should be able to get married. >> truly historic and potentially watershed moment as president obama comes out, formally, publicly, enthusiastically in support of gay marriage and with the election less than six months away the political implications are enormous. we'll look at all of the potential fallout. reactions from both sides of this issue pouring in right now into "the situation room." we will hear what influential groups and individuals are saying about the president's new position on gay marriage. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com we're following the breaking news this hour. president obama announcing his support for same-sex marriage, a move with potentially huge political and social implications. listen to what he told abc news in a white house interview just a little while ago. >> over the course of several years, as i talk to friends and family and neighbors, when i think about members of my own staff who are incredibly committed in monogamous relationships and same-sex relationships who are raising kids together, when i think about those soldiers or airmen or marines or sailors who are out there fighting on my behalf and yet feel constrained even now that don't ask, don't tell is gone because they're not able to commit themselves in a marriage. at a certain point i've just concluded that for me, personally, it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that i think same-sex couples should be able to get married. >> we have in-depth coverage and analysis this hour beginning with our chief white house correspondent jessica yellin. jessica, this has been a long time in the making. a lot of people always assume the president personally favored same-sex marriage, but today he went public with his position. >> reporter: that's right, wolf and this is one of those rare instances where i'm hearing mixed messages from the white house. some senior administration officials, i'm being told, that the president alz planned to come out in support of gay marriage before the election, that the vice president's remarks on sunday saying that he is absolutely supportive of gay marriage, slightly different wording, simply expedited the president's decision to do it this week, but that was always has plan. another senior administration official tells me that, in fact, the president's advisers were divided this week about whether the president should, in fact, come out for it, but then after the firestorm when the media just, when all of us began grilling jay carney when the questions didn't stop, they ultimately decided that the president needed to come out and forcefully declare where he stood on the issue. the one matter that everybody agrees on, everyone's clear about is that this is where the president's heart was all along, that the president believes this and believes in gay marriage and he has wanted for some time to be able to say that that's what he believes, and so now you hear it quite clearly. the one piece i would add is in this abc interview he makes it clear that he believes the issue of whether same-sex couples should be married should be left up to the state. that it's not a federal issue. it's a state's rights issue, wolf. >> are we expecting the president to go out there now and actively campaign on this issue? >> reporter: no. i'm advised that it's not something that we should expect to hear him necessarily highlight in his campaign speeches. there's not a legislative issue he's going to push, but he does continue to raise money, massive amounts of money from gay any lesbian donors and no doubt that's something he'll probably mention in front of those audiences and i do expect him to draw strong contrasts with mitt romney on this point and one issue that some of the president's top aides have highlighted in the aftermath of the president's comments just this afternoon is that romney has stood up in favor of a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriages and so this is an issue that they want to draw contrast with for their opponent in the general election. it's an issue that they believe motivates young voters because young voters are so strongly in favor of gay marriage, wolf. >> very different positions between the president and mitt romney. jessica, thanks very much. jim acosta, his position is 180 degrees different now than the president of the united states. >> reporter: that's right, wolf. mitt romney said earlier today in a round of interviews with local stations out in denver. he was campaigning out in colorado that he has not changed his position on this issue, that he remains opposed to same-sex marriage and he laid that out in an interview with affiliate kdvr in denver earlier today. here's what he had to say. >> well, when these issues were raised in my state of massachusetts i indicated my view which is i do not favor marriage between people of the same gender and i don't favor civil unions if they're identical to marriage other than by name. my view is dom of theic partnership benefits hospital visits and the like are appropriate, but the others are not. >> reporter: so you heard the distinction there, wolf. he is opposed to same-sex marriage, but there are some issues where he does feel that gays and lesbians have rights. he has opposed discrimination when it comes to hiring practices and that sort of thing and this issue came up when he was governor of massachusetts. the state supreme court in massachusetts came out in favor of same-sex marriage at that time and mitt romney when he was governor took steps to block that decision from being carried out in practice and this even goes back to when he ran for the senate in 1994 against ted kennedy. gay leaders in massachusetts at that time were able to get out of mitt romney some promises that he would be perhaps even better than ted kennedy when it came to the issue of gay rights. save this issue of same-sex marriage. he has never really come down in favor of same-sex marriage and that is one area where he has not evolved on this issue. we should also point out the republican national committee put out a statement a few moments ago accusing the president of playing politics and saying that mitt romney has been consistent on this issue all along and we should know in a few moments from now, pretty much from the bottom of this hour that mitt romney is expected to take