This could also very well destroy, finally, the Democratic machine that is Massachusetts politics. The Democratic state party---whatever its formal name is---"came out" for Gay Marriage. Now, as I'm sure you know, the General Court is so dominated by Democrats that it might as well be all Democrats. Yet, ostensibly anyway, they're still beholden to do their constituent's bidding, and there's no way in hell the rank-and-file voters in Massachusetts favor gay marriage. The same voters who elected Mitt Romney in the face of an overwhelming Democratic machine? NO WAY.
The most powerful man in Massachusetts, Speaker of the House Tom Finneran, will not support gay marriage, thereby bucking his own party. So there you have it: power vs. machine.