Romney Raises $18.25 Million in Second Quarter

Mitt Romney is far and away the GOP's fundraising leader, which is always a sign of a campaign's momentum. At Washington Post, "Mitt Romney raises $18.25 million" (via Memeorandum):

Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney raised $18.25 million over the past three months, a sum likely to put him head and shoulders above his rivals for the 2012 Republican nomination in the dash for cash.

“Voters are responding to Mitt Romney’s message that President Obama’s policies have failed and that we need new leadership in Washington,” Romney national finance chairman Spencer Zwick said. “Our fundraising for the second quarter represents the strong support Mitt Romney has across the country.”

All of the money Romney raised is for the primary race; he ended June with $12.6 million in the bank. Romney raised more than half of his total for the entire quarter during a single call day in Las Vegas in May.

Romney’s total is short of the $23.5 million he raised in the first quarter of 2007 — a sum seeded by roughly $2.5 million of his own money. He did not make any personal contributions during this reporting period, although he has not ruled out doing so during the campaign. In the 2008 race, Romney donated $44.5 million of his own money to the effort.

The Romney fundraising numbers come even as a new WMUR-TV Granite State poll in New Hampshire (see below) shows him as a clear frontrunner in the state’s primary.

The Republican Party May No Longer Be a Normal Party

And that should be a good thing, except that David Brooks is arguing that the GOP is missing an historic opportunity to balance the budget, if only it would compromise on closing tax loopholes, etc., and so forth. At New York Times, "The Mother of All No-Brainers":

A normal Republican Party would seize the opportunity to put a long-term limit on the growth of government. It would seize the opportunity to put the country on a sound fiscal footing. It would seize the opportunity to do these things without putting any real crimp in economic growth.

The party is not being asked to raise marginal tax rates in a way that might pervert incentives. On the contrary, Republicans are merely being asked to close loopholes and eliminate tax expenditures that are themselves distortionary.

This, as I say, is the mother of all no-brainers.

But we can have no confidence that the Republicans will seize this opportunity. That’s because the Republican Party may no longer be a normal party. Over the past few years, it has been infected by a faction that is more of a psychological protest than a practical, governing alternative.

The members of this movement do not accept the logic of compromise, no matter how sweet the terms. If you ask them to raise taxes by an inch in order to cut government by a foot, they will say no. If you ask them to raise taxes by an inch to cut government by a yard, they will still say no.

The members of this movement do not accept the legitimacy of scholars and intellectual authorities. A thousand impartial experts may tell them that a default on the debt would have calamitous effects, far worse than raising tax revenues a bit. But the members of this movement refuse to believe it.

The members of this movement have no sense of moral decency. A nation makes a sacred pledge to pay the money back when it borrows money. But the members of this movement talk blandly of default and are willing to stain their nation’s honor.

David Brooks is a the left's token big government conservative, and there's some icing on the cake there, as he's operating from the hallowed perches of the New York Times. What's interesting is how this story remained on top at Memeorandum all day yesterday, with progressives weighing in on Brooks' righteousness, and even Megan McArdle agreeing with the notion of some kind of crazed GOP party cult. I can't speak on the budget negotiations, because I'm not in the least convinced that anything the administration and Congress do will make the slightest difference regarding the long term fiscal balance sheet (think entitlement reform). What we need is growth. With a growing economy and a robust job sector we'll begin to pay down the debt as long as nothing else screws things up, like a lousy momentary policy (and Democrat housing policy). Anyway, I'll try to read up a bit anyway, and update with something more knowledgeable. Here I'm mostly ranting at how David Brooks once again shows his true colors as the favorite RINO of the moment.

The Gay Hate Campaign

Now that's what I'm talkin' about!

Man!

Read this post at Uncoverage, "“Gay Mafia” Threatens, Vandalizes Traditional Marriage Supporters in Washington State."

As I've said many times, it's lies, violence, and intimidation that's putting the gay agenda over the top. You gotta call these people out for what that are: Homosexual criminals, mobsters, perverts, and thugs. And that goes as well for the hetero progressives who're enabling the hate.

Attack on Oil Pipeline Highlights Egypt's Threat to Israel

At Al Arabia, "EGYPTIAN GAS PIPELINE TO ISRAEL AND JORDAN BOMBED AGAIN."

And Los Angeles Times, "Pipeline explosion underlines opposition to gas deal with Israel."

The third attack by saboteurs in six months against the pipeline supplying natural gas to Israel and Jordan underscores security lapses and the opposition of many Egyptians to their nation's contract to ship low-cost energy to Israel.

