By Gregory Korte
Enquirer staff writer

Republican leaders pushing a state constitutional amendment on the November ballot that would ban gay marriage say the movement could energize conservative voters and help re-elect President Bush.

Once an unspoken political fact, the Republicans have become increasingly open about the implications of the issue on presidential politics - leading the Kerry campaign and some gay-rights activists to cry foul.

Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell sent a letter to supporters last month saying gay marriage is an important issue in "determining where Ohio's electoral votes will go." Bush's top political adviser, Karl Rove, admitted to Ohio reporters at the Republican National Convention last month, "To the degree it energizes people who might otherwise not vote, it tends to help us."

And the leader in the effort to place the gay marriage ban on the ballot, Phil Burress of Loveland, spoke about the issue to a national meeting of social conservatives before the GOP convention. On the agenda: "Using Conservative Issues in Swing States," according to a report in the New York Times.

"I have said all along that from the polling data we have seen, it will definitely energize people of faith. It will give President Bush a better chance at winning Ohio," said Burress, president of Citizens for Community Values. "But I can't just leave that laying there. I've also said repeatedly it's not why we're doing this."

Still, those admissions have led to charges by some Democrats and gay rights activists that the gay marriage amendment is little more than a cynical election-year ploy.

"I think Mr. Burress is talking out of both sides of his mouth, as he always does," said Timothy Downing, leader of Ohioans for Growth and Equality, a Cleveland-based gay rights group. "They are being completely dishonest about this. It's about pumping up the vote. There is an ulterior motive here."

It's no coincidence, he said, that similar measures will appear Nov. 2 in at least three other swing states, including Arkansas, Michigan and Oregon.

Missouri amended its Constitution last month in a special election that drew a record turnout. The question also is on the Kentucky ballot in November.

Blackwell, as Ohio's chief elections officer, certified the amendment for the Nov. 2 ballot last week, but there are still court challenges.

"They're clearly using it as a wedge issue," said Brendon Cull, a spokesman for the Ohio Democratic Party. "John Kerry and John Edwards have made it very clear that they believe marriage is between a man and a woman. George Bush stood up in front of this country four years ago - almost to the week - and said he wanted to be a uniter and not a divider. But like Bill Clinton said, they want the country divided because they know they can't win if we're not."

Blackwell said it was "an activist court in Massachusetts" - which ruled last November that the state could not ban same-sex-marriages - that set the stage for the national debate, not any Republican campaign committee.

"All things flow from there," said Blackwell, who said he was asked by Bush campaign manager Ken Mehlman earlier this year to do "surrogate work" on gay marriage in Ohio.

"The notion that this is a wedge issue is nonsense," he said. "This has become a real public policy issue."

Having said that, Blackwell stands by his statement to 1,500 state GOP leaders last month - in a letter written on "Blackwell for Governor" letterhead - that the amendment could help Bush carry Ohio and thus win the election. But that's a side benefit, he said.

As Burress put it: "For us, it's about protecting marriage first and politics second. For them, it's the other way around."

Analysts think the Republican strategy, if there is one, could work - but for different reasons.

Eric Rademacher, director of the University of Cincinnati's Ohio Poll, said it's hard to imagine gay marriage driving voters to the polls who wouldn't already be there because of the economy or terrorism.

But some voters may be torn, perceiving Bush as stronger on foreign policy and Kerry as more capable of handling the economy.

"For those types of voters, the gay marriage issue - or other single issues like abortion and gun control - may well end up providing a tiebreaker for voters in helping them decide," Rademacher said.

John Green, director of the Ray C. Bliss Center for Applied Politics at the University of Akron, said the gay marriage amendment may well work as a "turnout mechanism."

"Republicans were - and are - concerned about being too closely associated with the amendment for fear of driving off swing voters," he said. But the GOP "may have the best of both worlds," he said: an amendment on the ballot that boosts turnout without having to spend much energy to get the amendment passed.

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E-mail gkorte@enquirer.com