Florida marriage amendment makes the ballot

This is big:

The Florida Division of Elections announced over the weekend that it certified 649,346 signatures seeking to place the Florida Marriage Protection Amendment on the state's Nov. 4 ballot. Conservative activists collected 92,000 signatures in the last two weeks leading up to the Feb. 1 deadline to ensure they exceeded the 611,099 needed to place the measure on the ballot.

If the amendment passes, Florida would recognize marriage as "the legal union of only one man and one woman as husband and wife," and "no other legal union that is treated as marriage or the substantial equivalent thereof shall be valid or recognized." The latter provision would protect Florida from having to recognize out of state same-sex marriage licenses.

Marriage amendments have passed in 27 out of 28 states where they have been on the ballot, and I doubt Florida will be an exception. And the fact that this will draw more socially conservative voters to the polls in November is good news for the GOP this fall, given Florida's status as a key swing state in presidential elections. Again, good news.