A rebel in the people's republic.(Scan)

If absolute power corrupts absolutely, the Massachusetts Democrats are in trouble. For more than four decades, the Democratic Party has held control of the state legislature, much of that time with veto-proof majorities. And though the Massachusetts electorate has seen fit to finally put Republicans in the governor's seat for the last decade--William Weld, Patti Cellucci, and Jane Swift--it would be a stretch to call any of them conservatives.

A year and a half ago, though, Mitt Romney, a Mormon venture capitalist who lost a close race against Ted Kennedy for his Senate seat in 1994, won the keys to the governor's mansion. Now as the country peers at Massachusetts as the home of the Democratic Presidential nominee and the flashpoint in the gay marriage wars, Americans will find something surprising: a governor who could actually pass for a Republican outside of the Commonwealth.

Romney didn't campaign on the abortion issue, and though he is certainly religious he tried to keep his faith out of the debates. But he proclaimed his stance against gay marriage from the beginning, and has stuck with it, endorsing an amendment to the state constitution prohibiting the practice. He has subsequently suggested that a federal amendment may be the best option. "Contrary to the [Massachusetts supreme] court's opinion, marriage is not 'an evolving paradigm,'" Romney wrote recently. "It is deeply rooted in the history, culture, and tradition of civil society. It predates our Constitution and our nation by millennia. The institution of marriage was ...