The GOP proudly wears the mantle of the party of the gay-baiters.

President Bush (news - web sites)'s support for a constitutional amendment against gay marriage delighted many conservatives but alienated a smaller but potentially important voting bloc in a tight election.

"The final breaking point was when the president announced his support for that amendment," said John Farina, a longtime Ohio Republican activist who left the party in February. "That was enough to finally say, 'OK, the Republican Party is moving in the wrong direction."'

"Privately, one Bush-Cheney official said the campaign hoped the gay issue would mobilize religious conservatives who did not show up as strongly as some expected in 2000.

'Say you lose a thousand voters over the gay issue, you could be possibly mobilizing hundreds of thousands of voters by staying strong on this issue,' the national campaign official said. "

Sounds like sister Karl Rove was quoted on that.