In The News: What '11 Loss in OH Means for '12

From Lou Jacobson at Governing Magazine.

Last night’s resounding repeal of a far-reaching Ohio law that curbed public-sector union rights has energized Democrats in a state where they suffered across-the-board losses in 2010 and which looms – again – as a crucial bellwether for 2012.

The law – a centerpiece of the agenda of Republican Gov. John Kasich and the GOP-controlled legislature – was rejected by about a 3-to-2 margin. Only a half-dozen of Ohio’s 88 counties voted to support the measure.

The labor-backed repeal effort, known as Issue 2, had made its way to the ballot after opponents submitted a record 1.3 million signatures. The repeal forces raised an estimated $30 million, far more than backers of the law, which enabled them to spend freely on television ads.

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The silver lining for Republicans was that a different measure on Tuesday’s ballot – which would preclude the government from mandating participation in a health-care system – passed by an even larger margin. Though the measure, known as Issue 3, is considered largely symbolic, its passage, driven by dissatisfaction with Obama’s health-care law, suggests an Ohio electorate that’s frustrated with politics across the board rather than one moving full speed into the arms of the Democratic Party.

The paradoxical results mean that Election Night in Ohio was “a mixed bag, and therefore not much of a bounce for Obama,” says Mark Weaver, a GOP consultant in the state.

To GOP consultant Ben Cannatti, the results of Issue 2 primarily show that “the Democrats had an overwhelming funding advantage and a simpler message to convey to voters on the issue. The funding and message gap will be nowhere near as severe in '12 as it was on this issue.”

Read the entire article here.