Voters in Ohio sent a pair of messages on Tuesday that reinforce the chaotic nature of the American electorate at this time, voting to both repeal a law that limited collective bargaining for public workers and to in effect block parts of the Obama health law.
The much larger issue was the collective bargaining battle, which had galvanized Democrats and their union allies, in a vote that represented a dramatic rebuke for Gov. John Kasich and state Republican leaders in the legislature.
All but a handful of counties in Ohio voted to get rid of Senate Bill 5, which went further than Wisconsin’s law that was part of a budget-cutting effort to limit union bargaining power for state and local government employees.
As for the health ballot measure known as Issue 3, the same voters in almost every Ohio county endorsed a plan which was clearly drafted as a response to the individual mandate and other provisions of the Obama health law, an issue that is expected to soon go before the U.S. Supreme Court.
It’s hard to imagine two more different political messages coming in the same election from the same group of voters.
But that’s what the voters of the Buckeye State sent on Tuesday.
Democrats can honestly say that they put together a powerful coalition to deliver a stinging rebuke to Republican Gov. John Kasich on the union issue, just months after the GOP pushed through a plan on collective bargaining for government employees.
Critics of the Obama health law can say they registered their opposition to the idea of the individual mandate and the health reform effort in general.
Some didn’t like me pointing out those interesting results Tuesday night on Twitter.
“The health care referendum is meaningless and had no real organized opposition. Not fair to equate the two,” Tweeted the folks at the liberal group Think Progress.
“Have you heard of the supremacy clause?” the folks at Think Progress added.
In a sense, that’s what I expect from Ohio. Democrats will ignore the fact that the same voters who strongly supported the repeal of a law hotly opposed by Big Labor could also then register their opposition to the Obama health reform law.
Republicans meanwhile will minimize their lackluster effort in the Buckeye State in favor of Senate Bill 5 and will instead focus on their efforts to close a budget gap in the state.
At an election night party in the state capital of Columbus, Democrats blasted Gov. Kasich and Republicans, accusing them of trying to sell out the middle class of Ohio.
“We in Ohio are sending a message to the entire nation,” said Columbus Mayor Michael Coleman.
“Hear us! Hear us loud and clear,” Coleman said to cheers in a Columbus hotel ballroom.
“Senate Bill 5 dies tonight!”
"The results tonight are a tremendous victory,” said Ohio Democratic Party Chairman Chris Redfern, who made sure to take more jabs at Gov. Kasich.
“Voters were asked if they support John Kasich’s anti-middle class agenda and they responded with a resounding ‘NO,’” Redfern added.
As for Kasich, the Governor took his medicine publicly.
"When you get beat, you have to admit it," said Kasich, who disappointed Republicans with this lackluster effort, in great contrast to the fight put up by the GOP in Wisconsin earlier this year on basically the same issue.
Clearly, the collective bargaining vote was a much bigger victory than the outcome of the vote on the Obama health law, and Democrats believe they have laid the groundwork for success in Ohio in 2012.
“This is a good night for Barack Obama,” said former Gov. Ted Strickland, who was ousted last year by Kasich in a tough race.
“This was a citizen’s veto,” Strickland added.
It was certainly a big night for Democrats. The big question is obviously; can they repeat it next year when the Buckeye State will play a pivotal role in the race for the White House?
“While Senate Bill 5 is dead, the groundswell of activism it generated lives on,” said Redfern, the state Democratic Party chairman, who argued it will “carry over into 2012” for an Obama re-election bid.
Certainly the momentum is on the side of Democrats right now in Ohio. They have one year to build on that.
