The Tea Party in the States got a huge slap in the face in yesterday's off-year elections in the States. Among the biggest ones:
Voters in Ohio rejected by a huge margin a law that effectively placed public servants in a "right to work state" situation.
Maine voters approved same day voting registration, making it a "normal" democracy like Canada (this principle is opposed by Tea Partiers as an "open door to fraud" -- and in this state, the tea-baggers actually ran ads saying that it's a "gay" idea. Like that will work in a libertarian state).
In Mississippi, voters in the mostly pro-life state slammed down a "personhood" measure so vaguely worded that the morning after pill and the IUD would have been outlawed. (Voters there, however, did approve tighter voter identification requirements.)
In Arizona, the person responsible for that state's anti-immigration law was recalled.
Most high profile incumbents for local and state office appeared to survive, although in Erie County, New York (which includes Buffalo) the GOP county executive was bounced for a Democratic labour operative.
Hard to say what this means for the Congressional elections next year, but if people's appetites for change were worsened by what the Tea Party was really up to once they got in, it could be a torrent that runs all the way downticket. People want less government, they just don't want their rights taken away and they want migrants to have a fighting chance. Common sense tends to win out overall and it's good to see there was plenty of it stateside yesterday.
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