CALIF. DEMS RENEW SSM PUSH: From the San Jose Mercury News

If at first you don't succeed, should you really try, try again?

It's a question that could dog Democrats as two of the most controversial social issues in California -- gay marriage and driver's licenses for illegal immigrants -- come up again when lawmakers return Dec. 6.

By tradition, many legislators use the first day of the session to introduce a favorite bill, and Assemblyman Mark Leno and Sen. Gil Cedillo don't plan to wait another day. They plan to promptly introduce bills to legalize same-sex nuptials and driver's licenses for undocumented workers, again. ...

Even with this backdrop, Democrats Leno and Cedillo say they plan to forge ahead, arguing that their party will gain support -- not lose it -- by doing what they view as the right thing.

Many prominent Democrats support them. Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, for example, championed the driver's license issue last year, and he has signed on as a joint author of the gay-marriage bill.

But privately, some Democrats wonder if their party is drifting away from public sentiment at its peril.

''If Democrats aren't careful, the driver's license and gay-marriage bills could be the real assisted-suicide measures this year,'' said one Democratic strategist, alluding to lawmakers' plans to push a controversial right-to-die bill, too. ...

Leno, who is gay, said he does not ''buy the premise'' that gay-marriage missteps helped Bush.

Nevertheless, he acknowledged, ''certainly the question is asked: Is this the right time?''

''Well, when is the best time? I would tell you that law-abiding, tax-paying, loving same-sex families have lived with the injustice of the current law far too long.'' He speaks passionately about people who are denied pensions or who have lost homes after a partner's death.

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