For those who enjoyed the calm, placid year of 2004, it's deja vu all over again: as the California Supreme Court legalizes gay marriage. As Allah writes, "An election-year bombshell, just across the wires. Rove, you magnificent bastard."

But will the ruling stick? Get ready to read a lot about this between now and November:

“Pro-family” organizations have submitted more than 1.1 million signatures for an initiative that would amend the state Constitution to outlaw same-sex marriage. If at least 694,354 signatures are found to be valid, the measure would go on the November ballot and, if approved by voters, would override any court ruling in favor of same-sex marriage.

What's Obama's opinion on this? It sounds very much like he takes a smoke-but-didn't-inhale nuanced all-bases-covered position. Or the lack thereof--here's what comes up at the top of the page when Googling the words "Obama" and "gay marriage":

Barack Obama and Gay Marriage/ Civil Unions: Although Barack Obama has said that he supports civil unions, he is against gay marriage. In an interview with the Chicago Daily Tribune, Obama said, "I'm a Christian. And so, although I try not to have my religious beliefs dominate or determine my political views on this issue, I do believe that tradition, and my religious beliefs say that marriage is something sanctified between a man and a woman."

Barack Obama did vote against a Federal Marriage Amendment and opposed the Defense of Marriage Act in 1996.

He said he would support civil unions between gay and lesbian couples, as well as letting individual states determine if marriage between gay and lesbian couples should be legalized.

"Giving them a set of basic rights would allow them to experience their relationship and live their lives in a way that doesn't cause discrimination," Obama said. "I think it is the right balance to strike in this society."

Which sounds very much like a rerun of 2004:

Each of the major Democratic candidates say they are against gay marriage. They are all, I believe, against a Federal Marriage Amendment. Fine, so am I. But what exactly will Democrats do to oppose gay marriage? As I've noted before -- when Dean was the frontrunner -- none of these guys seem willing to do anything to back up their positions. They want the courts to simply take the issue away from them while they insist they are firm on the issue. Dean was the most cynical and dishonest on the subject. But I can't see how Kerry's much better. There might still be room for Bush to get on the right side of the issue politically if he can force Democrats to answer the question "Would you do anything to stop gay marriage?"

Just update the names of the players on your scorecard.