Minnesota for Marriage, a coalition working to pass a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage, said Republican Bob Turner’s win in the special election for former Rep. Anthony Weiner’s seat was due to his opposition to same-sex marriage. The group also pointed to movement on same-sex marriage bans in New Hampshire and North Carolina as evidence of momentum for their state agenda.

“This has been a momentous week for marriage,” said John Helmberger, chairman of Minnesota for Marriage, in a statement Friday. Helmberger is also the CEO of the Minnesota Family Council which is part of the Minnesota for Marriage coalition along with the Minnesota Catholic Conference and the D.C.-based National Organization for Marriage.

The groups are working hard to convince voters to pass a Constitutional amendment that would would ban same-sex marriage in Minnesota. Minnesota law already bans same-sex marriage.

“Clearly, these pro-marriage wins in New York, North Carolina and New Hampshire demonstrate what we have been saying all along—marriage matters to voters—and politicians who vote to redefine marriage will be held accountable by the electorate,” he said.

In North Carolina, legislators voted to approve a May ballot measure banning relationship rights for same-sex couples in that state, and in New Hampshire, a House committee passed a bill that repeal that state’s marriage equality law.

“We are seeing the same momentum here in Minnesota,” Helmberger added. “In fact, last week thousands of people signed up to volunteer for our campaign. People across Minnesota can’t wait for the opportunity to help preserve marriage and vote in favor of this important constitutional amendment.”

Minnesota for Marriage said it views the win by Turner in New York over Democrat David Weprin as a major victory for its agenda.

“Turner benefitted from a significant Independent Expenditure effort by the National Organization for Marriage (NOM), which also supports the Minnesota Marriage Amendment,” the statement read. “Virtually every media analyst has credited Weprin’s support for same-sex ‘marriage’ as a decisive issue in the race.”

But Turner himself disagreed.

“We worked hard not to make it an issue in the race,” William O’Reilly, spokesman for Turner, told the New York Times. “David Weprin’s position on gay marriage probably won him as many votes as it lost him, so in the end it was likely a push.”

Minnesota for Marriage — a coalition that includes the Minnesota Family Council, the National Organization for Marriage and the Minnesota Catholic Conference — criticized the legalization of same-sex marriage in New York. Lawmakers in the Empire State passed same-sex marriage last week, and the bill was signed into law by Gov. Andrew Cuomo late Friday night. Minnesota for Marriage said the vote in New York is why Minnesota needs an anti–gay marriage amendment to the state constitution.

“This is exactly why we need the constitutional amendment to protect marriage in Minnesota,” said Jason Adkins of the Minnesota Catholic Conference, the public policy arm of the Roman Catholic Church in Minnesota. “Marriage between one man and one woman has served mankind for all of recorded history as the building block of civilization and the best institution for children. Now marriage has been radically redefined in New York and gay marriage imposed without a vote of the people. Placing one-man, one-woman marriage in Minnesota’s Constitution ensures that only voters will ever be able to decide the meaning of marriage, not politicians.”

The Minnesota Family Council, which opposes rights for same-sex couples, said the amendment is needed so legislators don’t legalize same-sex marriage in Minnesota.

“Those who opposed placing the amendment before the voters said it was unnecessary, but the activities in New York show differently,” Chuck Darrell of the Minnesota Family Council said in a statement. “In fact, State Senator John Marty boasted that the Minnesota state legislature would force same-sex marriage on the people this year — just like in New York — without a vote of the people. Instead, our legislature wisely decided to let the people decide the issue of marriage — not politicians.”

NOM, which is part of the Minnesota for Marriage coalition, has promised to spend $2 million to defeat New York Republicans who voted in favor of marriage for same-sex couples in the 2012 election, at the same time the ban on same-sex marriage will be on the ballot in Minnesota.

Presidential candidate Michele Bachmann and President Barack Obama didn’t differ much in their reaction to New York lawmakers passing same-sex marriage into law on Friday. Both said that states have the right to pass legislation and neither endorses gay marriage. However, the crucial difference between the two is that Obama supports rights and legal protections for same-sex couples, while Bachmann opposes any rights for such couples.

“The states should determine for themselves how best to uphold the rights of their own citizens,” a White House spokesperson said after the vote. “The process in New York worked just as it should.”

