Did a California PR and campaign strategist influence Maine’s vote on gay marriage?

Tip O’Neil famously said “all politics is local.”  Of course the referendum, being the direct voice of the local citizenry, is the most local of all politics.

Or is it?

Today’s Portland Press Herald reported Maine voter support of proposition 1, the repeal of an earlier law allowing same-sex marriage.  (Read about it here.)  The newspaper’s website led with a photo of a celebrating Frank Schubert, the political public relations and campaign strategist from California who led the march in favor of proposition 1.

It seems the  current corollary to O’Neil’s old saying is that all local politics is national.  Even a state referendum.

Assuming you accept that PR can influence an audience (I do), and no matter which side of this particular political issue you are on, you can’t help but wonder to what degree did this vote reflect the actual voice of Mainers.