This week's National Journal poll of political bloggers asked: "Which statement comes closest to your political views on gay marriage?" On the Left, 89% said "My party should support it." On Right, there was a fairly close split between support, oppose, and "My party should avoid the issue," with the latter having a plurality.

It's not really possible for a party to "avoid" such a prominent issue, but I voted with the plurality anyway, since it comes closest to my view that both parties should not make support or opposition into a key issue of party loyalty. A "free vote," in parliamentary terms. There are good arguments on both sides of the issue.

I wrote: "The long-term trend is clearly in favor. Fair-minded supporters should ensure that gay marriage laws include strong protections for the rights of people who do not believe in gay marriage -- such as merchants or professionals who do not want to provide services to gay weddings because it would violate their conscience. Likewise, the U.S. should avoid the path of Europe and Canada, where speech critical of gay marriage can be prosecuted as illegal 'hate speech.'"

The second question was "Is it politically smart for President Obama to tackle immigration reform this year?" Seventy percent of the Left and 35% of the Right thought it was. I among those who voted Yes. I thought Micky Kaus's analysis was persausive, and wrote: "Simply by raising the issue, even if he doesn't get a bill passed, he sends a signal to aliens not to self-deport, and he encourages more illegal immigation, as persons contemplating immigrating illegally rush to get into the U.S. in time to get some form of amnesty. The result helps Democrats in the redistricting which will follow the 2010 Census."