Governor Howard Dean of Vermont arrived at the State House on Friday to endorse businessman and former Democratic National Committee chair Steve Grossman for Massachusetts governor. Only a handful of reporters showed up; the bulk of the media was off covering Beacon Hill developments in the clergy sexual-abuse-reporting bill — an all-encompassing local story.

That’s too bad, because they missed another important story. I don’t mean Dean’s campaign endorsement — after all, the Vermont governor had indicated his support for Grossman last fall. Much more newsworthy were Dean’s comments about gay marriage, made at a time when the issue has assumed greater importance in the governor’s race. The very presence of Dean, who signed Vermont’s groundbreaking civil-union legislation (which granted same-sex couples the same rights under state law available to married heterosexuals) despite fierce opposition, underscored the importance of electing a governor who is open to giving same-sex couples the same legal recognition enjoyed by heterosexual couples.

A lawsuit currently wending its way through Massachusetts courts seeks the right to marry for gay and lesbian couples. A similar suit in Vermont led to the passage of that state’s historic civil-unions legislation. In case anybody missed it, Republican businessman Mitt Romney’s entry into the race raises the stakes in this debate. When it looked like the Democratic nominee (all the Democratic gubernatorial candidates support Vermont-style civil unions) would face Governor Jane Swift, the gay-marriage lawsuit wasn’t as much of a factor in the race. Swift, to be sure, opposed civil unions, but she otherwise went out of her way to put forward a gay-friendly platform. Not so Romney. One of Swift’s leading advisors, Abner Mason, is gay, as was her pick for lieutenant governor, Patrick Guerriero. After Swift departed the race, one of Romney’s first actions was to make sure Guerriero was off the GOP ticket.

It’s conceivable that the gay-marriage lawsuit will end up with the Supreme Judicial Court sometime in the next four years. And it’s equally conceivable that the SJC will rule the same way as Vermont’s high court (and, for that matter, Hawaii’s): that there’s no legal basis to exclude gay and lesbian couples from marrying. In Vermont, the court ordered the legislature to come up with a solution; otherwise it would impose one. (In Hawaii, the passage of an amendment to the state constitution specifically banning gay and lesbian couples from marrying ended the legal debate.) If such a scenario unfolds in Massachusetts, it will be up to the next governor to sign the law.

Dean wanted to impress upon Massachusetts voters the importance of electing a Democratic governor who supports legal recognition of same-sex marriages, rather than a Republican who does not. "Mitt claims he’s a fiscal conservative, but he is far right on social issues," says Dean. "He’s out of step with the voters of Massachusetts."

Dean then volunteered that "Steve would sign a civil-unions bill, the same as I would." Grossman concurred: "Not only would I sign one, I would work zealously on its behalf."

For Romney’s part, spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom declined to comment on the marriage lawsuit. "Like most people, he’s opposed to gay marriage," he said of his boss, though he added that Romney supported domestic-partnership benefits.