The vice president expressed remorse and regret for declaring his support for same-sex unions ahead of Obama, said a person familiar with the exchange, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the private conversation. Obama accepted the apology, saying he knew Biden had only been speaking from the heart.

Biden’s apology followed days of frustration in the West Wing after the vice president went off script, something he had done plenty of times. Without White House approval, Biden declared on a Sunday talk show that he was “absolutely comfortable” with same-sex married couples having the same rights as heterosexual married couples.

Usually Obama can swat away Biden’s free-wheeling ways. But not this time.

The vice president had publicly broken rank with the president on a politically sensitive issue. And his remarks focused a fresh spotlight on what Obama had vaguely referred to as “evolving” views on gay marriage.

What few people outside of Obama’s inner circle of six or seven close aides knew at the time was that the president had, in fact, finished that evolution months earlier and was waiting for a suitable opportunity to inform the public of his views.

Biden’s comments accelerated those plans.

And they raised questions about political motives when Obama eventually did embrace gay marriage. If Obama had evolved on gay marriage months ago, why had he waited? And if Biden hadn’t spoken out of turn, would the president have spoken out before the November election?

Obama insisted he always planned to talk about his personal views on gay marriage before his party’s convention in early September. And he said he wasn’t angry when told by aides that the vice president had jumped the gun.

But in an interview with ABC News that aired Thursday, Obama did gently chide the vice president, saying that Biden “got a little bit over his skis” in his remarks on gay marriage but that he believed Biden did so out of a “generosity of spirit.”

“Would I have preferred to have done this in my own way, in my own terms, without I think, there being a lot of notice to everybody? Sure,” Obama said. “But all’s well that ends well.”

People close to Biden insist he was simply speaking of his personal beliefs, not trying to push the president to reveal his.

“Joe was being Joe,” said Ed Rendell, the Democratic former governor of Pennsylvania. “He probably wasn’t thinking about the fact that the president was going to make a statement about it on his own.”

And for some White House aides, that was exactly the problem. There was a plan and Biden hadn’t stuck to it.

Biden’s words set off a scramble in the White House. A transcript of his interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press,” taped on Friday, landed on the desks of some top Obama aides in the West Wing. Highlighted in yellow were his comments on gay marriage.

Suddenly it was Biden being showered with accolades by liberals for his bold stance on gay right issues, not Obama, the president responsible for pushing through the repeal of the military’s ban on openly gay service members and ordering the government to stop enforcing the Defense of Marriage Act.

Cleaning up Biden’s mess wasn’t new to the White House. His penchant for gaffes is legendary in Washington and was cause for some concern during the selection process for Obama’s running mate. But over time, Biden’s slip-ups became more of a running joke than a policy problem.

There was the time he was caught by cameras using an expletive to show his excitement over passage of the president’s health care overhaul. And the time he offered his blessings to the deceased mother of the Irish prime minister, only to quickly remember that she was, in fact, alive.

Getting ahead of the president on a politically sensitive issue like gay marriage is hardly just a gaffe. But aides say Biden won’t be punished for his remarks.

While Obama headed to the West Coast on Thursday, Biden was at the White House headlining an event with student groups and higher education organizations. And he’ll soon be back out on the campaign trail raising money for the Obama-Biden ticket.

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Obama, who supports most gay rights, has stopped short of backing gay marriage. Without clarification, he’s said for the past year and a half that his personal views on the matter are “evolving.”

The White House held firm on Monday to that position, which polls show puts the president increasingly at odds with his party and the majority of Americans on gay marriage. But with Biden and Duncan’s comments reinvigorating the debate, Obama is likely to face renewed pressure to clarify his views ahead of the November election.

Throughout his first term, he has sought to walk a fine line on same-sex marriage. He’s trying to satisfy rank-and-file Democrats by supporting a range of gay rights issues without alienating crucial independent voters who could be turned off by the emotional social issue.

The president’s aides acknowledge that his position can be confusing. In states where gay marriage already is legal, the president says married gay couples should have the same rights as married straight couples. But he does not publically support the right of gay couples to enter into a marriage in the first place.

Duncan, a longtime friend of the president as well as a member of his Cabinet, made clear Monday that his position on gay marriage was not in lockstep with the White House. Asked in a television interview whether he believed gay couples should legally be allowed to marry, Duncan said simply, “Yes, I do.”

His comments followed Biden’s assertion Sunday that he was “absolutely comfortable with the fact that men marrying men, women marrying women and heterosexual men and women marrying one another are entitled to the same exact rights, all the civil rights, all the civil liberties.”

Obama aides said Duncan was speaking about his personal views on the issue and was not under orders from the White House or the campaign to take his position.

As for Biden, White House and campaign officials said the vice president’s remarks were no different from what he and Obama have said in the past.

“They were entirely consistent with the president’s position, which is that couples who are married, whether they are gay or heterosexual couples are entitled to the very same rights and very same liberties,” said David Axelrod, a senior adviser to the Obama campaign. “When people are married, we ought to recognize those marriages.”

The latest political dust-up over gay marriage came just before North Carolina voters were to weigh in on a ballot initiative that would ban gay marriage in that state. Obama opposes the ban, as does former President Bill Clinton, who has recorded automated phone calls ahead of the vote. Obama was heading on Tuesday for Albany, N.Y., where lawmakers voted last year to approve gay marriage in that state.

