Sen. Rob Portman: If I Run For President, My Gay Marriage Support Will Be A Plus

GOP Sen. Rob Portman is considering a 2016 presidential bid and says that his support for same-sex marriage would only help his campaign. The Washington Post yesterday declared that Portman's candidacy could set up a "nightmare scenario" for the Republican Party.

This raises the possibility of a scenario that Republicans who agree with Portman — and believe the party must evolve on gay marriage to stay in step with the country’s cultural and demographic shifts — might want to start worrying about right about now. It’s not hard to imagine that Senator Ted Cruz might make precisely the opposite case from Portman, making the case that the party must reaffirm its support for “traditional marriage” key to his GOP presidential primary run. This could come after the Supreme Court has declared a Constitutional right to gay marriage — which Cruz would then be vociferously calling on Republicans to help roll back. Gay advocates believe lower court rulings overturning state gay marriage bans on Constitutional equal protection grounds could portend an eventual SCOTUS ruling that enshrines a national right to gay marriage. That could happen in time for the 2016 primary.

Two weeks ago Cruz said that Americans should "come to our knees to God" in defense of one man, one woman marriage.