One North Carolina Democrat tried to interpret the state's support for traditional marriage as a negative for Mitt Romney, by arguing that conservative voters won't support a candidate whose faith allows for "multiple wives."

"If they look at that awful ballot amendment, and they compare that with his faith, I don't think people will be OK with it," said state Rep. Alma Adams, D-N.C., who heads the Legislative Black Caucus."From what I understand about the Mormon faith you can have multiple wives,"

Adams' analysis inverts the conventional wisdom about the gay marriage issue -- Obama, who supports gay marriage, risks losing support among black Democratic voters who overwhelmingly oppose gay marriage. And Romney, who supports traditional marriage, stands to gain politically in the swing-state of North Carolina, which went for Obama in 2008 but passed a ballot intitiative defining marriage as between one man and one woman last week.

Sign Up for the Politics Today newsletter!

Please enter your email address below to begin receiving the Politics Today newsletter.

You must enter a valid email address in the field above!

Thank you for signing up for the Politics Today newsletter! You should receive your first newsletter very soon.

We're sorry, there was an error processing your newsletter signup. Please click here to visit our Newsletter Signup Center to register for this newsletter.

The Mormon Church officially prohibited polygamy in 1890, after approving of the practice in its early years.

Romney has been attacked for changing political positions, but his commitment to his family has been perceived as a bulwark against criticisms of his integrity. Adams tried to use Mormonism to undermine that defense.

"That's sort of a contradiction," she said after mentioning her understanding of Mormonism and polygamy. "There are questions about who Romney is and what he believes in terms of that particular issue."

In February, Frank Rich predicted that Democrats would make a political issue of Romney's Mormonism, which Christopher Hitchens described as "weird and sinister."

The North Carolina Democratic Party faces its own sex scandal, though. A state party official has been accused of sexual harassment, and the state party reportedly paid to keep the charges under wraps in order to avoid embarrassment for the party.

President Obama's plan to solidify his grip on North Carolina by hosting the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., also appears to be backfiring.

"Voters just approved a state constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, which conflicts with Obama’s view on the issue," Bloomberg notes. "Convention fundraising has been slow, and labor unions tapped to fill the financial gap are angry the convention will be in a city -- Charlotte -- with no unionized hotels and in a state where compulsory union membership or the payment of dues is prohibited as an employment condition."