“The record is clear that the president has long opposed divisive and discriminatory efforts to deny rights and benefits to same-sex couples,” said White House spokesman Jay Carney, who was peppered with questions about same-sex unions throughout his daily briefing Monday. He said there was no conflict between Obama not supporting gay marriage and yet opposing a ban.

At the same time, Obama aides sought to gain the upper hand on the issue with independent voters by highlighting Romney’s record on gay rights. Aides argued there was a clear distinction between the Republican candidate and Obama, who repealed the military’s ban on openly gay service members and ordered his administration to stop enforcing the Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage as between a man and a woman.

Romney favors a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, saying the policy should be set federally, not by states. Some conservatives have questioned Romney’s commitment to that position, noting that during his 1994 Senate run, he said he supported “full equality” for gays and lesbians.

To put such doubts to rest, Romney told an Ohio television station Monday that he believes “marriage is between a man and a woman, and that’s a position I’ve had for some time and I don’t intend to make any adjustments at this point — or ever, by the way.”

Many gay rights advocates and people close to Obama’s campaign suggest it is no longer a matter of if, but when the president voices his support for same-sex marriage. The hope among some Democrats, and the fear among some Republicans, is that Obama is simply waiting until after the election to state his views publicly.

Obama has acknowledged he will have more freedom in some areas following the November contest. He was overheard telling outgoing Russian President Dmitri Medvedev in March that “after my election I have more flexibility.” In that instance, Obama was speaking about the issue of missile defense.

Richard Socarides, a gay rights supporter who was a White House official in the Clinton administration, said Duncan’s and Biden’s comments this week may prevent Obama from being able to stay quiet on gay marriage before Election Day.

“It becomes increasingly difficult to finesse this for very much longer,” Socarides said. “The president is going to get asked about this every time there’s an opportunity.”

One upcoming opportunity is a campaign fundraiser Obama is scheduled to headline with gay and lesbian supporters in early June.

The issue also is expected to surface at the Democratic convention in September, where many party leaders want to include support for gay marriage in the official platform. Caroline Kennedy, one of Obama’s campaign co-chairs, voiced her support for that effort on Monday.

Gay marriage is legal in six states, plus the District of Columbia.

Obama’s reluctance to embrace gay marriage has increasingly put him at odds with a majority of Americans. A Washington Post/ABC News poll from March found that 52 percent felt it should be legal for gay and lesbian couples to get married, while 43 percent said it should be illegal.

Support for gay marriage is highest among Democrats, with 64 percent supportive of the issue. Just over half of independents — 54 percent — back legalized gay marriage, according to the Post/ABC poll. Support among Republicans is the lowest, at 39 percent.

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Associated Press writer Philip Elliott contributed to this report.

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Biden told NBC’s “Meet the Press” that marriage should be about being loyal to someone you love, whether that marriage is between a man and a woman, two men or two women. “I am absolutely comfortable with the fact that men marrying men, women marrying women and heterosexual men and women marrying one another are entitled to the same exact rights, all the civil rights, all the civil liberties,” Biden said in the interview broadcast Sunday.

Gay rights advocates said Biden’s comments signaled unmistakable support for gay marriage, which they said made him the highest-ranking member in the Obama administration to take that position.

“”I’m grateful that the vice president of the United States is now publically supporting marriage equality and I hope very soon the president and the rest of our leaders, Republicans and Democrats in Congress, will fall in line with the vice president,” said Chad Griffin, a gay rights supporter and a member of the Obama campaign’s national finance committee.

Joe Solmonese, the president of the Human Rights Campaign, said his group was encouraged by Biden’s comments and called on Obama to speak out for “full marriage equality” for same-sex couples.

While Obama opposes gay marriage, he says his personal views on the matter are “evolving” and has noted that polls show Americans are increasingly supporting same-sex marriage.

Biden, a devout Catholic, has said previously that personal views, as well as the country’s, on gay marriage are evolving.

The vice president’s office said Sunday after the interview aired that Biden’s comments were not an endorsement of gay marriage, but simply a reaffirmation of his belief that same-sex couples deserve the same rights and protections as all Americans.

David Axelrod, a senior adviser to the Obama campaign, chimed in on Twitter, saying Biden and Obama share the view that all married couples should have the same legal rights.

For the Obama campaign, gay marriage has become a vexing election year issue.

Each time the campaign promotes the president’s extensive work in advancing gay rights, including ending the military’s ban on openly gay service members, it is reminded of the one area where the president has fallen short in the eyes of gay rights advocates.

Several Democrats are pushing for Obama to include support for gay marriage in the party’s platform, which will be finalized at the Democratic convention this summer.

Campaign officials have played down the notion that Obama’s position on gay marriage will “evolve” before the November election. They say Obama’s record in supporting other gay rights issues stands in stark contrast to his Republican challenger Mitt Romney, an ardent opponent of gay marriage and other benefits for same-sex couples.

One gay rights advocate said that even before the NBC interview, Biden had been hinting that his personal views of gay marriage may have evolved more quickly than the president’s.

The advocate described a private meeting Biden had with about 30 gay and lesbian supporters in Los Angeles earlier this spring. When the vice president was asked about his personal views of gay marriage, the advocate said Biden told supporters that when his views differ from the president’s, he often has to keep his opinions to himself.

This person spoke on condition of anonymity because participants at the meeting agreed not to discuss publicly what was said at the private gathering.

Biden did mention the Los Angeles event in his interview Sunday. He said that after meeting the children of the gay couple hosting the event, he told them he wished “every American could see the look of love those kids has in their eyes for you guys. And they wouldn’t have any doubt about what this is about.”

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