Republicans back gay marriage ahead of vote in RI

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3. A matter of self-preservation

I don't think they got marching orders. I think they just read the writing on the wall. There was someone on NPR a couple of weeks ago that said the shift in opinion in favor of gay marriage was the fastest social change in the history of polling. People realize it's no big deal and the Republicans have finally given their head a shake and come to the conclusion they would waste their efforts fighting this losing battle. Don't worry...they still have Social Security and Medicare firmly in their sights and can be attacked on that in 2014.