Today was a Bad Day for the Right Wing

[Patrick Degan]

Ohio voters reject Kasich's union-busting law, Mississippi voters reject zygote personhood, a Federal judge knocks down Texas' latest bit of gerrymandering, Wisconsin voters start putting Scott Walker in the crosshairs of a recall effort, Kentucky's Democratic governor handily wins reelection over a Republican, Herman Cain finds himself on the way to a meltdown, and a Reagan-appointed conservative judge rules the Health Care law is constitutional.

Any day that's a bad day for the right wing is a GOOD day for America.

[Grandmaster Jogurt]

Additionally, in Maine, a bill passed by the Republican legislature banning same-day registration was struck down by a people's veto by a 20% margin.

[Patrick Degan]

Just gets better and better —or worse and worse, depending on your perspective. More bad news for the Right from Arizona:

Nov. 8 (Bloomberg) -- The Senate President of Arizona and author of the state’s hard-line laws against illegal immigration lost a recall election seen as a bellwether on “extreme” politics.

Republican Russell Pearce, lost by 53 percent to 45 percent with all precincts reported, according to the Maricopa County Elections office. Pearce, 64, was defeated by Jerry Lewis, a Republican school administrator who has said he opposes Pearce’s enforcement-only approach to immigration policy.

“There is a deep dissatisfaction in Arizona for what is viewed as politics in the extreme,” said Earl de Berge of the Phoenix-based Behavior Research Center, a nonpartisan polling company. Pearce “symbolizes a very hard-nosed view on conservative policies.”

The loss will show moderates that they can win in the state, de Berge said. “It is going to be a sea change in Arizona,” he said.

Lewis will serve the remainder of Pearce’s term through 2012. He will be required to run again in November of next year if chooses to seek re-election.

Pearce, the first state officeholder in Arizona to face a recall election, became prominent nationally after lawmakers passed an immigration law in 2010 that sparked national boycotts and was emulated by Georgia, Alabama and other states.

Lewis, 54, will be sworn in after the Secretary of State certifies the election results, expected by Nov. 21, said Matt Roberts, a spokesman for the office. A group called Citizens for a Better Arizona circulated petitions to remove Pearce from office.

Two Republicans

The election pitted two Republicans against each other, dividing the heavily Mormon legislative district in Mesa, east of Phoenix, that Pearce represented in the House and then the Senate for 11 years. Both Pearce and Lewis are Mormon.

While the economy often took center stage in the campaign, national groups that backed Pearce warned supporters that the recall was an attempt by pro-amnesty immigration groups to oust the closed-border advocate.

Lewis, a charter-school superintendent, was one of two candidates on the ballot. The other, Olivia Cortes, pulled out after her candidacy was challenged as a sham. A judge found in October that Pearce’s supporters helped get Cortes on the ballot to draw votes that might otherwise go to Lewis. While votes for Cortes didn’t count, ballots had already been printed with her name. She polled about 1 percent of the vote.

Immigration Policies

The recall is seen as part of a backlash against the immigration policies that gained the state and Pearce national attention. Pearce also backed a successful ballot measure in 2004 that banned state benefits for illegal immigrants and required proof of citizenship. He authored a 2007 measure that imposed state sanctions on businesses that hire illegal workers.

Last year, lawmakers passed a bill known as SB 1070, which requires immigrants to carry paperwork and police to check the immigration status of anyone they suspect is in the country illegally, among other provisions. Most of its provisions have been put on hold after being challenged in federal court.

In the spring, Pearce tried to pass another package of immigration measures that included denying state citizenship to children of illegal immigrants and requiring hospitals to report undocumented patients. That measure died after opposition from the state’s business community.

[Patrick Degan]

Although both men in this race were Republicans, Pearce was a darling of the Tea Party who set out to be more hard-ass than Jan Brewer. Additionally, he was the senator from Maricopa County, which is about as Republican as you can get in this country. Pearce becomes the first state senate president in American history to be tossed out in a recall election that split Mesa's Mormon church, losing by 8% to Lewis.

