"As Iowa Goes, So Goes The Nation." Gay Marriage Officially Legalized In Iowa

Gay Marriage now legal in...wait for it, IOWA. Don't you love it when people surprise you? Coming from Nebraska, a border state, we would always call Iowan's "Idiots Out Wandering Around." Guess the joke's on us today.  In an unanimous ruling, Iowa marriages are no longer limited to man and woman.  This decision makes Iowa the first Midwestern state, and the fourth nationwide to allow same-sex marriages. Just how significant is this to the rest of the country?

Richard Socarides, a former senior adviser to President Bill Clinton on gay civil rights, said today’s decision could set the stage for other states. Socarides was was a senior political assistant for Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin in the early 1990s.

“I think it’s significant because Iowa is considered a Midwest sate in the mainstream of American thought,” Socarides said. “Unlike states on the coasts, there’s nothing more American than Iowa. As they say during the presidential caucuses, 'As Iowa goes, so goes the nation.’”