Prop. 8
Comes a Knocking

The race to win hearts, minds, and votes on Proposition 8 has both sides straining to pull ahead. The Yes on 8 campaign -- the conservative coalition that aims to deny marriage to same-sex couples -- has been deploying volunteers on the ground: According to the San Francisco Chronicle, some 15,000 Mormons, Catholics, and evangelicals went door-to-door during the past two weekends.

The Yes on 8 campaign was not available to comment on the talking points distributed to volunteers.

But according to the Chronicle, volunteers did not refer to the initiative as it appears on the ballot -- "Eliminates the right of same-sex couples to marry." Instead, they simply told residents they were campaigning for Proposition 8, an initiative that would define marriage as being between a man and a woman. Volunteers "didn't mention same-sex marriage unless a resident brought it up."

That presentation is misleading at best. So who's knocking on those same doors with the facts on behalf of marriage equality?

Scott Smith, senior consultant for the No on Prop 8 campaign, has his volunteers phoning it in.

"We're calling thousands of folks every weekend, and we will be doing that straight through [to the election]," Smith told The Advocate. "Because so many of the voters in California have already made up their minds yes or no, there's about 20% that haven't. It is just more efficient calling people than it is going down doors when four out of every five doors, the folks have already made up their mind."

Recent polls suggest that more Californians are making up their minds to vote against Prop 8. "There are several public polls out that say that we're ahead in this race, that the "no" side is leading," Smith said.

But we're far from secure, especially given the anger level of anti-gay conservatives -- and all those Prop 8 boots on the ground.

"We already have something like 5,000 volunteer shifts worked; we have another 12,000 volunteer shifts that have been signed up for," Smith said. "But frankly our goal is tens of thousands before the election on November 4. So do we have a ton of volunteers? Yes. Do we have all the volunteers we want? No."

He advised people who want to volunteer to sign up online at Equality for All.

If anything can put Prop 8 across, it's misinformation that goes unchallenged. "The other side is going to try to scare voters, talking about things like education, religion, domestic partnership," Smith said. "All of these are really nonissues. This is a campaign about: Are we going to treat one class of people differently. And are we going to eliminate the fundamental right of marriage for same-sex couples. I think Californians are going to say no. But the folks promoting it are going to use these issues that don't really connect.

On the other hand, Smith allowed, Prop 8's proponents have pulled ahead in the fundraising. "I don't have the exact numbers," he said. "It's somewhere in the neighborhood of $7 million or $8 million. Until recently we were ahead. Now the other side has edged slightly ahead of us. They've raised a quarter or half million dollars more than we have. And just like the vote in the electorate, which I expect to be very close, what we are committed to is that we will raise them dollar for dollar. And that's where I'm going right now, to another fundraiser."