Everyone knew it was going to fail, they put it up anyway. The 'thugs wanted to demonstrate something, so what did it demonstrate?
A) WTF is up with Byrd? Has senility sent him back to his Dixiecrat ways? Its really hard to have respected him for so long and then see what he's done with the past year.
B) heh, McCain voted Nay. No primary win for you! It was pretty much lose/lose for him though, either flip-flop and pander or piss off the primary voters.
C) Which may be the real reason it was brought up. Not to energize the base, which will again see Republican failure, but to kick the legs out from under McCain.
D) All of the NE republicans voted nay(except Santorum, who is A) really a Virginian now and B) going down). It should be clear - the states could never ratify this. There aren't enough bigot-dominated states.
Yet.
Of course, those NE 'thugs could well have changed their votes to yea if it would have made a difference. It has been their MO.
E) Its time for some really hard hitting campaign commercials on gay marriage. Some that aren't afraid to use the B word, as in "America has spent 200 years removing the last traces of bigotry from its constitution. But Republicans are fighting hard to put it back in." They want a wedge issue, lets give it to them in no nonsense terms that let them accurately pick sides.