Early-morning blasts Monday were carried out by masked men who tied up security guards and planted bombs at the Bir el Abd pipeline station near the town of Al Arish in the Sinai Peninsula. The official state news aganecy, MENA, reported that the assailants remotely activated the bombs by firing gunshots. No casualties were reported.

The pipeline was attacked two other times this year: a few days after the Feb. 11 overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak and a second assault on April 27 (pictured) that interrupted supplies to Israel for weeks.

Also, from Barry Rubin, "Egypt Gas Pipeline to Israel Sabotaged Again: A Consequence of Egypt’s Revolution":

For the third time since February, terrorists have blown up the gas pipeline from Egypt that provides 45 percent of Israel’s natural gas. As I predicted, this pipeline will never function normally again. This serious economic disruption is the first material cost to Israel of Egypt’s revolution. The Obama Administration’s help in bringing down a stable (yes, a dictatorial regime but prepare for much worse) has already damaged Israel’s economy and security. And this is not the end of the story by a long shot.

Britney Spears – Harper’s Bazaar (June/July 2011)

A little late on this, but better late than never!

At Harper's, "BRITNEY SPEARS IS BACK: THE INTERVIEW."

And a slideshow, "Britney Spears Style."

UPDATE: The Hearst Magazines Public Relations Office sent me the larger image.

7 Million Down, Only 33 Million to Go...

Robert Stacy McCain previewed his 7 millionth hit the other day, and then Smitty recorded the moment: "7,000,000 Hits, 7-Minute Blogs."

And I just want to say, "Hey, guys, congratulations — and don't be getting too cocky, alright? Ha!"

It turns out Ann Althouse had a blogging milestone the other day as well, 40 million hits!

Now that's some traffic!

And how's it done? Well, Doug Ross offers a 10-trick guide: "Advice for a Young Blogger: How to get a million or less hits on your blog over some unspecified period of time, maybe." I like this part, tip #4:

Try to keep content fresh and stories flowing, even if it means running a group blog or having guest bloggers. People don't visit sites that are static. If nothing changes between visits, there's really not a reason to surf to your site. As for myself, each day since January 9, 2009, I've posted Larwyn's Linx, my roundup of important stories. No matter what else is happening, regular readers can at least get a daily snapshotof my favorite articles.

Excellent advice (and RTWT), and I want to give Doug some extra kudos for keeping up the Linkfest with such consistent excellence. That's an achievement all by itself. Meanwhile, Robert Stacy McCain takes a bit different approach: "‘Like Losing Your Virginity …’"

I've written about blogging success numerous times before, and I hope readers have learned something. Checking back on some of the old posts I'm reminded of political science research on the gatekeeper effect in the blogosphere, which holds:

Blogs with large numbers of incoming links offer both a means of filtering interesting blog posts from less interesting ones, and a focal point at which bloggers with interesting posts, and potential readers of these posts can coordinate. When less prominent bloggers have an interesting piece of information or point of view that is relevant to a political controversy, they will usually post this on their own blogs. However, they will also often have an incentive to contact one of the large “focal point” blogs, to publicize their post. The latter may post on the issue with a hyperlink back to the original blog, if the story or point of view is interesting enough, so that the originator of the piece of information receives more readers. In this manner, bloggers with fewer links function as “fire alarms” for focal point blogs, providing new information and links. This reduces the need for bloggers at the top of the link structure to engage in “police patrols” to gather information on their own...

The point still holds, although at the time of publication social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter hadn't taken off, so I'm convinced that self-promotion and networking can help newbies break into the top tier much more quickly than in earlier days of the blogosphere. And frankly, I think there's less consensus on the "top tier" itself, since reader self-segregation and the sheer number of excellent blogs makes those earlier hierarchical effects less meaningful or pronounced.

In any case, here's an interesting flashhack: "Blogging While Female: 5 Conservative Women Bloggers Talk About Gender Issues And The Blogosphere."

Julie Chen Breaks Down Over Casey Anthony Verdict

At Hollywood Reporter, "Casey Anthony Trial: 'The Talk's' Julie Chen Becomes Emotional While Reading Verdict On-Air (Video)."

And my previous report: "Casey Anthony Not Guilty — UPDATED: Report: Casey Anthony Pregnant!!"

Added: The Lonely Conservative has more: "Julie Chen Needs Therapy After Casey Anthony Verdict."

