State Senate President Stephen Sweeney's tardiness in supporting same-sex marriage legislation means the latest bill will likely die on Gov. Christie's desk, if not before.

Had Sweeney campaigned for it, a different outcome might have occurred in 2010, when a similar bill fell seven votes short of the 21 needed for Senate passage. Instead, he abstained.

"I made a bonehead decision. I did the wrong thing," Sweeney said Thursday in an interview with the Inquirer Editorial Board. In 2010, then-Gov. Jon Corzine promised to sign a gay-marriage bill if it passed before he left office. But Christie is taking the opposite point of view.

Sweeney said the measure is still "worth the fight." But he knows it will be very difficult to get the votes needed to override Christie's virtually certain veto, even though both legislative chambers are controlled by Democrats. Many legislators are afraid to take on this volatile issue.

Sweeney, a powerful Gloucester County Democrat, personally sponsored the latest marriage equality bill, which was introduced earlier this week. But the senator's move prompted some skeptics to accuse Sweeney, a likely U.S. Senate candidate in 2014, of political posturing.

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