This was not about four New York State Senators. It was about the finance and real estate establishment in New York City deciding that the time for gay marriage was now. The New York GOP cannot say “no” to them, because they are the GOP’s only source of real support in a state without a meaningful social conservative base, and with a huge combination of Democrat interest groups (public employee unions, trial lawyers, and New York City social service organizations) and the 21st century yellow dogs (upscale Manhattanites and suburbanites who think Republicans are all backwoods bigots).
The bottom line is that the real vote wasn’t 33-29, it was really something more like 48-14; a clear majority of Republican State Senators wanted it to pass, but were allows a symbolic “no” vote for consumption at home.
if the Ny state GOP thinks that their future is the “Dede Scozzafava” model ... they will now be give another chance to find out how wrong they are.