Miss., Ky. voting eyed for 2012 clues

Voters re-elected Kentucky's Democratic governor yesterday and picked a new governor in Mississippi, casting ballots that could foreshadow the public's political mood just two months ahead of the first presidential primary and nearly four years into the worst economic slowdown since the Depression.

A wide range of ballot measures was being decided. In Ohio, the state's new collective bargaining law was defeated after an expensive union-backed campaign.

In a political blow to GOP Gov. John Kasich, voters handily rejected the law, which would have limited the bargaining abilities of 350,000 unionized public workers.

Mississippi also voted on a referendum on whether to define life as beginning at conception. Supporters of that measure hope to use it to mount a legal attack on Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision that established the right to abortion.

In both governors' races, the offices were expected to stay in the hands of incumbent parties, suggesting voters are not ready to abandon their loyalties, despite economic woes.

Faced with deep budget gaps and tea-party pressure to curb spending, GOP governors have sought union-limiting measures throughout the year.

Also on the Ohio ballot was a proposal to prohibit people from being required to buy health insurance as part of the national health care overhaul.

In Kentucky, Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear was easily re-elected, winning 58 percent of the vote with half the precincts reporting. In Mississippi, Lt. Gov. Phil Bryant appeared poised to keep the governor's mansion in GOP hands, succeeding Haley Barbour. Bryant faced Hattiesburg Mayor Johnny Dupree, the first black major-party nominee for governor in Mississippi.

In Arizona, state Sen. Russell Pearce, architect of the tough immigration law that put the state at the forefront of the national debate, faced a recall attempt led by a fellow Republican. But Pearce held a 3-to-1 fundraising advantage.

Hundreds of cities held mayoral races. Interim Mayor Ed Lee could become San Francisco's first elected Asian-American leader. The former city administrator was given the interim job when Mayor Gavin Newsom became lieutenant governor.