Legislative leaders Gaye Symington and Peter Shumlin held a news conference this morning to announce they're launching a commission to study how Vermonters feel about gay marriage.

If I had told you all that these two were holding a news conference today and asked you to guess the topic, I'm guessing that gay marriage would not have been among your first five guesses. We have, after all, been spending a lot of time of late hearing about energy, campaign finance, how incompetent the other side is.

But gay marriage it was. The 10-member commission will hold six public hearings around the state about the issue and report back to the Legislature by the end of April 2008. That means it will not be an issue for the 2008 legislative agenda.

At the news conference, VPR reporter Ross Sneyd, who used to attend such events with pad and pen but now shows up hauling a duffle bag full of electronic equipment and wears headphones that make him look like he's launching a space shuttle, smartly asked the question of whether this puts the issue on the 2008 election agenda. Shumlin contended the issue would be there for 2008 presidential and other races whether they had put this commission together or not.

Here's the list of commissioners:
Tom Little, former GOP state rep. from Shelburne, chairman
Sen. John Campbell, D-Windsor
Rep. Johanna Donovan, D-Burlington
Former Rep. Michael Vinton
Former Rep. Helen Riehle
Former Sen. Mary Ann Carlson
Berton Frye of West Danville
Former Gov. Phil Hoff
Johnson State President Barbara Murphy
Episcopal minister Nancy Vogele

- Terri Hallenbeck