Does Feinstein's Anti-endorsement Matter?

On September 12, (this past Friday), Senator Dianne Feinstein of the U.S. Senate released a statement declaring that "as a matter of equality and fairness" she was opposed to Proposition 8. As a representative from California to the U.S. Senate, obviously it is expected that she would make public her opinion on a crucial proposition in her state's upcoming election. But does Feinstein's statement really make a difference towards swaying the votes of undecided California voters? Within the state legislature, California has twice already passed legislation making same-sex marriage legal, with the margin growing larger the second time around. (The fact that Gov. Schwarzenegger vetoed the bill both times is somewhat of a moot point for the sake of this particular discussion). This demonstrates that, at least at the state level, that the representatives for California are significantly in favor of gay marriage.

Yet, there was a voter initiative to place a proposition on the ballot this November that would change the California Constitution to ban same-sex marriage once again. Clearly there are people with money that do not support same-sex marriage, and thus have the resources to launch a campaign to stop it. So the question is, does Feinstein's anti-endorsement make a difference to voters? Those voters in California that are conservative on this matter most likely already disapprove of the opinions of the Democratic state legislature, and arguably won't listen to an argument made by yet another official in their government they don't know. No matter how important Feinstein is, she's still just another liberal Democrat, who could be expected to speak out in favor of gay marriage. Who is the senator swaying with her impersonal statement? I would argue that the only way to convince voters to vote no on proposition 8 would be to talk to them one on one. Let volunteers put a familiar accessible face on the issue, and not simply let the lofty words of a woman most residents will never meet be the only method of persuasion used.

So what, in the end, is the purpose of Feinstein's anti-endorsement? To make the "Vote No on Prop 8" base feel good about themselves. Equality for All gets to post a front page story on its website about how yet another famous and/or important person is against Proposition 8, and all the volunteers get a warm fuzzy feeling inside as if their long hours canvassing and phonebanking mean something. Good for them - someone give those volunteers a cookie.