kentucky elects democratic governor, big cities elect mayors

We focused on Texas elections, but big news was made across the country last night as the nation's faithful voters took to the polls.

The AP and MSNBC tell us that the Republican governor of Kentucky, Ernie Fletcher, lost his re-election bid to a Democrat, Governor-Elect Steve Beshear. Fletcher's first term was marred by scandal.

Beshear cruised to a 20-percentage-point victory in Kentucky after a campaign in which he repeatedly reminded voters of accusations that Fletcher directed the hiring of political allies for jobs protected by the state's merit system.

"Tomorrow begins the time when I call on every person in this state to come together with us, join hands with us, because together, folks, we can make Kentucky a much better place to call home," the 63-year-old Beshear told supporters.

On a different note, Gov. Haley Barbour of Mississippi, a Republican, sailed to re-election victory last night. Barbour defeated his Democratic opponent by twenty points after a campaign that focused on his deemed successful Katrina recovery efforts in the state.

Elsewhere, big cities came out to vote for mayoral races.

Houston re-elected Mayor Bill White. In Baltimore, Sheila Dixon became the first black woman to be elected mayor. Philadelphia chose a new mayor, Michael Nutter, that promised to reduce gun violence. Pittsburgh chose to keep the youngest mayor of a big city in the nation, 27-year-old Democrat Luke Ravenstahl. San Francisco re-elected scandal-plauged Mayor Gavin Newsom, who admitted this year to cheating on his wife and having a drinking problem.

conservative states going haywire

The state of Mississippi, a conservative bastion and a strict opponent of abortion, is following the lead of South Dakota and attempting to ban all abortions in the state. The Republican Governor Haley Barbour has said that he hopes that the bill comes to his desk with exceptions made for rape and incest, but that he would probably sign it even without those provisions.

Responding to questions about whether he'd sign a bill with no exceptions for rape or incest, Barbour said: "It hasn't gotten to my desk yet. When one gets there, we'll find out, and I suspect I'll sign it. But I would certainly rather it come to my desk with an exception for rape and incest. I think that's consistent with the opinion of the vast majority of Mississippians and Americans."

This really goes to show that Barbour is another conservative puppet. He obviously cares more about pleasing his Republican legislature and the radical conservative voters in his state than protecting women if he'll veto his own opinion before he'd veto the monumental legislation.

Now, the legislature in Jefferson City is proposing that Christianity be made the official state religion of Missouri. This is in direct violation of the Establishment Clause in the First Amendment to the United States Constitution... but the Republicans in Missouri can't let a silly little thing like the Constitution impede them.

Seriously... what is this country coming to these days?

Edit: Upon further research of Missouri law, it's interesting to note how misleading the original article from KTOV out of St. Louis is.

The bill was filed as House Concurrent Resolution 13, meaning that even if passed it will have virtually no effect and will not be considered an actual law (according to the Missouri House glossary).

An act of the House or Senate or of both together that ordinarily has no effect of law. It either commends some achievement, expresses an opinion, urges another entity such as Congress to take some action, or takes some internal action such as establishing a committee. See also Concurrent Resolution and Joint Resolution.

Regardless, this is a waste of time and money, and the Missouri House is "recommending" something that is blatantly unconstitutional.