What won the battle in MA was the days of sturm und drang, aka the public debate when the legislature had to vote on the initiative to amend the Constitution to prohibit same-sex marriage. There was no "routine" at that point; what there were, were articulate speakers, people standing up and saying, "I'm a human being, do you really want to do this to me?" -- and straight folks being confronted with the question, "Do you think gays should be equal citizens with equal rights?", really thinking about that, and (overwhelmingly, gratifyingly) finding that their answer to that question was, "Well...of course." What won the battle, in sum, was the majority of the people in the Commonwealth understanding the significance of the question -- of which marriage was really the smallest part -- and coming to the right conclusion for the right reasons. May California have a similar outcome; it has many positive repercussions far beyond same-sex marriage.