The Ohio vote came down almost exclusively to the perception of public safety issues and a bungled message. Ohio voters aren't in love with public sector unions, so they made the messaging almost exclusively an issue of public safety, with even fire fighters dressed in their fire gear standing in front of polling locations with signs. A huge amount of Republicans went along with this because they simply got snookered and confused, the result being a vote of 2 to 1.

Kasich was stupid in the way he approached wrangling in the Unions, he shouldn't have gone for such a kill shot right off the bat with such an overreach, instead he should have chipped away with reforms that had broad support, and not passed them all in one package that could have been repealed with one referendum.

You need to weaken the Unions first before you kill them outright. Right to work laws would neuter unions to irrelevancy in a short amount of time. The next Republican Congress should make a national right to work law a top priority.

Most people in Ohio (I'm a resident) are not fans of the public sector unions. the legislature simply needs to try again and do it in a piece meal fashion. Exempting fire fighters and police won't be a big deal as these tend to be handled by local municipalities. It's the state workers and teachers pensions that are the time bomb. We may be in the spot light in the Buckeye, and the Unions may feel good about the outcome but over time these reforms will become more obvious and necessary. It's still generally a center/right state and the 2012 Election will show this.

The fatal flaw in Ohio was the inclusion of fire and police. Although fully justified as policy, it was a strategic blunder of Yalta proportions. Virtually all of the anti-SB5 ads featured cops and firefighters saying that SB5 will make people less safe.

Oh, Gov Kaisich has Intelligence, he just apparently made Wisdom and Charisma his dump stats.

One thing to learn from Gov Walker is that he is selling his plans. Out there every day with press releases on jobs coming in, taxes going down etc. He also has press releases crafted in a way to not be shouting 'Me Me Me'. It's 'Congratulations to X business for bringing 100 jobs to Y county.' 'Good news for B county! Due to reforms their school board has announced they won't need that levy increase' etc.

Tips that should be learned by Gov Kaisich.

I believe your missing the main reason it failed in Ohio. Ohio has a stronger Union history than Wisconsin.From Toledo to Cleveland, Youngstown,Akron ,Lima ect, Ohio was and is a Manufacturing State. The UAW n Toledo, Steel Workers in Cleveland, Good Year in Akron, Steel n Youngstown, Tanks in Lima all lend themselves to support of unionism and Collective Bargaining. The people are sympathetic to Collective Bargaining . I'm sure most people in Ohio have someone in their family that was (in the "Glory Days') or is in a Union. The law was aimed at Public Sector unions, but mobilized all unions and those sympathetic to unions against it. Wrong State for to pick this fight and at a time when everyone feels job insecurity.

My understanding is that Wisconsin's governor intends to include police and firefighters in collective bargaining restrictions next year. Perhaps the Ohio vote will cause him to reconsider.

But it would be a huge loss if Gov. Walker is recalled. Evidence so far is that WI Act 10 has at least halted the steady increase in the cost of local as well as state government, without any negative effect on the quality of services.

And in the long run, it's hard not to see how changes such as the elimination of union work rules in public schools will not produce many positive effects. If they're given a chance, of course.

One can only hope that this success story can be sold to the voting public.

Awesome! I can't wait to watch this. I obviously live in WI and am a regular listener (I prefer the local guys over Rush and Hannity). I am absolutely convinced we'd be a light blue state without them. The county-by-county numbers even beared that out: Republican support significantly dropped in the counties that were just out of reach of the 2 stations' reach. Also, the Luitenent Governor won her solely b/c of talk radio.

I think the lesson for current (and aspiring) Republican politicans is to bypass the local leftist media and talk directly to the folks.

Brien, I know it's hard to track, but do you know how many people listen to Sykes and Belling, or for that matter, WTMJ and WISN. I don't think market share is adequate because not everyone in the market listens to the radio, right?

Thanks Brien.

PS. I will definitely pass your movie along

There is a big point a lot of people are missing here - It is how the public employees now have a lot less money to spend because their pay was cut so drastically. Sure, the schools have enough money - but the teachers don't make enough to pay their bills now. Balancing the budget was a worthy goal, but the way it was done - by making the state employees pay the largest portion - was totally unfair and damaging. And the cuts keep coming, no pay raises for 2 years, merit pay unfunded for 2 years, 10% co-pays on health insurance on TOP of the $280 per month charge for a family plan, and who knows what else is coming. These working folks can't afford to lose more of their paychecks! Ohioans realize this and that is why they voted this down. How can cutting the pay of thousands of workers help the economy and the jobless rates? If I have to take a second job just to make ends meet, I would be taking that job away from someone else who needs it. And spending money? What money? And the worst thing is, the cuts we already took were agreed to by the unions before they lost their bargaining rights, so that was really an unnecessary thing to do.

There’s definitely truth to the notion that this became more about Kasich then it did about legislation. On the same day of the SB5 vote, another vote was held in districts around the state proposing tax levies and increases to support education in the state. Most of these levies were strongly voted down by the citizens of the state (External Link ).

As a result funding towards schools will decrease in many districts. Clearly we see a conflict of interest here. The state wants to protect the public employees’ right to bargain, but not at the expense of their own tax dollars. Other states, like Colorado, have been vehement about voting down tax increase to support public sector institutions (External Link ). As states continue to run out of money, job loss is likely to follow.

We’ll likely see a lot of the stipulations of the bill (save collective bargaining) put into legislation soon enough. By looking at the vote against tax levies, it’s clear Ohioan’s are unwilling to shoulder the burden much longer when it comes to public sector compensation. Once they get over their anger at Kasich and come to see at least parts of SB5 are necessary, you’ll see some of the fervor die down.