I was just telling a friend of mine in Orange County, how can it be that we turned so many red places blue, took control of the senate, elected more women than ever, shut down anti-choice measures and elected a black democrat to the highest office in the country, and yet liberal California voted to instill discrimination in their constitution?

Basically, start in San Diego, kick some ass all of the way on your way north til you hit the bay area, have a sammich to regain your energy, then start just north of the Bay Area and kick ass all the way back up and then down the eastern side of the state.

Fuckers.

FWIW, Suzi, it was soundly voted down throughout the entire Bay Area. Santa Clara and Contra Costa counties were the two where it came closest to squeaking through, and even there it only managed a 45% yes vote. The rest of the Bay Area, including Alameda County, was much more lopsided.

I knew it was close, that the inland, small town and farming counties would be heavily for it; I was kind of hoping that the small but sturdy contingent of libertarians and contrarians who show up at every single election and reflexively vote "No" on every single proposition would tip the balance.

Obama was called the winner very early, and there were probably a lot of people in California for whom Prop 8 was significant but not enough to get them to the polls once they knew Obama had won. The kind of people who think equal rights for gays doesn't impact their lives.

I just don't get it.

Honestly, if marriage equality wasn't foremost on my agenda, I'm not sure what part of the "No on 8" campaign would have convinced me. I thought the ads were particularly bad. And, when a major part of your slogan is telling people on the other side that they are wrong, I'm not surprised it was hard to win last-minute converts.

SFGate.com has county by county results for the larger Bay Area, but I'd like to find something that show the statewide results.

Let the legal challenges begin.

Still heartbroken. Stoooopid self-centered, non-tolerant idiots.

The LA Times map that Perkins linked to has the state map.

I'm not sure what part of the "No on 8" campaign would have convinced me. I thought the ads were particularly bad.

And that is not something I saw from here. Education - what is the difference between the rights with or without the ban would have been the way to go.

I know so many couples who got married in the last few months and I know this isn't supposed to negate their marriage, but where does it really leave them?

Damn. I was doing really well with denial on that one. I still can't believe that my neighbor's voted to amend the state constitution to deprive people of rights.

And that is not something I saw from here.

There were basically two that I saw over and over. One between two women friends chatting (that sounded particularly fake) and one with an older couple. Both stressed the "don't treat people differently, don't eliminate rights" argument.

But, as you mention, many people don't get the difference between domestic partnership rights and marriage rights. Plus, with the Supreme Court ruling only in May, I think it's hard to see the issue as one of depriving people of rights. It's too new.

I think the No side needed to make more of an effort to reassure people that a No would not result in radical change. Instead of the older married couple asking people not to treat their children differently, I would have loved to see them talk about how their marriage wasn't threatened by same-sex marriage.

The only argument I've ever seen convince conservative friends is actually an economic/self-interest one. That is, in general, public policy supports marriage because it benefits society to have stable relationships and stable families. Having more people married can only further this agenda.