Google to Retire Blogger!

The brand name "Blogger," that is.

With the launch of Google+ there's some other developments in store as well, called "brand unification."

See Mashable!, "EXCLUSIVE: Google To Retire Blogger & Picasa Brands in Google+ Push."

Say goodbye to the Picasa and Blogger names: Google intends to retire several non-Google name brands and rename them as Google products, Mashable has learned.

The move is part of a larger effort to unify its brand for the public launch of Google+, the search giant’s social initiative.

Blogger and Picasa aren’t going away, of course — they’re two of Google’s most popular products. Instead, according to two sources familiar with the matter, Google intends to rename Picasa “Google Photos” and Blogger will become “Google Blogs.” Several other Google brands are likely to be affected, though our sources made it clear that YouTube would not be rebranded. The technology giant shut down Google Video, its failed web video service, in May.

Meanwhile, it looks like Ann Althouse has gotten the full archives from Google, and should be making her switch-over soon. See, "'Hello. I am on the Blogger team and am one of the guys who has been helping Ann with her blog...'"

Are You Reading Theo Spark?

Lovely blogging over there.

Today's pic dump and news roundup, for example, and also some Tuesday totties and bonus babes.

And check out Maggie's Farm too! "Tuesday morning links - It's really summer now."

Britain's News of the World Scandal

This is the big story across the pond.

At Telegraph UK, "Live coverage of the News of the World phone hacking scandal, in which 13-year-old murder victim Milly Dowler allegedly had her voicemails intercepted ..." Also, "News of the World loses adverts over Milly Dowler scandal."

And from Telegraph's Daniel Knowles, "The News of the World has put the independence of the press at risk."

And at Financial Times, "Rupert Murdoch’s responsibility":

The latest allegations in the phone hacking scandal at News Corp’s UK tabloid papers elevate it to a new level. This is no longer just a matter of journalists infringing the privacy of celebrities in order to gossip about them in print. By intercepting the voice messages of a murdered schoolgirl, Milly Dowler, as the News of the World is alleged to have done, the newspaper has potentially impeded a criminal investigation. If true, this is not only wrong and illegal; it exhibits a fundamental lack of human decency.

We must hope the public disgust that has greeted the allegations may finally persuade the company to get a handle on the hacking scandal. For nearly five years, it has shamefully dragged its feet as interminable investigations have continued into the illegal interception by its UK journalists of mobile phone messages. True, the police have been similarly lackadaisical and puzzlingly reluctant to pursue cases – an attitude that still has properly to be explained. But none of this excuses News Corp. Rupert Murdoch must now get a grip.

And I'm seeing nothing but bikini babes and celebrity hotties at News of the World.

More on this later ...

4:42pm PST: At Los Angeles Times, "Phone hacking scandal involving kidnapped girl roils Britain":

For months, Britain's scandal over scoop-hungry reporters hacking into the cellphones of celebrities and politicians drew shrugs from the general public, which viewed the affair as a rarified dispute between the rich and famous and those who write about them.

Not anymore.

Revulsion swept the nation Tuesday amid allegations that a sensationalist tabloid owned by media baron Rupert Murdoch also intercepted and tampered with voicemails left for a kidnapped 13-year-old girl whose body was later found dumped in the woods.

Britons from Prime Minister David Cameron on down declared their disgust over the accusations, the latest to hit Murdoch's weekly News of the World.

The disturbing turn in a long-running scandal has raised troubling questions about the media magnate's relationship with the British political establishment and police. It comes at a particularly sensitive time for the Australian-born Murdoch, who also operates Fox News in the U.S. and is seeking political approval to expand his already massive media empire in Britain.

This should be manna from heaven for the progressive left, for example, at Media Matters: "Murdoch Tabloid Accused of Hacking Murdered Schoolgirl's Phone."

6:25pm PST: At New York Times, "Milly Dowler Hacking Puts Pressure on Rebekah Brooks of News Corp.":

LONDON — Political pressure is bearing down on Rebekah Brooks, a top executive of the News Corporation in Britain, following allegations that one of the company’s newspapers hacked the cellphone of a 13-year-old girl who was abducted and murdered in 2002, when Ms. Brooks was its editor.

Prominent politicians chastised the company and Ms. Brooks, and Ford Motor Company suspended advertising in News of the World, the tabloid that has faced a long-running scandal over the widespread interception of voice mail messages of celebrities and other public figures.

Ed Miliband, leader of the opposition Labour Party, said Tuesday that Ms. Brooks should “consider her conscience and consider her position” after the disclosures.