questions at an event in oklahoma city. you can rest assured he will be asked about this question and it's likely that his campaign is putting him out there to take this sort of question just to get this contrast out there later on this afternoon, wolf. >> reince priebus, and while president obama has played politics on this issue, the republican party and our presumptive nominee mitt romney have been clear. we support maintaining marriage between one man and one woman and would oppose any attempts to chase that. a statement from reince priebus. let me be precise. i'm trying to fully understand where romney stands on these issues. he opposes gay marriage. he supports a constitutional amendment that would ban gay marriage throughout the country. he opposes civil unions. where does he stand on the issue of don't ask don't tell in the military? would he try to reinstate that as commander in chief or would he let the policy as it stands now stand? >> reporter: my understanding, wolf, is that he would try to bring back that policy in the pentagon, you know, this issue came up -- these issues of same-sex marriage, rights that pertain to gays and lesbians, all of this came up during the presidential primary process and it was a difficult period for mitt romney because newt gingrich and rick santorum were accusing mitt romney of evolving these positions and changing his positions over the years to satisfy the concerns of conservative voters and this issue of same-sex marriage could cut another way for mitt romney. we're in west virginia, wolf. we came out to take the pulse of voters when it comes to the popularity of president obama and, you know, this issue of same-sex marriage has come up in the neighboring state to west virginia. ohio, you'll recall in 2004, that very issue hurt john kerry and perhaps cost him that election against president bush. the fact that the republican party and mitt romney in a few moments from now may be taking a hard stance on this issue and getting out there and talking about it and making it public i think is some evidence that this could work as a political issue heading into the general election campaign, wolf. >> jim acosta out on the campaign trail. we'll wait to hear. he'll be answering some questions and we'll see what the republican presidential candidate has to say. let's dig a little bit deeper on the breaking news with our chief political correspondent candy crowley, the host of "state of the union" and gloria borger. >> they are, except that younger voters as people have been pointing out are very much in favor of gay marriage and the president wants to mobilize that young base again that was so important to him during the last election. having said that, in swing states like iowa, north carolina, particularly southern ohio, blue-collar catholics in pennsylvania. >> virginia. >> virginia, this is an issue that won't play well for the president. so when it came down to it, he really didn't have any great choices because he was going make somebody angry no matter what he did. what he didn't want to do is look weak or indecisive. he wanted to look like a decisive president. he was kind of pressured into it because of joe biden said and what arne duncan said and so he came out and said what most people believed he believed anyway. >> and i sense that he and his people would want us to see this as almost a profile and courage moment. >> it's very risky. i don't know how risky it is, simply for the reasons that gloria states and because this is a huge community as jessica pointed out. this is a huge community for the president. remember when he did fund raisers and i think it was in 2010 and he went before a group of gays and lesbians who pretty much shouted him down on a lot of issues that were important, don't ask, don't tell as well as same-sex marriage so this works for him in a lot of ways and i think what will be interesting is whether there is a trickledown effect here. if you're a democrat in one of these conservative states you know right now your local newspaper is calling you saying the president has evolved his position. what's yours on this? it puts him as well as moderate republicans in an interesting place. >> it's also interesting to look how public opinion has shifted over the gleers favor of gay marriage. it's still very close, wolf, nationally, but when you look particularly at independent voters, now a majority of independent voters favor gay marriage, so again, less of a problem for the president than you might think although in battleground states a problem. if you're going to accuse mitt romney of not having a core, you have to have a core belief of your own, and i think that was also a part of this calculation. >> it was, except for the president once described his opposition to same-sex marriage as part of his core belief. >> people change. >> they both evolved and barack obama has evolved. >> one of the interesting things we see now is how republicans play it. you read what reince priebus had to say. i thought one of the more interesting things that came over the community -- this is from gary bower who is a conservative family values kind of fellow who said, oh, gee, the charade is up. he said publicly what we all believed privately and then he said every american who can't find work, whose home is under water, who can't afford to fill us his gas tank should be wondering why the president is thinking one second of his time trying to transform the institution of marriage. it's a political move to distract americans from this disastrous economic policies. it's a clever way to go at it, and the family values guy would go, whoa, keep your eye on the ball over here which isn't same-sex marriage, it's the economy. it's interesting. >> except that the president, of course, stops short of calling for any kind of amendment to the constitution. what he's essentially doing is adopting the dick cheney position which is it's up to the states. >> the supreme court's going to eventually have to make a decision. you've been covering this closely, gloria. >> what the president has done is expressed his personal opinion, but for all practical purposes it's up to the states right now to decide whether or not they want to have same-sex marriage and half a dozen states allow it and most of the states have passed amendments opposing same-sex marriage