BLOOMINGTON, Minn. - A ballot measure banning gay marriage will pass in California if supporters can rally sympathetic voters, said the chairman of the Traditional Values Coalition.

"What's going to get people out is us getting out," said Rev. Louis P. Sheldon, who is based in Anaheim and is attending this week's Republican National Convention as a guest of the California delegation.

Sheldon said he didn't trust recent polls in California that show the marriage ban, Proposition 8, failing with voters.

Many people when asked don't want to discuss topics of a sexual nature, and they'll also say "no" for other reasons, he said.

"They don't want negative fallout from gays," Sheldon said. In 2000, when a ballot measure banning gay marriage was on the ballot, polls also showed it failing until Election Day, when it passed by a sizable margin, Sheldon pointed out.

The same will happen this year, he predicted.

Sheldon said he thinks turnout in California will be helped by the addition of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to the Republican presidential ticket as John McCain's vice presidential pick.

"She's reached out to the moderates through her maverick manner," he said.

Palin's disclosure Monday that her 17-year-old daughter was pregnant showed a commitment to solid values that will help, not hurt, the Republican ticket, Sheldon predicted.

He said that when Palin's daughter discovered she was pregnant, she came to her parents and said she would keep the baby and marry the father. And her parents accepted and embraced that, Sheldon said.

"It doesn't inhibit us at all," Sheldon said. "We've had a great week."