Last week the major dailies in Boston–the Globe and the Herald–endorsed Richard Tisei, an openly gay Republican running to represent Massachusetts’ 6th Congressional District in the U.S. House.  Today brings news that four more local papers have given Tisei their backing, saying he’ll bring an independence sorely needed in Washington.

“The time has come for voters to back candidates who have the desire to put people before party, the talent to bring a fresh approach to seemingly intractable problems and a willingness to work in concert to move the country forward,” said the editorial board of The Salem News.

“Tisei is a member in good standing of the Bill Weld wing of the Republican Party who believes, as he put it, ‘that government should be off your back, out of your wallet and away from the bedroom.’ That works for us,” the Boston Herald editorial said.

Tisei is one of 8 openly gay, lesbian and bisexual federal candidates endorsed by the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund this year.  He would be the only out Republican in Congress, and the first out GOP candidate to win a seat in the House as a non-incumbent.

Richard Tisei, an openly gay, pro-choice Republican running for Congress in Massachusetts, has written to state party officials to ask them not to adopt the national party’s platform, particularly as it pertains to social issues, according to a report in the Boston Globe:

Tisei, a moderate who is openly gay, said the national platform “espouses beliefs that exclude many in our party, includ­ing myself.”

“As a ‘live-and-let-live’ ­Republican, my philosophy is that the government should get off our backs, out of our wallets, and away from the bedroom,” he wrote in a letter to state GOP chairman Robert A. Maginn Jr.

Tisei would be the first openly gay Republican elected to Congress as a freshman.  Other openly gay Republicans who have served on Capitol Hill came out after being elected, and none have served in Congress since 2006.

The former state senator and GOP nominee for lieutenant governor in 2010 is endorsed by the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund.

UPDATE–10:32 pm:  The Massachusetts Republican Party tonight voted not to adopt the national GOP platform after objections from moderates and input from federal candidates Sen. Scott Brown and Richard Tisei, who is seeking a House seat.  The party could revisit the issue after the elections this November.

Richard Tisei, an openly gay Republican candidate for Congress in Massachusetts, now has an even shot at beating his opponent,  incumbent Democratic Rep. John Tierney, according to a new rating of the race by the paper Roll Call.  The paper recently reclassified the race from “Likely Democratic” to “Toss-up” in its ratings of House races around the country.

“Richard is well-known and liked throughout the district.  [He's] spent years defying the odds by being elected by Independents, Republicans, and Democrats. He’s honest and a known problem-solver who cares about people and the future of the country,”  said Tisei Campaign Manager Paul Moore.

Tisei has also consistently beaten Tierney in fundraising over the past few quarters, a sign that the GOP thinks the seat could flip.  ”In my wildest dreams, I wouldn’t have imagined that so many people would be supporting our message of change with their pocketbooks — particularly in these very tough economic times,” Tisei told the Washington Blade.

Tisei is one of 8 federal candidates endorsed by the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund in 2012.

Mitt Romney has added a line to his stump speech lately, touting his opposition to marriage equality generally and his effort to keep Massachusetts from becoming, “the Las Vegas of same-sex marriage.”

Romney is working to burnish his social conservative credentials amid Rick Santorum’s rise in national polls.

Not to be outdone, Santorum yesterday urged marriage equality opponents in Washington state to continue the fight against a new law allowing same-sex couples to marry.  ”I think that at least from my perspective it tends to water down marriage instead of encouraging men and women to form healthy marriages, and that to me should be the objective of the government because that is in the best interests of our society,” Santorum told a group opposed to the law.

But young people attending the Conservative Political Action Conference held last weekend in Washington, D.C., say the issue does not belong in the political arena, and one even suggested it’s antithetical to the conservative movement.  ”I don’t really care about the social stuff. I think it’s big government when the government tells you who you can and cannot marry and that’s not conservative,” said Jordan Smith, a student at Millersville University.  Other college-age participants said social issues should take a back seat to economic concerns during the presidential campaign.

The nation’s largest voting block appears to be pretty comfortable with openly gay political candidates, according to new a poll.

Public Policy Polling finds 71 percent of Independent voters say they could vote for an openly gay political candidate.  In fact, 8 percent said that fact would make them more likely to vote for the candidate, while 63 percent said a candidate’s homosexuality wouldn’t make a difference to them.  Just 29 percent said it would make them less likely to vote for a candidate.

Among Republicans, the poll found 53 percent would be less likely to vote for a candidate they knew to be  gay, with 38 percent saying it wouldn’t make a difference and 9 percent saying they’d be more likely to vote for a gay candidate.

The PPP poll was conducted among 1,071 Republican and Independent voters January 13-15, 2012, for the HBO show “Real Time with Bill Maher.”  The poll did not survey Democrats, nor did pollsters ask specifically about lesbian, bisexual or transgender candidates. Full results are here.