Boxed ballot

Election '06 | Conservatives took a beating on several important state measures | Lynn Vincent

Republican candidates weren't the only conservative casualties on Election Day; conservative ballot measures fell like timber, too:

  • Arizona became the first state to say no to a gay marriage ban.
  • For the second time in as many years, Californians nixed an initiative requiring parental notification for a minor to obtain an abortion.
  • South Dakota voters soundly defeated a state law banning nearly all abortions.

In Missouri, a conservative defeat of a different sort materialized as voters narrowly passed a constitutional amendment that protects embryonic stem-cell research in the state. Opponents of Amendment 2 had argued that it authorizes human cloning, despite the measure's official summary claiming to ban the practice. American Center for Law and Justice attorney Walter Weber explained that the amendment's "definitions" section defined "cloning" as the implantation of a created embryo in a woman's uterus for the purpose of bringing about a live birth. "That's why it was called a 'clone and kill' measure. As long as the cloned embryo is killed, it's not 'cloning,' according to the definition," Weber said. "It's stunning dishonesty."