Anatomy of a victory

California | Inside a razor-thin vote to preserve marriage in the Golden State | Lynn Vincent

Three floors above Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Capitol Building office, the flotsam in Brian O’Neel’s office reveals his inner tilt: Books by Thomas Aquinas, Ronald Reagan, Judith Reisman, Barry Goldwater. A picture of Thomas More. And on the personal side, photos of Mr. O’Neel’s wife and four kids, along with a Green Bay Packers bobblehead and a replica of Lambeau Field.

But amid the blizzard of paperwork that covers his desk, there is no Bat Phone, although perhaps there should be.

An insider as Capitol Director for California Republican Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, Mr. O’Neel, 38, is an unabashed conservative activist who daily tracks and parries the machinations of the nation’s most liberal legislature. Earlier this month, he and fellow conservatives in California handed liberals a painful defeat.