“It wasn’t a rogue reporter,” Mr. Miliband said. “It wasn’t just one individual. This was a systematic series of things that happened and what I want from executives at News International is people to start taking responsibility for this.” News International is the News Corporation’s British newspaper division, and Ms. Brooks is now its chief executive.

Prime Minister David Cameron took time out from a visit to British troops in Afghanistan to lament what he called a “truly dreadful situation.” The police, he added, “should investigate this without any fear, without any favor, without any worry about where the evidence should lead them.”

And the editors at New York Times weigh in, of couse: "The Greater Evil."

Casey Anthony Not Guilty — UPDATED: Report: Casey Anthony Pregnant!!

R.S. McCain has the headline: "HOLY FREAKING CRAP! Casey Anthony Becomes the O.J. Simpson of Baby-Killers."

Updates coming ...

Some video:

12:25pm PST: More video ...

And R.S. McCain updates with a report from the Orlando Sentinel:

Frankly, I thought she deserved the death penalty for hogging up endless hours of cable-TV news coverage, but apparently that’s not a capital felony in Florida.

12:50pm PST: Aaron Worthing says he's just getting up to speed but promises updates: "Casey Anthony Found Not Guilty of Murder."

And more video. The local reaction to the verdict:

And Blazing Cat Fur links. Thanks!

1:10pm PST: At Los Angeles Times, "Casey Anthony found not guilty; Twitter erupts in outrage."

And more video:

1:22pm PST: FWIW, from National Enquirer, "EXCLUSIVE: CASEY ANTHONY TELLS PALS -- I’M PREGNANT!"

4:32pm PST: Pat Austin has a report: "Casey Anthony Walks Away."

And more video:

Also, at New York Times, "Casey Anthony Not Guilty in Slaying of Daughter":

ORLANDO, Fla. — Casey Anthony, the young mother whose seeming heartlessness at the disappearance of her daughter transfixed America for three years, was found not guilty on Tuesday of killing the girl, Caylee Marie.

After nearly six weeks of testimony, a panel of seven women and five men decided that Ms. Anthony did not murder Caylee by dosing her with chloroform, suffocating her with duct tape and dumping her in a wooded area, as prosecutors claimed. They did, however, find her guilty of lesser charges of providing false information to law enforcement officers. The jury did not ask to review any evidence.

When the verdict was read, Ms. Anthony, 25, who faced a possible death sentence, cried.

The verdict vindicates the defense, which argued from the start that Caylee drowned accidentally in the family swimming pool and that the death was concealed by her mother and her panicked grandfather George Anthony.

It also drove home just how circumstantial the prosecution’s case proved to be. Forensic evidence was tenuous and no witnesses ever tied Ms. Anthony to Caylee’s murder. Investigators found no trace of DNA or solid signs of chloroform or decomposition inside the trunk of Ms. Anthony’s car, where prosecutors said Ms. Anthony stashed Caylee before disposing of her body.

The prosecution was also hurt by the fact that nobody knows exactly how Caylee died; her body was too badly decomposed to pinpoint cause of death.

All of this allowed José Baez, Ms. Anthony’s lawyer, to infuse enough reasonable doubt in jurors’ minds to get Ms. Anthony acquitted of murder.

“They throw enough against the wall and see what sticks,” Mr. Baez told the jury, “right down to the cause of death.”

More at the link. (Via Memeorandum.)

Ann Coulter's Valentine to the Left

A two thumbs-up from David Horowtiz:

At last we have a conservative narrative that not only nails but also encompasses the left, totalitarian bombers and liberal fellow-travelers, exposes its love of violence, its witch-hunting mentality, its rampant hypocrisy, and destructive nihilism, and puts them all in the historical perspective they require.

Crystal Cathedral Denies Robert Schuller Ousted From Board of Directors

The initial report was in yesterday's Los Angeles Times, "Crystal Cathedral board ousts the Rev. Robert H. Schuller." But I saw a conflicting report at the Orange County Register, "Schuller will be a non-voting board member." And then this update at the Times, "Crystal Cathedral denies reports of Schuller's ouster from board":

A Crystal Cathedral spokesman on Monday denied reports that the church's founder, Robert H. Schuller, was voted off the board of directors in a meeting more than a week ago.

“He [Robert H. Schuller] was not voted off the board,” said John Charles, the Garden Grove church spokesman. “He is still board chairman emeritus.”

