Tiger Beat on the Potomac (thanks Charlie!) email thingie tells us that Sen. Chuck Schumer has realized the gift that dropped in his lap for Marriage Equality (emboldening and whatnot is theirs):

The pending same-sex marriage bill vote in the Senate. An aide to CHUCK SCHUMER says the majority leader is working closely with Sens. TAMMY BALDWIN (D-Wis.) and KYRSTEN SINEMA (D-Ariz.) — the chamber’s only two out LGBTQ lawmakers — to win enough Republican votes to pass a bill to codify same-sex marriage and interracial marriage into law. (The House passed the measure last week.) Schumer is expected to bring the bill to the floor as soon as they get to 60 yes votes.

How they’re getting there: Dems are focusing on those Republicans “who have LGBTQ friends, family or staff and might be convinced to support the straightforward legislation based on their personal connections,” Burgess Everett reports this morning.

The other TBotP email thingie goes deep on Tammy Baldwin’s involvement:

BALDWIN SEEKS “I DO’s” ON MARRIAGE EQUALITY— Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.) didn’t anticipate that she’d have to lead a charge to find 10 Senate Republicans to codify same-sex marriage protections into law. A decade after becoming the first openly gay senator and seven years after the struck down restrictions on same-sex marriage in 2015, she thought it was settled.

“I had not expected to be fighting to protect a right that’s already been won in court,” she told Burgess in an interview.

“No one expects the Spanish Inquisition,” Justice Thomas bellowed over his Coke can. Oops, I interrupted. Do continue:

And yet… She spent much of last week talking to more than 10 Republicans and continued her outreach this weekend trying to find colleagues across the aisle who might sign on. She’s handed out cards with key points about the bill to on-the-fence GOP members. “I am talking to a lot of folks, but folks who I think want to get to yes,” Baldwin said.

Halfway there: Five Republican senators are signaling their support for same-sex marriage legislation. Five more are needed to break a filibuster.

She’s zeroing in on Republicans who have personal connections to the LGBTQ community, whether friends, family or staff members, who might be convinced to vote in favor of codifying marriage rights based on those personal relationships, according to people involved in the effort.

The issue is that large majorities of Americans (roughly 70%) are for it, but that 70% does not include Possum Hollar. So voting for it will kill GOP senators with the Christifa; voting against it will kill them with independents, and thus the SS Minnow was lost.

Our Failed Political Press have asked every senator where they stand on it, and nearly all of them said they haven’t had time to read the bill yet. We suspect some of ’em don’t know how to read (hi RoJo!) and don’t have a Drag Queen to read it to them at their offices.

Anyway, we know that they are lying:  H.R. 8404, is super short, about a page long. Here’s the important part:

No person acting under color of State law may deny (1) full faith and credit to any public act, record, or judicial proceeding of any other State pertaining to a marriage between 2 individuals, on the basis of the sex, race, ethnicity, or national origin of those individuals.

The bill does NOT force all states to pass laws that allow same-sex marriage. It says that if a marriage was legally done in one state, all states must honor it. Just like all marriages.

But here’s why this is clever: this makes the bill about interstate commerce, which Congress has the absolute power to regulate. So when a couple marries in California and moves to Alabama, they remain married, no matter what the Baptists in Jeebusland demand.

Anyway, we wish Sen. Baldwin all the best of luck, and we remind Sinema that if she’s just let go of the damn filibuster all of this would be moot.