolina State Director
Obama for America

• photo by Bob Geary

Fayetteville Street in Raleigh Saturday was out in force — OutRaleigh drew an estimated 10,000 folks, all of whom, it seemed, were loving the idea that Amendment 1 might be defeated on Tuesday, putting North Carolina in the forefront of what is undeniably a movement toward equal rights for the LGBT community. (See: Vice President Joe Biden on Sunday.)

OutRaleigh, a project of the LGBT Center of Raleigh, is great evidence of the movement, come to think of it. It hasn't been so many years since a celebration of gay rights on Fayetteville Street in the conservative Cap City would've been unthinkable ... and then controversial ... and now it's fun, and those who don't think so are mostly keeping it to themselves.

Unfortunately, Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill and the Triangle are not representative of the North Carolina electorate, apparently. Public Policy Polling is out with a final survey today, and it shows Amendment 1 passing rather easily. This is from PPP's Tom Jensen:

Our final marriage amendment poll finds it leading by a 55-39 margin, little change from a week ago when it was ahead 55-41. The final yes percentage will likely be somewhere in the 57-59% range depending on how the undecideds break. Opponents of the amendment had an uphill battle in convincing voters that it was anything other than a referendum on gay marriage, even though it does go a lot further than that. 57% of voters in the state think gay marriage should be illegal (to only 34% who think it should be legal) and it's not a coincidence that number correlates so closely with the 55% planning to support the amendment.

In some sense North Carolinians are voting against their own beliefs. 53% of voters in the state support either gay marriage or civil unions, yet a majority also support the amendment that would ban both. The reason for that disconnect is even with just 24 hours until election day only 46% of voters realize the proposal bans both gay marriage and civil unions. Those informed voters oppose the amendment by a 61-37 margin but there may not be enough time left to get the rest of the electorate up to speed.

On a conference call last night, the campaign manager for the anti-Amendment 1 Coalition to Protect All NC Families continued to express hope that PPP and the other polls showing a wide margin in favor of the amendment will be wrong. "I think we really have a chance for an upset Tuesday night, quite frankly," Jeremy Kennedy said.

That hope hinges on turnout — the idea that large numbers of "unlikely voters" will be drawn to the polls by their desire to vote Amendment 1 down. Pollsters must make some assumptions about who's likely to vote in a primary election, and generally they look for people who've voted in recent primaries. And generally that's a good polling method, producing numbers that are good predictors of the actual result. But if enough people show up to vote in this primary who've never voted in a primary before, it could change the results.

The coalition also released what it called its closing argument, a video mashup of statements against Amendment 1 by, among others, U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan, Gov. Bev Perdue, former Charlotte Mayors Harvey Gantt and Richard Vinroot, NAACP President Ben Jealous and NC President the Rev. William Barber, Chelsea Clinton, Clay Aiken and some non-celebritie as well. It's a reminder that, win or lose, the campaign has broken new ground in North Carolina, giving political shape to what was previously an almost inchoate hope for change on the LGBT front.

There's nothing inchoate about it now. The coalition has raised more than $2.5 million from 11,000 donors, most of them in the state, Kennedy said. "Win or lose," he added, the movement will go on for justice for all minority and disadvantaged people in the state, with the NAACP and the LGBT leadership in coalition from now on.

Early voting is over. If you're registered to vote, the polls are open tomorrow, Tuesday, from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Remember that you can vote in one of the three party primaries (Dem, Repub, Libertarian) or simply ask for a ballot that has Amendment 1 on it by itself — without party candidates.

Former President Bill Clinton recorded a call to North Carolina voters urging them to vote against the anti-gay Amendment 1. That makes two presidents against it. President Obama issued a statement earlier.

Here's the YouTube version of Clinton's call:

The text, from the Coalition to Protect All NC Families:

Statement from President Clinton:

"Hello, this is President Bill Clinton. I’m calling to urge you to vote against Amendment One on Tuesday May 8. If it passes, it won’t change North Carolina’s law on marriage. What it will change is North Carolina’s ability to keep good businesses, attract new jobs, and attract and keep talented entrepreneurs. If it passes, your ability to keep those businesses, get those jobs, and get those talented entrepreneurs will be weakened. And losing even one job to Amendment One is too big of a risk.

Its passage will also take away health insurance from children and could even take away domestic violence protections from women. So the real effect of the law is not to keep the traditional definition of marriage, you’ve already done that. The real effect of the law will be to hurt families and drive away jobs. North Carolina can do better. Again, this is Bill Clinton asking you to please vote against Amendment One. Thanks."