It seems you're more willing to conclude, despite the lack of any evidence other than the donation itself, that Rep. Cannon's anti-gay voting record was the direct motivation for Mr. Yagan's donation than I am. In my view, that's a pretty long logical leap of faith.
I hadn't looked at Rep. Cannon until now, but he represented the State of Utah. As of 2004 there were few states more conservative about the question of gay marriage than Utah was, and I wouldn't be the least bit surprised had his opponent, even a Democrat, taken the same stance on it at the time as Rep. Cannon did.
Also in 2004 nearly every politician, Republican or Democrat, was still strongly in favor of the PATRIOT Act. When enacted just three years earlier it passed the Senate 99-1 and only 15% in the House voted against it.
Perhaps you could come up with a logical reason why someone would vote for a staunch "pro-family-rights", "pro-bible", "pro-USAPATRIOT Act", anti-gay-marriage conservative if they didn't agree with him.
Perhaps you could also come up with a logical reason why incumbents that supported the USAPATRIOT Act are still being elected by people that don't necessarily support that stance. I'm having difficulty with that one myself.
I hadn't looked at Rep. Cannon until now, but he represented the State of Utah. As of 2004 there were few states more conservative about the question of gay marriage than Utah was, and I wouldn't be the least bit surprised had his opponent, even a Democrat, taken the same stance on it at the time as Rep. Cannon did.
Also in 2004 nearly every politician, Republican or Democrat, was still strongly in favor of the PATRIOT Act. When enacted just three years earlier it passed the Senate 99-1 and only 15% in the House voted against it.