McCain: Same-sex
marriage should be state issue

Arizona senator John McCain, a front-runner for the 2008 GOP presidential nomination, told the ABC News show This Week on Sunday that although he doesn't personally support same-sex marriage, he believes it is an issue best left up to the states to decide. ''I'm a federalist,'' McCain said on the program. ''Just as I believe that the issue of gay marriage should be decided by the states, so do I believe that we would be better off by having Roe v. Wade return to the states. And I don't believe the Supreme Court should be legislating in the way that they did on Roe v. Wade.''

McCain also called the military's ''don't ask, don't tell'' policy toward gays ''very effective'' and said that he supported civil unions: ''People ought to be able to enter into contracts, exchange powers of attorney, other ways that people who have a relationship can enter into.'' (Hope Yen, AP)