BOSTON (AP) – As gay and lesbian couples publicly displayed their wedded bliss, Gov. Mitt Romney suddenly wanted to change the subject.

After six months of trying to block their court-ordered marriage rights, Massachusetts’ Republican governor had not only lost the battle, he had lost several points in the polls.

Long ago labeled a religious zealot by the left, the Mormon governor was also beginning to hear taunts from the right, with the National Review publishing an article – entitled “The Missing Governor” – criticizing Romney for not taking more decisive actions against the impending nuptials.

For three days after the legalization of same-sex marriage in the state May 17, Romney remained in seclusion, quietly avoiding the international media that descended on the state.

When he finally emerged on May 20, Romney appeared to try to distance himself from the issue, even as he took the fight to a new legal level.

Before asking the attorney general to stop four rebellious clerks from issuing marriage licenses to out-of-state gay and lesbian couples, Romney took pains to state that there were far more important issues facing Massachusetts, including creating jobs and housing, balancing the budget and reducing taxes.

And he made an unusual comment: He said he was happy for gay and lesbian couples who had tied the knot.

“I’m pleased for them and for their ability to establish a further relationships with the people they love,” he said.

Those statements may be a sign of difficult times for Romney, a first-term governor with rumored aspirations for national office. Political observers say Romney has been faced with the quandary of how to remain politically viable on the national level, while remaining moderate enough to win again in notoriously liberal Massachusetts.

Romney communication director Eric Fehrnstrom points to the difficulty of presiding over the implementation of a law with which Romney deeply disagrees.

A University of Massachusetts poll showed Romney’s favorability rating declining by six percentage points over the past month.

Romney has fared better on the national level, where his fierce opposition to same-sex marriage – as articulated in a February opinion piece in The Wall Street Journal – has solidified his conservative credentials, according to Larry Sabato, a political science professor at the University of Virginia.

“He’s clearly taken a side and it’s clear that he’s not happy about the gay marriage situation in Massachusetts,” Sabato said. “There’s no way a pro-gay marriage Republican governor would ever be nominated president or vice president. He had to do something to indicate his displeasure.”