Reporting from Cupertino, Calif. — A day after launching her campaign for governor, former EBay Chief Executive Meg Whitman on Tuesday unveiled a sharply conservative approach to California’s fiscal crisis and offered a fusillade of positions on other issues that are likely to complicate her run for office in 2010.

In a wide-ranging interview, the first-time Republican candidate’s demeanor vacillated between that of a confident, take-charge chief executive officer delivering a PowerPoint presentation to that of an ill-at-ease novice who has studied stacks of policy binders, but has yet to master the art of political maneuvering.

Views that could potentially attract or alienate all manner of voters emerged on the subject of gay marriage.

Explaining her support for Proposition 8, the November measure that banned same-sex marriage, she called it a “matter of personal conscience and my faith.”

But Whitman, a Presbyterian who supports gay civil unions, said the thousands of same-sex marriages that took place last year before the ban should be legally recognized — a sentiment opposed by many Proposition 8 backers. Moreover, she said, gay and lesbian couples should be able to adopt children.

 See Whitman unveils conservative positions
Los Angeles Times - CA,USA

Reporting from Cupertino, Calif. — A day after launching her campaign for governor, former EBay Chief Executive Meg Whitman on Tuesday unveiled a sharply conservative approach to California’s fiscal crisis and offered a fusillade of positions on other issues that are likely to complicate her run for office in 2010.

In a wide-ranging interview, the first-time Republican candidate’s demeanor vacillated between that of a confident, take-charge chief executive officer delivering a PowerPoint presentation to that of an ill-at-ease novice who has studied stacks of policy binders, but has yet to master the art of political maneuvering.

Views that could potentially attract or alienate all manner of voters emerged on the subject of gay marriage.

Explaining her support for Proposition 8, the November measure that banned same-sex marriage, she called it a “matter of personal conscience and my faith.”

But Whitman, a Presbyterian who supports gay civil unions, said the thousands of same-sex marriages that took place last year before the ban should be legally recognized — a sentiment opposed by many Proposition 8 backers. Moreover, she said, gay and lesbian couples should be able to adopt children.

 See Whitman unveils conservative positions
Los Angeles Times - CA,USA

Two years ago, by a 57 percent to 43 percent margin, Colorado voters approved a constitutional amendment defining marriage as being between a man and a woman. At the same time, they also defeated a measure to allow civil unions.

Now, according to a survey released Thursday, more Coloradans appear to be embracing ideas such as civil unions and gay marriage.

A slim majority of Coloradans support gay marriage and four-fifths support gay civil unions, according to the survey commissioned by the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation in California, and conducted Nov. 10-16 by Harris Interactive with 502 Colorado residents.

GLAAD conducted a national poll, but Colorado was the only state the group polled separately. Even though California’s Proposition 8 to outlaw gay marriage is more timely, having passed in the November election, the group felt that Colorado’s history on gay issues and its being home to two opposing forces on the issue - Focus on the Family and the Gill Foundation - made this the best crucible for their research.

 See Survey: More Coloradoans embracing gay unions
Colorado Springs Gazette, CO