The church released its statement a day after Schuller’s son, Robert Anthony Schuller, said his 84-year-old father had been ousted because he had proposed adding new members to the board.

“Recently, the board of directors of Crystal Cathedral Ministries voted to change Dr. Schuller's position from that of a voting board member to the honorary Chairman of the Board Emeritus, a non-voting position,” the statement read.

The Times reported Schuller's new non-voting position June 19.

In Monday’s statement, Charles said the move will free up Schuller's time for more speaking engagements and a writing project: “He will also continue to speak in the pulpit of the Crystal Cathedral and on the 'Hour of Power' and meet with staff in creative and vision-casting meetings.”

PREVIOUSLY: "As Crystal Cathedral Fights to Survive Bankruptcy, Spanish-Language Ministry Comes of Age."

The Space Shuttle Program Helped Carry Southern California's Aerospace Industry for Four Decades

At Los Angeles Times, "The space shuttle's Southland legacy."

Amid the odes to a shuttle program that ends with the last mission of the last shuttle, Atlantis, scheduled for liftoff Friday, is an awareness that the space plane helped carry Southern California's aerospace industry for four decades. It staved off decline after the end of the moon landings, bequeathing new generations of aeronautical technology — and jobs — to the regional economy.

"Building the space shuttle fleet enabled a historic chapter in NASA's space program," said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, a former shuttle commander. "Southern California has a strong place in shuttle history as a key site where the spacecraft were built and often landed."

Constructing the shuttle fleet was testament to how advanced Southern California's aerospace engineering and labor workforce had become by the 1970s — and assured that the vast assemblage of brainpower and engineering know-how would not be lost in the Southland.

The history of the shuttle program may be linked forever to the flights of Challenger and Columbia, its two deadly tragedies. But the shuttle era will also be remembered for advancing technology, including reusable rocket engines and computerized guidance systems, that changed manned flight.

Chasing the Dying Memories of Soviet Trauma

There's a retrospective on the fall of the Soviet Union at the new Foreign Policy. I'll be reading and posting more from it, but this essay from Orlando Figes is fascinating, "Don't Go There":

In November 2004, Nona Panova was being interviewed by a researcher from the Russian human rights organization Memorial, working under my direction on an oral history project about private life in the Stalin era. Nona, a 75-year-old woman whose father had been arrested during the purges of the 1930s, had been talking for several hours about her upbringing in St. Petersburg and her family when she saw the tape recorder with its microphone. The conversation went like this:Panova: So that's how it was.… [Notices the tape recorder and shows signs of panic.] Are you recording this? But I'll be arrested! They'll put me into jail!

Interviewer: Who'll put you in jail?

Panova: Someone will.… I've told you so much; there's so much I've said.…

Interviewer: [Laughs.] Yes, and it was very interesting, but tell me, who today would want to put you in jail?

Panova: But did you really make a recording?

Interviewer: Yes, don't you remember? I warned you at the start that our conversation would be recorded.

Panova: Then that's it. It's all over for me -- they'll arrest me.

More at the link. Ms. Panova thought she'd be killed. Here's another part this was gripping:

For years, what the world knew about the Soviet Union was limited entirely to the public sphere. Apart from a few memoirs by great writers caught up in the repressions of the 1930s, particularly Evgenia Ginzburg and Nadezhda Mandelstam, there was little from a personal perspective coming out of those years. More representative testimonies began to emerge only in the glasnost period, when victims of Stalin's repression were encouraged to come forward with their stories. Organizations like Memorial helped them look for information about their missing relatives, took interviews, and organized archives from the mass of documents, letters, photographs, and artifacts that people brought into their offices in plastic bags and boxes following the Soviet regime's collapse.

And yet even these documents were difficult to interpret. Take diaries, usually regarded as the most direct expression of an individual's private thoughts and emotions. Diarists of the 1930s and 1940s, however, faced serious obstacles. When a person was arrested, the first thing to be confiscated was the diary, which was likely to be used as incriminating evidence. Many diaries that came to light during the glasnost years express conformist political ideas. Should we take their words at face value, as expressions of a genuine yearning to belong to the Soviet collective, which was no doubt felt by many people insecure about their place in the system? Or should it be assumed that fear drove more to hide themselves behind a mask? Two major finds have been translated from Russian: the 1930s diary of Stepan Podlubny, a kulak son fashioning a Soviet identity for himself in a factory school, which was published in Germany as Tagebuch aus Moskau (1996) by historian Jochen Hellbeck; and Nina Lugovskaya's schoolgirl diary from the same decade, published in English as I Want to Live (2006). For Hellbeck, the Podlubny diary shows how the individual was practically unable to think outside the terms defined by Soviet politics. In this vision of the "Soviet subject" -- developed by Hellbeck from several newly discovered Stalin-era diaries in Revolution on My Mind (2006) -- there is little space for private life at all, if we take that to depend on independent thought. Yet the Lugovskaya example shows that even a schoolgirl subjected to the full array of propaganda about the "radiant Soviet future" was not only capable of dissenting, pessimistic, and even "anti-Soviet" thoughts, but eager to confess them to her diary as an expression of her individuality.

