Stray Thoughts

• Stu Shea mentioned in comments to a previous post that Rich Whitney, the Illinois Green party candidate for governor, received 11 percent of the votes yesterday. That allowed the Greens to cross the 5 percent threshold to achieve state recognition, which will make it much easier to get Green candidates on the ballot for the next few years. Part of Whitney's success is the fact that Illinois voters weren't thrilled with their choices for governor from the two major parties, but an independent party needs to get its success any way that it can. Over the weekend, Republican candidate Judy Barr Topinka begged voters not to "throw away" their votes by casting a ballot for Whitney. "If there's a protest vote, I'm it," she insisted. Well, that's unless it was a protest against her, too. Regardless of the reasons voters had for throwing their support behind Whitney, helping the Greens establish themselves as a statewide party is hardly a wasted vote.

• One result of yesterday's polling that's gotten some attention but not as much as I would've expected six months ago is that South Dakota voted down the draconian anti-abortion law passed in February by the state legislature. This was the big bill that outlawed abortion in almost every case and was supposed to be the test case that would allow the Supreme Court to overrule Rowe. Instead of fighting it in court, South Dakota voters took it straight to the polls with a ballot initiative that ultimately overturned the law by a margin of 12 percentage points. South Dakota remains a very conservative state, so this is more evidence that a near-total ban on abortion is out of the mainstream.

• Another issue that proved itself mainstream during this election cycle is a raise in the minimum wage. The states of Arizona, Colorado, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, and Ohio each included a referendum on the ballot raising the minimum wage, and it passed in each one, sometimes overwhelmingly. These are not exactly blue states. If, as promised, Nancy Pelosi introduces a bill into the House in the first 100 hours, it'll be a no-brainer to get my vote.

• Glenn Greenwald watched the television coverage on FOX yesterday. He recommends it heartily: "It's like being at a wake for a person that you're really happy has died, but everyone else is in deep mourning." It almost makes me sorry I missed it.

• And speaking of the liberal media, Atrios takes note of Rush and Hugh Hewitt each discussing the big Republican repudiation yesterday. They're not sorry to see those losers masquerading as conservatives get shown the door. They've supported them all this time because--well, they just had to--but to hear them tell it, there's no love lost now. The unwavering loyalty is absolutely awe-inspiring.

• I'm not saying there's a definite cause-and-effect relationship between gas prices and election day, but it appears that my prediction from last week might have some life in it. At several gas stations near my office, I noticed that many of the prices had risen by eight cents a gallon since the same time the day before. I wonder how much they'll go up tomorrow.