Yeah, that Obama thing was pretty cool (I watched the returns the Obama campaign office in Harlem, which had to be one of the most inspiring places to be), but it's worth noting that the victory extended far down ticket to state races.

To some extent the victories at the state level were more limited because Dems had already made big gains in 2006 and 2007, with Iowa, Colorado, New Hampshire and chambers in Virginia and Indiana having gone "blue" in anticipation of Obama's wins -- with North Carolina Dems demonstrating increasingly progressive leadership by its Blue local leadership over the last few years. This had given those voters a chance to see and understand what progressive leadership was really about--and overcoming many of the caricatures of the rightwing.

You can see a full writeup in this Dispatch at Progressive States, but here are some highlights of what happened both in control of statehouses and on ballot initiatives:

The bottom-line results for the night were that progressives took control of new legislative chambers in two of the largest states in the country, New York and Ohio, along with additional chambers in Wisconsin, Delaware and Nevada-- and created new ties in the Montana House and Alaska Senate, both previously controlled by the GOP. And depending on how final races and negotiations among legislators play out, the Texas House might shift out of the control of conservative GOP leader Tom Craddick. Conversely, the Democrats lost control of both chambers in Tennessee, the Oklahoma Senate and the Senate in Montana (the first two reflecting two states that Obama lost badly).

But Democrats also gained increased majorities in states including Connecticut, Rhode Island, Washington, the Michigan House and the Oregon House. And the Democrats had a net gain of one Governorship in Missouri.

The result of elections over the last few cycles means that Democrats are now in control of sixty chambers (give or take one or two as final results come in), with seventeen "trifecta" states in which they control both chambers and the Governor's office.

Highlights for What Statehouse Changes Mean: A few dramatic examples include:

• For the first time since 1935, Democrats will control both legislative chambers and the governor's office in New York-- potentially ending a generation of legislative gridlock. Republicans are courting four more conservative Democrats in the hopes of retaining their power. If they fail to do that we expect a wave of GOP resignations to follow the election. Switched control of the Senate should drive reform of the legislative process and passage of stalled legislation such as green jobs, paid family leave, comprehensive criminal justice reform, and affordable housing reform.
• In Ohio, Democrats retook control of the House for the first time in 14 years, after years of conservative dominance of both chambers blocking reforms ranging from paid sick days to labor rights.
• In Wisconsin, Democrats are projected to take control of the House with a slim majority for the first time in 14 years. Combined with control of the Senate and the Governorship, Wisconsin has the potential to become the first state to guarantee health care for all its residents.  Healthy Wisconsin, a bold health care reform initiative that passed the Senate in 2007, was rejected by the Republican-controlled Assembly, will now get a more positive welcome in the Assembly.  

Key Victories on Ballot Initiatives-- along with a Few Bitter Defeats:
While the losses on gay marriage were terrible, that was actually an exception to a night of quite consistent progressive victories at the ballot box.

On election night, voters delivered a resounding message of rebuke to rightwing state ballot measures alongside a more limited message of support for progressive initiatives. Perhaps the clearest message was the emphatic rejection of corporate excess evidenced by a wide-ranging rejection of anti-union, anti-tax and anti-regulatory measures.

• In Colorado, a hotly contested "right to work" initiative was soundly defeated, as was a "paycheck deception" initiative designed to cripple union funding.  Unfortunately, a deceptively styled "anti-corruption" bill was apparently approved in Colorado.  If upheld by the courts, the bill could cripple political participation by public employee unions.  A similar measure in South Dakota was defeated. In Oregon, an initiative to undermine teacher seniority systems was also soundly defeated.
• Anti-government tax measures were defeated overwhelmingly in Massachusetts, North Dakota and Oregon.   In all three states, proposed measures that would have slashed or, in the case of Massachusetts, completely eliminated the income tax were rejected at the polls. 
• In addition, both Ohio and Arizona voters defeated measures, backed by the predatory lending industry, that sought to roll back pay day loan reforms.

Defeating Anti-Abortion Measures, but Losses on Gay Rights: Three different measures to restrict access to abortions and a woman's right to choose were defeated on Tuesday. For the third time California voters defeated a measure that would have required parental notification and imposed a waiting period on minors seeking an abortion.  South Dakota voters, who repealed an outright ban on abortions two years ago, rejected an even less restrictive ban that would have provided exceptions in instances of rape, incest and pregnancies that threatened the health or life of the mother.  The rejection in consecutive elections suggests that support for choice is solidifying in the state.  And, in Colorado, voters soundly rejected a measure that would have criminalized abortion by defining "personhood" as beginning at the moment of fertilization.

