Democrats’ Election Night 2011 just keeps getting better.

You’ve already heard about Democrats’ epic wins tonight in Ohio, Maine, and Iowa.

Victory in a Wisconsin Assembly special keeps Democratic momentum in that state going.

Despite aggressive GOP spending, Democrats expanded our majority in the New Jersey Assembly.

Arizona voters responded to Gov. Brewer’s recent redistricting power-grab by recalling tea party leader and GOP state Sen. Russell Pearce.

Michigan voters recalled a notoriously anti-teacher Republican state Representative.

And despite spending millions and millions of dollars on the effort, the GOP failed to take the majority in the Virginia state Senate.

Democrats even kept the Governor’s mansion in Kentucky.

Well, we’re not done yet.

Today we learned we can add a Washington special election to the Democratic win column.

Democratic state Rep. Sharon Wylie won the seat to which she was appointed earlier this year, soundly defeating her well-known GOP opponent.

This big night for Democrats is more than a sign that the GOP wave of 2010 has receded.

Voters are rebuking GOP candidates and policies all over the country. Republicans exploited their opportunities to legislate by forcing extreme policies through their statehouses, and voters aren’t standing for it. Even millions of dollars in GOP spending can’t obscure the truth:

In 2011 and 2012, Republicans just aren’t a sound investment. 

Democrat Victorious in Iowa Special Election

DLCC Congratulates Liz Mathis on Her Win

Washington, DC - Democrat Liz Mathis has been declared the winner of the Iowa Senate special election in SD 18 with 56 percent of the vote, and Democrats have successfully maintained the majority in the Iowa state Senate. Michael Sargeant, Executive Director of the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, issued the following statement regarding Mathis’ important victory.

“Liz Mathis’ win tonight is a huge triumph for not only for the residents of the 18th Senate District, but also for Democrats across Iowa and across the country,” said Sargeant. “Senator-elect Mathis will stand up to Governor Terry Branstad and his GOP cronies and continue the fight for working families, kids, and middle-class values.

“This was also a huge defeat for all of the special-interest, anti-equality groups who sought to introduce a polarizing narrative to this race,” Sargeant added. “Voters care about jobs, the economy, their kids’ schools, and their families’ futures, and Democrats win elections on these issues. Tonight’s win will prevent a Republican stranglehold on Iowa state government that could have resulted in extreme policies like those we’ve seen in Ohio and Wisconsin. Tonight’s Democratic victory is part of a broad rebuke of statehouse Republicans’ out-of-touch, anti-middle class agenda.”

Republican presidential candidates are campaigning for more than just themselves these days.

After Democrats’ most recent special election victory in New Hampshire, the GOP candidate posted public thank-yous to the campaigns of Mitt Romney, Rick Perry, Ron Paul, and Buddy Roemer. Their involvement was more than symbolic. 

Perry campaign consultant Paul Young said, “Nothing is insignificant in New Hampshire when you’re running for President, and the campaigns would do well to cover all the bases.” …His camp had several staffers volunteer to work phone banks and go door-to-door.

Ryan Williams of the Romney campaign said he also had people working phones, election places and door-knocking. 

Too bad this turned out to be the biggest special election loss of the year for the New Hampshire GOP. 

Iowa is home to another statehouse contest receiving high-level Republican attention. In November, a state Senate special election will either maintain the chamber’s Democratic majority or leave it divided. Currently, the Democrats' state Senate majority is the only thing protecting Iowans from the GOP’s extreme right-wing agenda items regarding reproductive health and marriage equality, among others. 

The Republican candidate in this district (SD 18) is receiving all sorts of attention as presidential contenders woo the Party establishment. When Rep. Michele Bachmann was in the area on September 26, Golding declined the presidential candidate’s offer of campaigning and fundraising assistance. 

“Personally I like her but we have to figure out what is best for our district at this point,” Golding said prior to Bachmann’s campaign visit. “You know, Michele is a great national candidate, but I have to make sure nothing in the national politics interferes with Senate District 18.” 

But now Golding seems not to mind such “national” interference with the Senate District she seeks to represent. Last week, Mitt Romney’s wife appeared at a fundraising event on her behalf. 

This is only the beginning. With four weeks to go, we expect other candidates to offer favors in this critical contest during their own visits to Iowa. 

And we expect this presidential hopeful meddling to be of no more benefit in this election than it was in New Hampshire.

Earlier this week, the Iowa state Senate took some time out of its busy schedule to vote on a resolution (a message to Iowa’s congressional delegation, really) expressing its disapproval of Congressional Republicans’ bill to essentially end Medicare.

Every Iowa Senate Democrat voted for the resolution condemning the GOP plan, because no Iowa Senate Democrat wants to dismantle Medicare.

