"If Walker pulls this off, then a lot of conservatives are going to say, 'He was a man of great courage, he took this on and he won, '" Gergen said.

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And a passing priest, Father Theo from Switzerland, paused just long enough under his umbrella to say that what the Pope had done took courage, and he had shown humility.

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What he did took a great deal of courage, especially considering that a recent Gallup poll showed 48% of Americans are against same-sex marriages and that North Carolina, a swing state he barely won four years ago, just voted against marriage equality and civil unions, with a vote of 61% to 39%.

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