Health Care:  Voter support for health care reform was evident across the country:

• Montana voters approved Initiative 155, Healthy Montana Kids, which will expand access to most of the state's 35,000 uninsured children through a combination of state and federal funds.
• In Wisconsin, 22 local ballot questions, organized by Citizen Action of Wisconsin and other advocates calling on lawmakers to enact guaranteed and affordable health care for all residents by the end of 2009, passed overwhelmingly, capturing 74% of the vote across the 22 communities. The health care referenda provide a mandate for lawmakers to act on health care, and, specifically, to act on Healthy Wisconsin, enacted by the Wisconsin Senate in 2007 but stalled by the then Republican-led Assembly. 
• Voters in Arizona appear on the verge of rejecting, a constitutional amendment, pushed by conservatives, that could have prevented a mandatory universal health care system by disallowing laws mandating the purchase of health care.  Opponents to the measure said it was too poorly worded and pontetially could have tied the hands of lawmakers in their efforts to address the state's health care crisis.

Victories on Environmental and Transit Projects: Facing extreme climate change and rising fuel prices, energy conservation, transit and renewable energy issues became popular state ballot measures.  While many succeeded, a few failed, largely where progressive advocates were divided over the the effectiveness of particular initiatives.  A few key successes:
Minnesota voters passed the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment, which raises the state sales tax three-eights of one percent, raising an estimated $300 million a year to restore wetlands, forests, lakes, parks and cultural heritage sites throughout the state.

• Both of California's two major transit ballot initiatives barely achieved victories.  First, voters said "full steam ahead" to Proposition 1A, which will appropriate $9.95 billion of general obligation bonds to fund a $40 billion, 800-mile high speed train between San Francisco and Los Angeles. Los Angeles County's Measure R will increase sales tax a half-cent to raise $40 billion over thirty years for major transit investments.
• In Rhode Island voters approved a measure to allow the state to borrow $87 million as a means to improve the states transportation infrastructure.  Projects that will receive funding include making repairs, building bridges and highways, replacing public buses and extending a commuter rail line.
• Voters in the Puget Sound counties of Washington approved a massive $22.8 billion transit expansion package, funded by a .5% increase in the sales tax, that will improve and expand bus and rail service. 
• In Alaska voters authorized the sale of up to $315 million in state government bonds for more than two dozen transportation projects around the state.  Lawmakers approved the package last April after sprinkling it with road construction projects around the state to broaden voter appeal.

Mixed Results on Civil Rights:  The gay marriage losses were one of the big stories of the night, but the loss by the rightwing on a number of their other anti-civil rights measures is notable.

•  On the issue of immigration, there were surprisingly few initiatives that made it onto the ballot.  Of the initiatives on the ballot most were defeated.  Oregon Measure 58, which would have prohibited teaching non-English-speaking public school students in a language other than English for more than two years, failed. The proposition was widely opposed by teachers' groups and immigrant rights advocates.  Missouri did pass a mostly meaningless "English only" measure which states that English is the official language for government meetings. This will not produce any changes to the current status quo.
• Ward Connerly's campaign to profit from passing affirmative action bans is ongoing. Ward Connerly, who sponsored a similar measure in Colorado, has had measures in other states thrown off the ballot for defrauding signatories.  Nebraskans did  pass an affirmative action ban but it is facing a court challenge from those who question the validity of the signatures gathered to place the measure on the ballot.  And Colorado became the first state to reject an affirmative action ban at the ballot box.

High Turnout reflects State Wins on Election Reform Policies:  While final figures won't be available for several days, it is clear that voter turnout was higher than every election since at least 1960 when John F Kennedy was elected.  Depending on how you calculate the number, it may have been the highest turnout of eligible voters since 1908!  It is clear that this increase in voters was the engine behind Barack Obama's victory as well as the many important state-level victories throughout the nation.

Beyond the raw numbers, the composition of the electorate showed significant changes from 2004, with a higher percentage of minority voters and progressive voters coming to the polls. Early numbers suggest that young voters outperformed their turnout in the last presidential election. Even more importantly for progressives, they voted for progressive candidates in substantially higher numbers than in 2004, forming a critical element in the coalition that gave Obama and many other progressive candidates and issues support.

Key to this high turnout were election reforms, from mail-in and early voting to registration reforms that made voting easier.  After many election cycles in which conservatives got the best of progressives in early voting, 2008 saw a dramatic reversal with Democratic early voting far surpassing that of Republicans in several close states.  Both Florida and North Carolina saw big increases in early voting that was skewed toward Democrats.  Those patterns account for the margin of victory for President Elect Obama in both states.  It is clear that progressives are taking the initiative to get out the early vote and it is paying significant dividends.

In Colorado, election officials faced no major problems on election day, unlike 2006 when voting machine problems caused lines of up to eight hours in Denver.  Since then, the state has embraced mail-in voting with the implementation of permanent absentee balloting.  Early voting increased by two-thirds over 2004, reaching almost 65% of all votes, and appears to have greatly contributed to a lack of problems on November 4^th.

It is clear that reforms to expand the electorate and protect the right of citizens to vote have proven themselves a key tool to institutionalize and expand progressive majorities at the ballot box in the future.