Quote Of The Day - Jesse Connoly

"I think the messaging that we put forth was very strong, I think the consulting team that did our TV spots did a great job of executing the message we were running on. I think the bigger question is around the timing of the election, wondering why our supporters didn’t go vote. Those are more burning questions versus the coulda/woulda/shouldas on messaging. We were trying to boost turnout and put messages up there that encouraged people to go voted. But as we look through our data, there was a swath of voters who didn’t go vote and we need to try to understand why they didn’t." - Maine's No On 1 manager Jesse Connoly, speaking to the Advocate's Kerry Eleveld after co-moderating the marriage equality panel at Netroots Nation.

Connoly says that while equality issues may excite some of the voter base such as the LGBT community, the No On 1 side had to spend a lot of its resources just to get voters to the poll in a non-election year. That's an important lesson to consider in the future. There was also much introspection among the activists in the room as to why it took a straight man such as Connoly to put together what is universally considered the best marriage equality campaign we've seen so far.

Friendly Voices - Jesse Connolly

"Tonight, hundreds of thousands of Maine voters stood for equality, but in the end, it wasn't enough. I am proud of the thousands of Mainers who knocked on doors, made phone calls and talked to their family, friends and neighbors about the basic premise of treating all Maine families equally. And I'm proud of this campaign because the stories we told and the images we shared were of real Mainers -- parents who stood up for their children, and couples who simply wanted to marry the person they love."

"We're in this for the long haul. For next week, and next month, and next year -- until all Maine families are treated equally. Because in the end, this has always been about love and family and that will always be something worth fighting for." - No On 1/Protect Maine Equality head Jesse Connolly, as reported by Rex Wockner.

As I said last night, Connolly and his team were simply outstanding, putting out the best equality campaign we've ever seen. They put actual LGBT people in their ads. They knocked on doors from one end of Maine to the other, engaging voters face to face. And their phonebanking effort ran around the clock until the very last minute. But in the end, it simply was no match for the outrageous and consistent lies and scare tactics of NOM, Stand For Marriage, and the Catholic Church. Unlike what we saw with Prop 8, this time we really cannot fault our side. We all owe Connolly and his team of volunteers our gratitude for a valiant effort.


(Photo by Rex Wockner)