Barro watches marriage equality progress in Illinois:
Republicans want gay marriage enacted in such a way that they get as little credit or blame as possible, while assuring the issue falls off the political radar. Call it the no-fingerprints strategy: They don’t care if gay marriage becomes law so long as they can say somebody else did it. It’s not just Illinois; we’re seeing similar phenomena with Republican lawmakers in blue-leaning states, including New York, New Jersey and New Hampshire.
In the case of New York, he notes that “national coverage tended to focus on the four Republican state senators who voted yes,” but that the Senate majority leader, who voted against the bill, could have derailed it:
The organizing rules of the New York State Senate vested full control over the legislative calendar in Skelos; if he had wanted to block gay marriage, all he had to do was refuse to schedule a vote. Instead, he allowed the bill to pass.
The Dish 