Gay Marriage not voted on. I saw yesterday that the Senate decided not to vote or hold any debate whatsoever on the Amendment to define marriage. I'm not sure how I feel about that. The liberal and libertarian pundits are happy and declaring that it will hurt the conservatives in congress, but I wonder if they decided not to vote on it because an actual defeat by vote would have been worse.
I agree with the President that the judicial decisions leading up to this moment have been over-reaching, but this statement from the San Jose Mercury News I also see as true:

But the Republican decision to focus on gay marriage could harm the party with moderate voters this November and put some moderate GOP lawmakers in an awkward situation, said Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, a political analyst at the University of Southern California.

I would note that 6 republicans crossed the line to vote this down at this point, and I wonder if not having the debate at all will be better for the Bush administration leading up to the election.