Living in fear as a direct result of communist totalitarian control. This is where today's progressives seek to return. They're communists, and just take a look across the radical left establishment today. To simply speak out against the PC commissars is to risk a termination of employment, personals attacks, threats of violence, or even possible jail time in country's like Canada and the Netherlands. Progressives are communists. Like Soviet citizens under Stalin, there is no dissenting from the progressive line without threat to life and liberty.

Jewish Defence League Protests Omar Barghouti in Toronto

At Blazing Cat Fur, "Omar Barghouti - Disrupted."

There's a little bit of discussion of whether free speech rights are violated, and thus conservatives are just as bad as communists and jihadis. As I noted at the comments, I thought about heckling Noam Chomsky at UCLA, but I might not have had any backup, and would have been swarmed by the Student for Justice in Palestine jihadis! That said, there's a lot of frustration on the right, so I can see the temptation. As Vlad Tepes notes:

It appears that the Jewish Defense League has given some Islamic BDS people a taste of thier own medicine that we have seen at so many campus’ across the world from Scotland to Sweden and through the USA ...

VIDEO: Kate Upton SoBe Bikini

The POH Diaries has this: "Sweet Lord. A Kate Upton Staring Contest."

And more Kate Upton, for SoBe:

Jewish Conservatives and the New Media

From Benyamin Korn, at Jewish Telegraphic Agency, "Jews becoming commonplace in conservative ‘new media’."

The piece mentions just about everyone. Andrew Breitbart is Jewish, and so is Tammy Bruce, which I didn't know.

Interesting.

Hat Tip: Israel Matzav.

Lightning Medicine

At London's Daily Mail, "The incredibly rare sacred white buffalo who's one in TEN MILLION" (via AoSHQ).

I'm fascinated by Native Americans. This is really cool story.

Gauging Consequences for Republicans Who Backed Gay Marriage

At New York Times, "After Backing Gay Marriage, 4 in G.O.P. Face Voters’ Verdict":

A day and a half after he voted to legalize same-sex marriage, State Senator Mark J. Grisanti went to church.

There, across the pews at St. Rose of Lima in North Buffalo, sat 81-year-old Ann Deckop, and she felt betrayed, since Mr. Grisanti had vowed in 2008 that he was “inalterably” opposed to same-sex marriage.

“I voted for him and I’m writing a letter indicating that I will not be voting for him in the next election,” Ms. Deckop said.

But there was also Greg Fox, a 52-year-old technology industry salesman, who called Mr. Grisanti “a gentleman.”

“It’s important that we uphold Catholic values,” Mr. Fox said, before adding, “This is also 2011, so things change.”

And at the front of the church was the priest, who, Mr. Grisanti recalled, “put a hand over his heart and kind of pounded his chest, and pointed to me and smiled.” Mr. Grisanti said he was unsure what that meant.

Now, Mr. Grisanti and the three other Senate Republicans who provided votes necessary to legalize same-sex marriage in New York are confronting the uncertainty of how voters in their districts will react. Voter response will influence the balance of power in the New York Senate, where there are just two more Republicans than Democrats. And the events in New York also have national repercussions: because several Democratic-dominated states have already legalized same-sex marriage, gay-rights advocates increasingly need Republican support if they are to change local laws elsewhere in the country.

Some Republican donors, as well as Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and leaders of the gay-rights movement, have promised to support the re-election campaigns of the four New York lawmakers. But the National Organization for Marriage, a group opposed to same-sex marriage, said it would spend $2 million in an effort to defeat the legislators, and key elements of the senators’ traditional political base have vowed to withdraw support.

“One thing I know for sure, these four people will not have the Conservative Party endorsement,” said Michael R. Long, chairman of the state Conservative Party. “That is certain.”

Keep your eyes out for these races. A cautionary warning for RINOs.