and eventually it will come up to the supreme court. >> only six states in the district of columbia allows same-sex marriage and the states aren't exactly clamoring which is what the california case is all about, and as you say that could be decided by the supreme court. one more thing that president obama might find in his agenda including health care, for example. >> earlier, the administration is no longer going to enforce the defense of marriage act that got rid of don't ask, don't tell and now gays are openly in the u.s. military. >> i, frankly, assumed he would wait until after the election to make the election. >> can you say joe biden? >> joe biden pushed him a bit. >> i don't know that they were thinking about this before, but i'm not so sure, but that's me. don't go too far away. much more reaction to the breaking news and the president's announcement. the reaction pouring in and we'll hear what his political allies are coming in, also paul begala and alex castellanos is standing by to debate in the session and james carville's blunt warning. our coverage continues right here in "the situation room." we're america's natural gas and here's what we did today: supported nearly 3 million steady jobs across our country... ... scientists, technicians, engineers, machinists... ... adding nearly 400 billion dollars to our economy... we're at work providing power to almost a quarter of our homes and businesses... ... and giving us cleaner rides to work and school... and tomorrow, we could do even more. cleaner, domestic, abundant and creating jobs now. we're america's natural gas. the smarter power, today. learn more at anga.us. how did the nba become the hottest league on the planet? 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[ laughter ] we're servers at red lobster. and we sea food differently. let's get right to jack for "the cafferty file," jack? >> voters like barack obama more than they like mitt romney and that might be all it takes to decide the outcome of this election. a new "usa today" gallup poll shows 60% of registered voters say president obama is likable, that is nearly double the 31% who feel that way about romney. even among crucial independent voters the president holds a double-digit edge on likability. so despite the facts that polls show romney and obama locked in a dead heat both nationally and in the key battleground states, mitt romney is facing a huge likability here and it could cost him. consider this, in each of the last five presidential elections the candidates the voters liked most won. when you put issues aside, a lot of people vote for the person who does a better job connecting with them on a personal level. in 2004, polls famously showed undecided voters would rather have a beer with george w. bush than john kerry, and swing voters found bush to be more of a real person than kerry. as for romney, pollsters say this likability deficit presents a challenge for his campaign as he tries to sharpen his image with voters. they can either work on making voters seem more likable or they can give up on likability and try to emphasize other areas where romney is stronger than president obama. for now, it doesn't look like romney's hurting too badly on the issue since he is neck and neck with the president in most of the national poll, but he might be doing even better if he just hadn't tied his dog to the roof of the car. here's the question. how much does it matter that -- how much does it matter if you like -- i'm sorry, if you like a candidate for president? in other words, if you like the guy are you more inclined to vote for him regardless of his other qualifications. go to cnn.com caffertyfile or go to the post on the situation room's facebook page and next hour we'll be talking about today's developments on the gay marriage front. >> huge breaking news, jack. thank you. let's get more on the breaking news. president obama announcing a little while ago he now supports same-sex marriage. democratic strategist and cnn political contributor hillary rosen is joining us on the phone. hillary, i know you've been very, very active on this issue over the years. what did you think of the way, first of all, that the president made this announcement today? >> well, i think, wolf, frankly, it was a wonderful announcement because it was put in the context of exactly the way the american people, all humans think about this issue is who do you love and do we want the government to stand in the way of that? if you're adults in a committed, loving relationship, you're raising children, that's what people ought to be focused on. that's how the vice president characterized it. that's what the president said today and i think that's the place where the american people can come together and ultimately support this as we know the polls are moving in that direction. >> a lot of my gay friends were moved by what the president had to say. they'd been waiting a long time for this, hilary. i know you have been, as well. when you heard the president utter those few word, did you get rather emotional? did you start to cry? i've been getting messages from friends saying they actually started to cry, they were that moved. >> when i came out, when i was 17 and in college i didn't even think to hope that the president of the united states would affirm me. i was so petrified about what society would do and how it would affect me and whether i could ever possibly be accepted and so many people go through that. i hope that what the president did today will be seen through the prism of the young kids struggling to be all they can be knowing that their life can still be successful and whole and affirmed by the president of the united states. >> he made it clear this was a personal decision on his part. he didn't go the next step and say the country needs federal, national legislation now to make it legal. he says it's still up to the states. so what do you think about that? >> caller: well, i think that's inevitably true. it's not what i would hope for, but it is a fact that what will happen here is that different states will come to different conclusions and eventually the courts will try to reconcile that and we'll have a supreme court that will reconcile conflicting districts. that's kind of the legal path to marriage equality generally, but i think the most important thing f