Races for governor took a back seat to hot-button ballot initiatives in two states Tuesday. The marquee votes involved a Mississippi amendment that sought to restrict abortion rights and an Ohio ballot issue that sought to restore union rights.
The governor’s races in both states were expected to keep the party in power in office, and early returns showed Kentucky’s governor headed for an easy win. The hottest battles involved issues, not seats.
In Mississippi, the “personhood” amendment would define a fertilized egg as a
cheap nfl jerseys person in order to outlaw abortion — an aggressive measure that even some who are antiabortion have balked at. A successful election night for supporters was expected to rekindle the national debate over abortion.
The measure earned the support of Republicans and Democrats in Mississippi — including both of the major parties’ nominees for governor — but some hesitated to support it, including outgoing Republican Gov. Haley Barbour.
Opponents said the measure would criminalize birth control, affect in vitro fertilization practices and could even lead to physicians declining to perform chemotherapy on pregnant women for fear of legal repercussions.
“Personhood” supporters had tried to pass a similar measure in Colorado
nfl jerseys cheap in 2008 and 2010, but voters in that state rejected it more than 2 to 1 both times. The measure’s supporters are expected to try it in other states next year.
In Ohio, voters took to the polls on Issue 2, a referendum on a GOP-sponsored union law that Democrats were closely watching for signs of hope in the 2012 election.
Issue 2 would repeal legislation restricting the collective-bargaining rights of 350,000 public workers in Ohio, including police officers and firefighters.
Labor activists saw the vote as a chance at redemption. This summer, after Republicans in Wisconsin curtailed collective-bargaining rights, unions pledged to help Democrats flip control of the state Senate through recall elections. The effort fell one seat short.
Before that, Democrats
wholesale soccer jerseys had failed in an attempt to win a key state Supreme Court race.
Nearly $28 million was spent on the Ohio campaign as of the end of October, with unions battling business and conservative groups.
The law, passed by the Republican-controlled legislature with the support of Gov. John Kasich (R), bars strikes and negotiations on health-care benefits, while limiting the power of collective bargaining in other areas. It also requires that all public employees
naty pay at least 15 percent of health-care costs and put 10 percent of wages toward their pensions’ cost.
Polling in advance of the vote suggested that the legislation was broadly unpopular, as is the governor who championed it.
Another ballot measure, Issue 3, would amend the state constitution to ban all state, local and federal health-care mandates. The tea-party-backed amendment is intended as a rebuke of President Obama’s health-care legislation, although organizers acknowledge that it would not supersede federal law and that the mandate issue will likely be decided by the Supreme Court. That would make the vote essentially symbolic.
Republicans were casting the potential rebuke of Obama’s health-care bill as their own sign of momentum, countering a potential victory for Democrats on Issue 2.
In Kentucky, Gov. Steve Beshear (D) was easily reelected to another term,
steelers jerseys cheap according to the Associated Press. Beshear was leading his race by 25 points at press time, despite his state’s conservative politics and Kentucky’s continued economic hardships.
Republicans had targeted the race earlier this year but were never able to close the gap on the popular governor, and state Senate President David Williams’s gubernatorial campaign struggled from the start.
In Mississippi, Lt. Gov. Phil Bryant (R) was expected to easily defeat Hattiesburg Mayor Johnny DuPree (D) in the race to replace Barbour, who cannot seek reelection after two terms. Republicans were also hoping to win a majority in the state House in Mississippi, which
cheap jerseys would give the GOP control over the state’s governance and provide them command of every legislative chamber and governorship in the Deep South.
DuPree made history as the first African American nominee for governor since Reconstruction, but polls have consistently shown that he has little chance in this increasingly Republican state.
http://dnkgaming.forumotion.com/t103-topicOther elections being held Tuesday included a recall of Arizona state Senate President Russell Pearce, a special election that could leave the Iowa state Senate in a leadership tie, and some ballot issues on voting rights in Maine and Mississippi.
