Although most of the nation is focused on the 2008 campaign, voters still have important decisions to make in today’s off- year elections, including choosing governors in Mississippi and Kentucky, electing four big-city mayors and considering a host of ballot initiatives.
Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, one of the few politicians to emerge from Hurricane Katrina looking good, was heavily favored to defeat a Democratic opponent who laced his criticism of the Republican incumbent with religious references.
Religion also figured prominently in Kentucky, where Gov. Ernie Fletcher was trailing badly in the polls and ordered that the Ten Commandments be displayed alongside other historical documents in the state Capitol the day before the election.
In Mississippi, Barbour’s campaign capitalized on his successful management of the hurricane recovery, stressing job growth and rebuilding along the Gulf Coast.
Barbour’s opponent, Democratic trial lawyer John Arthur Eaves Jr., quoted Scripture when he accused the governor of being beholden to “moneychangers” such as big tobacco, oil and insurance companies through his old Washington lobbying firm.
In Kentucky, Democrat Steve Beshear also made religion a centerpiece of his campaign challenging Fletcher, who has spent much of his term battling accusations that he directed the hiring of political allies for jobs protected by the state’s merit system.
Beshear cited his religious upbringing and ran television ads showing him in front of a church in western Kentucky.
Voters were also set to choose mayors in San Francisco, Houston, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.
In San Francisco, Mayor Gavin Newsom was poised to win his second term, just eight months after admitting he had a drinking problem and an affair with a close aide’s wife.
Houston Mayor Bill White had only token opposition in his bid for re-election as leader of the nation’s fourth-largest city.
In Philadelphia, former Democratic councilman Michael Nutter was nearly certain to become the city’s next mayor on his promises to reduce gun violence, crack down on no-bid contracts and offer $10,000 tax breaks to companies that hire convicts.
Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl, who at 26 became the youngest mayor of a major U.S. city last year following the death of the incumbent, faces a challenge from Republican Mark DeSantis.
Several states were voting on ballot measures, including a Utah proposal that would create the nation’s first statewide school voucher program open to all families.
In Oregon, voters were to consider a measure to raise the cigarette tax by 84.5 cents a pack – to $2.02 – to fund health insurance for about 100,000 children now lacking coverage.
In New Jersey, voters will decide a referendum authorizing the state to borrow $450 million over 10 years to finance stem cell research.
