By the end of the first day of the federal trial over same-sex marriage, one of the defenders of California’s ban on same-sex nuptials expressed his frustration at the flurry of publicity that had greeted the proceedings.

“This is a trial. This is not a campaign,” Andrew Pugno, representing Protectmarriage.com, griped at a press conference.

He’s right — but that doesn’t mean the campaign isn’t important, even if it’s one that has as much the feel of the blitz surrounding a movie’s opening weekend as it does the run-up to Election Day.

Landing on newsstands on the eve of the trial was a Newsweek cover, “The Conservative Case for Gay Marriage,” that was penned by Ted Olson, the star legal eagle who is lead counsel in the case along with David Boies. After their first day in court, the duo appeared live on MSNBC’s “The Rachel Maddow Show.”

Moreover, the plaintiffs in the case — two same-sex couples who sought to get married but were denied marriage licenses — were called to testify on the trial’s first day, delivering attention-grabbing personal stories that translate well when media attention is at its peak.

Read the rest of Ted Johnson’s Variety article here.