Dick Cheney, Pro-Marriage Equality Lobbyist in Maryland?

Former vice president Dick Cheney is reportedly a part of the lobbying blitz happening just before the vote on marriage equality in Maryland today.

The Baltimore Sun reported today that Republican delegate Wade Kach, who is now a yes vote for marriage, said he got an offer to talk with Cheney about his views on same-sex marriage. Cheney has a lesbian daughter, Mary, and has long been open about his personal support for marriage equality. But his name has never come up until now as part of any of the lobbying of Republicans in Washington or New York.

"I think freedom means freedom for everybody, and you ought to have the right to make whatever choice you want to make with respect to your own personal situation," Cheney said on The View last year. But he's made his feelings known on the issue as far back as the 2004 election.

Other prominent conservative voices on the side of marriage have included former Republican National Committee chairman Ken Mehlman, who came out as gay while raising funds for the effort to overturn Proposition 8 in California. And New York mayor Michael Bloomberg, an independent, has also sounded off on what he hopes to see in Maryland, as he did in New York. Kach said he heard from both of them.

"I'm more interested in talking to my constituents and my colleagues here," Kach told the Sun. "I just didn't call them back."