Obama capitalizes on gay marriage endorsement

>>> good evening. tonight, it is clear president obama is hoping at least to become the first american president to come out in favor of same sex marriage. while he believes it's a matter that has to be decided by the individual states where the tide has been against it, the president none the less is appearing before a sympathetic audience tonight, one that may not have been so sympathetic to the president before the gay marriage announcement. it's where we begin with our white house correspondent kristen welker in seattle. good evening.

>> good evening to you, brian. in fact, this is a state that has passed a law to legalize same hch sex marriage. tonight, an enthusestic roughly 200 supporters turned out to see the president speak. a day after his endorsement of same-sex marriage, president obama arrived in seattle for three big ticket fund-raisers in friendly political territory as his campaign tried to capitalize on the issue with this political ad targeting mitt romney .

>> i indicated my view, which is i do not favor marriage between people of the same gender, and i don't favor civil unions .

>> the democratic national comty said called have been pouring in from donors, and the president, who is already expected to break a record at a fund-raising hoeszed by george clooney , may bring in an even larger haul.

>> it will make the presidential's financial supporters double down their support of him. but for the electric at a whole, this is an economic election.

>> the president's supporters aren't the only ones using the issue to raise money . former arkansas governor mike huckabee sent this e-mail to his supporters calling same-sex marriage a defining issue of this election and asking for $10 donations. romney also raised big money today.

>> they told me it was the most successful fund-raising event in the history of nebraska.

>> and he said this.

>> i hope the issue, as tender and sensitive as marriage is, is not a source of fund-raising for either of us.

>> romney also said he intends to keep the focus on the economy, which he sees as his strongest argument.

>> it's the economy, which is the focus of what they're talking about. obviously, the president does want to talk about that.

>> we learned that vice president biden apologized to president obama for those comments that he made this past sunday on "meet the press" in which he essentially endorsed same sex marriage and jumped the gun on this issue.

>> kristen, thanks.