To the Point

Same-Sex Marriage Influences the Presidential Election

Four years ago, George Bush reached out to gay Republicans. This year, he asked the Senate for a constitutional ban on gay marriage. Today, his fellow Republicans failed to muster enough support to bring the issue to the floor, so Democrats Kerry and Edwards never had to vote on it after all, one of the objectives of some supporters of the ban. Still, the issue-s now part of the presidential campaign and it-s on the ballot in several battleground states. Will conservatives turn out to support what they call -family values" or have the best-laid plans to politicize a divisive social issue gone astray? Warren Olney looks at the issue-s future with pollsters and columnists, family-values advocates, and gay- and human-rights activists. Making News: Butler Report Says British Prewar Intelligence Was Flawed Lord Butler-s much-awaited report on British intelligence prior to war in Iraq is not the blockbuster some had expected. In fact, it-s less critical than the US Senate Intelligence Committee was of the CIA. While the Prime Minister defended the findings of "good faith" efforts, opposition leader Michael Howard said Tony Blair has lost all credibility. Toby Helm of London's Daily Telegraph says the report does fault the politicizing of intelligence. Reporters Notebook: National Academy of Sciences Recommends Fixing Hubble Telescope NASA administrator Sean O-Keefe stunned astronomers last January when he ruled it would be unsafe to send astronauts to repair the Hubble Space Telescope. Now, he may be changing his mind. The National Research Council, a panel of the National Academy of Sciences, has called Hubble -probably the most important telescope in history.- Rick Fienberg, editor-in-chief of Sky & Telescope magazine, picks up the story.