So perhaps branding is the problem. Maybe in advocacy situations it's better to persuade based on the facts of the issue, rather the whether it is red or blue. If advocates in Maine could harness their residents' attachment to liberty, common sense and independence (with a healthy dose of facts about how legalizing gay marriage would actually add to state coffers and not subtract from heterosexual marriages), the choice might look more right vs. wrong, rather than right vs. left.