A lot of people are looking at the Virginia governor’s race — or even the New York 23 race — as a belwether of conservative, limited government political sentiment and activism going into the 2010 midterm elections.
Me? I’m looking at a ballot initiative in Maine that would institute tax and spending limits similar to those in Colorado. As Question 4 trails in the polls, citizen activists have uncovered opponents using legislative resources to promote pay-to-play scheme. Enough to turn the tide? Perhaps, but not likely given conventional political wisdom.
But what might be interesting to see is if the 2009 version generates any late momentum or outperforms the 2006 Maine Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, that lost 54-46. It might offer us a hint of how much staying power there is to the Tea Party movement. In the meantime, you can watch former Colorado Commissioner of Education William Moloney quickly debunking the myth that TABOR has destroyed the schools in our state:
There’s more where that came from.
Interestingly, Washington State is considering a similar measure, too. Initiative 1033 appears to be doing even worse, heading down in flames. I haven’t been following the goings-on in Washington as closely as those on the opposite coast. I’d be interested to hear what local factors are differentiating the results. On second thought, it can become too easy to make an unnecessarily big deal about belwethers….
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