New to the same-sex marriage support group: Big bucks financier Henry Kravis and other GOP boldface names from the Republican Leadership Council, plus Bush White House chief speechwriter Michael Gerson. At $5,000 a head, there's almost $200,000 being raised from the Mehlman event host list alone (see invitation below), and it's a safe bet that a bunch more will walk in the door. Maybe they can hold hands and sing Kumbaya with Fidel. From Ben Smith at Politico:
Ken Mehlman's fundraiser for same-sex marriage will be, among other things, a gathering of some of the most high-profile — and deep-pocketed — backers of gay marriage on the right… Bush aides Mark and Nicolle Wallace are on there, as is top GOP lawyer Ben Ginsberg. Most notably, Mehlman's fundraiser extends the reach of same-sex marriage backers to the very top Republican donor pile: The private equity titan Henry Kravis (who's also Mehlman's boss at KKR) is among the hosts. And the event is at the home of Paul Singer, the hedge fund tycoon recently profiled in the Times as the embodiment of Wall Street's support for Republicans. Also, former RNC Finance Chairman Lew Eisenberg. Politics sometimes follows the money, and there's a path here — if Mehlman, in particular, chooses to cultivate it — for pro-same-sex marriage Republicans to raise a huge pile of money.
I think the greatest significance of this would be if the Republicans stopped having a unified rejection of LGBT measures in the Senate. That might be what allows ENDA and DADT repeal.