Tom Campbell's defeat in the race for GOP nomination to take on Sen. Barbara Boxer confirms the lessons of Dede Scozzafava: It’s a bad idea to be for gay marriage, at least if you are a Republican.

Meanwhile, National Organization for Marriage - California PAC won three pivotal election races during the 2010 California primary election season. NOM-CA PAC ran independent expenditure campaigns to elect State Senate candidate Joel Anderson (SD36), and State Assembly candidates Andy Pugno (AD 5), Sunder Ramani (AD 43), and Chris Lancaster (AD 59). Lancaster won by just 3000 votes, suggesting NOM's involvement was the margin of victory, while Ramani was narrowly defeated in Assembly District 43. (John Eastman's loss against Steve Cooley was the only other sad note out of California--he was outspent 3 to 1 against a better-known LA District Attorney.)

Tom Campbell's  remarkable collapse in the polls tracks NOM's voter outreach efforts remarkably.  According to polling on Real Clear Politics, Campbell led the US Senate race by as much as 15 points over Carly Fiorina on May 19^th. NOM launched its robo calls over the three day period of May 19-21. From that point forward, Campbell faded and Fiorina surged, winning the race in a landslide.