The Votes

We last left off the Maryland gay marriage bill at 21 of the 24 votes needed for passage on the floor, following the stunning and stirring reversal by Sen. Jim Brochin (D). Brochin had been a primary advocate for "civil unions", saying he "stumbled" over the word marriage. But after hearing what he called the "venom" flowing from gay marriage opponents, he decided that his problem with the word marriage was his problem, not the law's.

The bill just passed a key committee vote today, and now heads to the Senate floor. The Washington Post reports that the bill appears to have exactly 24 votes at the moment, with two members undecided. But there are some awfully waver-y folks among that number, and everyone expects the vote to be agonizingly close (the House of Delegates, by contrast, is expected to pass the bill much more easily).