News out of Iowa where a district court has ruled in favor of same sex marriage and struck down a provision to declare marriage as only between a man and a woman. All eyes are on Iowa ahead of the caucuses this year and Republicans are looking for issues to keep their conservative base.

This can only bode well for Mitt Romney who won the Iowa straw poll and who is attempting to pull himself up as a true conservative on social issues. I would expect the Romney campaign to jump all over this story tomorrow and to start positioning the candidate as someone who will be aggressive in fighting decisions like this with a federal amendment to the constitution.

Will the issue work? This weeks problems with an Idaho Senator and the last near decade of no movement on a constitutional amendment by a Republican House, Senate & Presidency aren’t going to help the party keep voters. With that said Democrats won’t win them over either and at the very least they can run as candidates who will uphold the status quo in vetoing any attempt to change the law in favor of gay marriage and who will work hard to turn states and eventually the federal government against it.

It’s amazing how this issue came up in the states in 2004 at just the right time and I am starting to wonder if it won’t be the same again for 2008. As I keep saying Democrats who think they are simply going to waltz into the White House without a fight and with 70% majorities could well be in for a shock come November of next year.