Conservative base pressed president to defend traditional matrimony

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President Bush's support this week for legally defining marriage as a union solely between a man and a woman followed strong public -- and behind the scenes -- pressure from religious and social conservatives.

The president's campaign strategists have acknowledged repeatedly since the 2000 election that without the enthusiastic support of these conservatives, Mr. Bush will find re-election difficult.

Mr. Bush's political aides have publicly lamented that more than 4 million evangelical voters stayed home instead of voting Republican in 2000, making the presidential contest far closer than it would have otherwise been.

Many social conservative leaders and spokesmen yesterday said they were not surprised by Mr. Bush's strong statement at a Wednesday press conference.

"I can't imagine him doing anything other than endorsing traditional marriage," said Gary Bauer, a social-conservative leader who was a domestic policy adviser in the Reagan White House. "It would be political suicide to do otherwise."

Mr. Bauer said the president's support of traditional marriage vindicates social conservatives' opposition to recent Republican outreach efforts to homosexual activists.

"The sudden catapulting [of the same-sex 'marriage' issue] to the top of the agenda shows why it is a tremendous waste of time for Republican leaders to attempt to satisfy a movement whose basic goals are so contrary to the values of Republican voters," Mr. Bauer said.

Earlier this year, Marc Racicot, Mr. Bush's handpicked choice as Republican National Committee chairman, outraged religious and social conservatives when he addressed a national homosexual-rights group.

Some conservative leaders, who have at times complained that the Bush administration was trying to appease liberal voters, gave a "trust but verify" response to the president's Wednesday announcement.