On Fox News Sunday, Bachmann offered a similar argument.

“In New York state, they have passed the law at the state legislative level and, under the 10th amendment, the states have the right to set the laws that they want to set,” she said, adding that a ballot initiative is the best way to go. “That is up to the people of New York. I think that it’s best to allow the people to decide on this issue. I think it’s best if there is an amendment that goes on the ballot, where people can weigh in.”

Fox’s Chris Wallace asked, “But you would agree, if its passed by the state legislature and signed by the governor then that’s the state’s position.”

She responded, “It’s state law. And the 10th amendment reserves to the states that right.”

President Obama echoed that sentiment — that the issue should be up to the states — in a speech to LGBT donors in New York on Thursday.

“Part of the reason that DOMA doesn’t make sense is that traditionally marriage has been decided by the states,” Obama said. “And right now I understand there’s a little debate going on here in New York about whether to join five other states and D.C. in allowing civil marriage for gay couples.”

While the president still hasn’t come out in support of gay marriage, he does support rights for same-sex couples, something Bachmann has vociferously opposed.

“The president has long believed that gay and lesbian couples deserve the same rights and legal protections as straight couples,” White House spokesman Shin Inouye told ABC News after the vote. “That’s why he has called for repeal of the so-called ‘Defense of Marriage Act’ and determined that his Administration would no longer defend the constitutionality of DOMA in the courts.

Here’s Bachmann’s remarks on Fox News Sunday:

And here’s Obama’s New York speech:

UPDATE: Tedisco indeed conceded.

The Minnesota Republican’s likely answer (“I can’t hear you!”) can be fairly judged from the state Supreme Court’s order this morning, which granted Coleman the far-off deadlines he wanted in his appeal of Democratic rival Al Franken’s election to his old Senate seat.

If Tedisco’s effort does fall short, Democrat Scott Murphy will head to Washington, D.C., a good two months before the earliest likely date that Franken could follow suit, given the June 1 date set today for oral arguments in Coleman’s appeal.

One effect a New York concession could have is on the fortunes of Republican National Committee Chair Michael Steele, who has enjoyed a rocky ride during his short tenure, even before this apparent loss in New York.

They’re wearing riot gear in London and they’re talking recounts in New York. It’s all so St. Paul, last fall.

St. Paul to London

Demonstrators, massed in the capital city to protest a gathering of people who wield political power, met police wielding riot-control weaponry. A bank’s windows were broken. Peaceful crowds were trapped by police moving in pincer formations.

It could have been the Republican National Convention (RNC), September 2008, in  St. Paul, Minn.. But it was the G20 Summit, April 2009, in London, England.

Differences: A man died in London after he collapsed in an area police had hemmed in. (Natural causes, one protester said; thrown bottles hampered police medics’ efforts, police said.) And the United States of America has a Bill of Rights that’s supposed to guarantee freedom of speech; England doesn’t.

Uncanny similarity: For their summit, the G20 leaders selected a London location that people call the ExCel Centre. The RNC took place at St. Paul’s Xcel Center.

Minnesota to New York

As Election Day turns into The Day After (and the day after that), the margin between two candidates dwindles to less than a half-percent of the total votes cast. Fundraising for a recount and charges of election-stealing ensue.

Sounds like the Minnesota U.S. Senate election, November 2008 — but it’s New York’s special congressional election, April 2009, where Democrat Scott Murphy leads Republican Jim Tedisco by a mere 25 votes.

Differences: New York doesn’t count its absentee ballots until after Election Day and gives overseas ballots an extra couple of weeks to arrive — leaving thousands of votes still to include in the canvass. (Minnesota counts all absentee ballots on Election Day and accepts none that arrive any later.) And President Obama made a last-minute robocall that could have made the difference with Election Day returns. (Candidate Obama made no such pitch for Franken.)

Uncanny similarity: The parallel universes are converging as Republicans fall back on discredited election-stealing charges from the Al Franken-Norm Coleman dispute to prime the cash pump for New York’s post-election drama. (Democrats, presumably slightly less prone to getting riled since they hold slim leads in both races, are so far making a more generic fundraising pitch in New York.)