[open_sketchbook]

It's almost enough to give you hope.

[Alyrium Denryle]

Although both men in this race were Republicans, Pearce was a darling of the Tea Party who set out to be more hard-ass than Jan Brewer. Additionally, he was the senator from Maricopa County, which is about as Republican as you can get in this country

Not... strictly true. Maricopa County is an odd duck in a lot of ways. Because of the presence of ASU's extended campus environs and phoenix proper, it has a very very patchy voting distribution. However, the county is absolutely massive, and has vast hordes of mormons and rural hicks. So unlike a lot of other states, where that space would be comprised of several counties, the hicks tend to outweigh the university environs (basically the entire city of Tempe...) and phoenix.

But I digress...

Also bad news for the right wing. The Texas Court of Appeals stayed the execution of Hank Skinner, pending a hearing on the admissibility of potentially exculpatory DNA evidence that the DA's office has been intentionally withholding, and has done since the trial. Yeah. You heard that right. They have had DNA samples for ten years, and never ran them during the original trial.

[Lord Zentei]

Too bad Maryland's recent bit of garrymandering couldn't be knocked down too.

[Raj Ahten]

I am glad that a bunch of shit legislation like the Ohio anti-labor bill was shot down, but it wasn't all good news out there. Virginia now has all branches of government under republican control now that the senate has broken down 50-50 (In a tie the republican lt. governor casts the deciding vote.) I am now expecting plenty of bullshit to start coming from Richmond. I'd put down real money that they will pass Arizona style anti-immigrant legislation, new abortion restrictions, a new round of budget cuts for state agencies (despite having a small surplus last year) and other such tea party nonsense. I'm most worried personally about the last possibility as a state delegate already wanted to sell the park I work at and as a temp worker I'm probably first to be thrown under the bus if there are cuts.

For other NOVA residents I also predict the Dulles metro project will be imperiled as our esteemed governor has already made one power play to take control of the project. With the project's costs going up I foresee the fools in Richmond doing a lot more than just whining about it now that they control the legislature completely.

[Alan Bolte]

Ohio election results.

Issue 2, the union issue, was defeated 61% to 39%

Issue 1, which proposed to raise the maximum age at which a judge could be elected from 70 to 75, failed 62% to 38%. Might be for the best, but I don't have strong feelings either way.

Issue 3, which was touted as a "referendum on Obamacare," is a constitutional amendment which states, among other things, "In Ohio, no law or rule shall compel, directly or indirectly, any person, employer, or health care provider to participate in a health care system." The language is vague enough that it's hard to predict what it will actually affect. It passed 66% to 34%.

Oh, and one of our Democratic city council members just barely managed to get re-elected in spite of a scandal about how he'd been using his dead mother's handicap placard.

[Rogue 9]

Issue 3, which was touted as a "referendum on Obamacare," is a constitutional amendment which states, among other things, "In Ohio, no law or rule shall compel, directly or indirectly, any person, employer, or health care provider to participate in a health care system." The language is vague enough that it's hard to predict what it will actually affect. It passed 66% to 34%.

It will actually affect nothing; Article VI of the Constitution says that the U.S. Constitution, laws made pursuant to it, and treaties made under the authority of the United States are the supreme law of the land, and nothing in the laws or constitutions of the states can contravene it. If the Supreme Court doesn't throw out the mandate and the federal government doesn't repeal it, then Ohio can do jack all about it.

In local news, the seat of my county passed a ballot measure barring the city from constructing a new library to replace the old and overcrowded (books are shelved sideways on top of the stacks) one by a three to one margin. Fortunately my own town is more sensible and replaced ours without fuss a couple of years ago.

[Alan Bolte]

What I meant was that there are concerns that it's vague enough to prevent new local laws, e.g. changes to school vaccination requirements.

[Pint0 Xtreme]

Also, Equality Maine gathered enough signatures near the polls yesterday to qualify a voting referendum to legalize marriage for same-sex couples, which will be the first state to actively try to establish marriage equality through a voter initiative. Finally, we are going on the offensive.