Grassroots is essential, but deep pockets helped coax passage of SSM in Albany:

This year’s nationally scrutinized battle in New York over whether to legalize gay marriage has attracted big money. One longtime Albany lobbyist describes it as a “limitless” amount of lobbying dollars and campaign contributions from gay marriage advocates.

Susan Lerner of the good-government group Common Cause says she hasn’t seen anything like the spending over gay marriage since the abortion fights of the 1970s. --AP