The results are in from the key off year election in Ohio, and they're positively schizoid.
The public employee unions and the Democrats spent almost $40 million to defeat Governor Kasich's Senate Bill 5, which limited public employee union's collective bargaining rights on health coverage costs, pensions and wages and gave city councils and school boards the right to impose a 'take it or leave it' final contract offer if management and the union do not reach a settlement.
The bill unwisely including police and firemen, which gave the unions a major issue to work with that ultimately proved successful.
I'd say this was excellent news for President Obama's re-election except for the fact that Ohioans also passed a major repudiation of the president by approving an amendment to the state constitution blocking any sort of individual health care mandate in Ohio by better than a 2-1 margin.
In Ohio, as in most other locations, ObamaCare is about as popular as poisoning puppies.
So, what do we make out of these disparate results from the Buckeye State?
The way I see it, the president is quite unpopular in Ohio, but no one's exactly fallen in love with the Republican field yet. But given an issue that can be massaged as 'worker's rights' and 'supporting our police and firemen' Ohio voters can still be pushed leftwards, especially in an off-year with low turnout.
I don't think that translates into a great wave of affection for the current occupant of the White House and his policies, but we shall see.
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