A short story of something unique taking shape in Utah.

For 2010, Utah has two notable ballot initiatives circulating.

The first by Utahns for Ethical Government, intended to create an independent commission for ethics reform, has garnered public popularity in response to a legislature lethargic and arrogant when responding to blatant ethics violations in previous years.  The second, Fair Boundaries, an initiative aimed at similar independence in the coming redistricting of the state, has met with a tepid response, thanks mostly to the same hubris from state legislators directly responsible for the ethics initiative.

In short, the ethics initiative has them frightened, and even attempting to do some of what the initiative would achieve in their own way in the legislative session beginning in a few days, in the hopes they will undermine support for the UEG initiative by tossing the public a superficial bone.  The Fair Boundaries initiative, they have ignored, and panned, despite support from previous Republican representatives and Gov's, as well as the Utah State Democratic Party, and numerous grassroots and open government organizations.

In response, proponents of both initiatives and public engagement in general, have created a tool -- completely allowed by Utah ballot initiative signature gathering guidelines -- to collect signatures online, and we need your help.

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The more we know about 2004, the more we know how wrong the conventional wisdom was and has been:  No, Bush didn't win.  No, this wasn't a victory of right-wing so-called "values voters".  And no, marriage initiatives did not make a difference in the vote.

Kerry pollster Mark Mellman has found that [2004] anti-gay-marriage ballot initiatives didn't boost voter turnout for either party. Moreover, political scientists at MIT found that Bush's share of the 2004 vote increased in most battleground states, but not the three that had gay marriage bans on the ballot. Stephen Ansolabehere, one of the study's authors, concludes that the gay marriage referenda may have given Kerry a bump. "That suggests there might even be some sort of backlash against this kind of politics," he notes.

Of course, we already knew that civil rights battles should not wait for the mythical time when no elections are on the horizon, and that pro-equality plaintiffs can't be expected to back out of their years-long case because the timing is inconvenient.   We already knew that Karl Rove, not people fighting for their civil rights, "pushed the issue" in 2004.  Now we know that it didn't even work.  This should put an end to any more "those darn impatient gays!" nonsense about 2004.

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Cross-posted at DailyKos

Proposition 4 on California's general election ballot is an initiative measure to amend the California State Constitution to impede a minor's ability to obtain an abortion, even in the case of rape or incest.  If you think this is familiar, you are right.  Twice in the past three years, Californians have narrowly defeated two similar measures -- Propositions 73 in November, 2005 and 85 in November, 2006.  But this time, the measure is in danger of passing.  A poll (caution: .pdf file) conducted by the well-respected Field Research Corporation has it at Yes 49, No 41, with 10 percent undecided as of September 26th.  All of this in a state that is 71% pro-choice.  

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As everyone knows, in the last few Presidential elections one state that has been consistently blue is California. Despite having a Republican Governor, it seems California can be depended on to vote the right way in the Presidential elections. It seems that Republicans might be tired of getting their butts kicked out there. Look at this story I found today:

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Checking election 2006 results, one cannot help but do a jaw-dropper on the results of Arizona's anti-gay Proposition 107, the Protect Marriage Arizona amendment, which failed at the ballot box 49% to 51%. (Some votes are still being counted, no change in the outcome is expected.) Once reliably-red Arizona, ground zero in the illegal immigrant-bashing business, supports gay marriage? The very first state in the union to reject an anti-gay marriage initiative? At the same time seven other states approved similar initiatives on the same day? So, Arizona stands alone against 27 other states on this issue? Say what?

Say what, indeed. This is a great story about smart and gutsy progressives, campaign strategy and tactics and sticking to your guns when the national Big Dogs were giving the `local yokels' the Big Crunch over money. Rahm-style arm-twisting. Follow me on the jump and I hope you'll leave with a big smile on your face.

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