Every Iowa Senate Republican present voted against the resolution, presumably because they favor the GOP plan to dismantle Medicare. We say “presumably” because Senators all had the opportunity to speak and explain their votes, but only one Republican did. And his statement didn’t exactly inspire confidence among those who value seniors’ health care:

Senator Brad Zaun of Polk County was the only Republican to speak on the resolution, calling it a “stupid little resolution” that should not have been brought to the floor.

Zaun also said the issue did not affect Iowans. The cuts to Medicare and Medicaid are part of the so-called “Paul Ryan plan” to replace traditional Medicare with a plan under which individuals would buy their own private insurance with the help of government subsidies.

Medicare somehow doesn’t affect Iowans? That’s probably news to the half a million Iowans currently over 65 years old, as well as the 800,000+ who will be eligible for Medicare in the next 20 years.

As for the value of non-binding resolutions like these, well, that’s a matter of debate. All we know for sure is that the overall message – that Iowans do not want the GOP plan to dismantle Medicare – isn’t being heard by the state’s GOP members of Congress, who clearly need as many “stupid little” reminders (as Sen. Zaun put it) as they can get.

While GOP Governor Branstad has pushed for the elimination of free preschool education for young Iowans, it appears he will be unsuccessful in doing so due to Democratic resistance in the statehouse. Currently preschool is available to any child signed up by their parents free of charge, yet Branstad is intent on cutting the $90 million dollar a year program in half while charging parents for the education.

The extra cost Branstad wants to place on these parents’ budgets is unaffordable to many:

Many parents say they couldn't afford to pay. A family of four making over $67,000 would receive no state aid. Part time preschool can cost over $400 a month.

"We know and research has shown us that early intervention is prevention. That's what preschool does," says Early Childhood Program Administrator Susie Guest of Des Moines Public Schools.

The ability to obtain a free education at such a young age presents tremendous value while providing equal opportunity across Iowa for young children regardless of socioeconomic status. While Branstad may try to slash preschool again next session, the ability to obtain a quality, cost-free education is temporarily secure.

This Democratic victory was quickly vindicated by a Chicago preschool study, reported by the Washington Post, that tracked various children throughout its study of the effects of early education:

Better jobs, less drug abuse and fewer arrests are among advantages found in the study that tracked more than 1,000 low-income, mostly black Chicago kids for up to 25 years.

Among these Chicago children tracked by the study was Michael Washington, now a 31-year-old heating and air-conditioning contractor, who was able to attend preschool for a year. Washington clearly observed and reaped the benefits of being enrolled in the education system earlier than many of his peers in an impoverished West Side community, as the Post goes on to explain:

Washington got good grades in elementary and high school, and attended two years of college at Chicago State University. Unlike other kids he knew from the neighborhood who didn’t attend preschool, he says he never tried drugs and was never arrested.

Exposing children to preschool and early learning seems to build intellectual and social skills motivating students to take on the real world later in life. The true value in attending preschool is quantified by lead researcher Arthur Reynolds of the University of Minnesota, who explained to the Post:

The average cost per child for 18 months of preschool in 2011 is $9,000, but Reynolds’ cost-benefit analysis suggests that leads to at least $90,000 in benefits per child in terms of increased earnings, tax revenue, less criminal behavior, reduced mental health costs and other measures, he said.

Studies like this demonstrate the importance in exposing our children to organized education while they are still young, as the values and lessons they gain as early as preschool resonate later on in their lives to an enormous degree.

Adam is a participant in the summer 2011 Klindt/Dye internship program.

It doesn’t matter what grade you’re in.

If you’re a student, whether an 8-year-old third grader or a college student government leader, Republicans have one message for you: your voice doesn’t matter, so shut up.

That was the thrust of Iowa state Senator Shawn Hamerlinck’s remarks to five student government leaders from state universities who came to speak at a budget hearing and advocate for fully funding higher education:

"I do not like it when students actually come here and lobby me for funds. That's just my opinion. I want to wish you guys the best. I want you to go home and graduate. But this political fear, leave the circus to us, OK?" he said.

Hamerlinck then proceeded to thank the student leaders for coming, and he said it was a good thing that they had carefully prepared their remarks. "But actually spending your time worrying about what we're doing up here, I don't want you to do that. Go back home. Thanks, guys," he said.

As dismissive and condescending as Hamerlinck’s remarks look in print, they’re an order of magnitude worse in audio. Take a listen below, if you can stand to hear the contempt dripping from his Hamerlinck’s voice (h/t Iowa Senate Democrats):

But Hamerlinck is hardly alone in his contempt for people who would be directly impacted by his education cuts. North Carolina GOP state Rep. Mike Stone called it “unconscionable” and said “anger completely shot through me” when he learned that elementary school students – including his own daughter – had written letters to state legislators as part of a school writing assignment. And who could forget New Hampshire GOP House Speaker Bill O’Brien’s stunning admission that his party’s discriminatory voter ID bill was intended specifically to disenfranchise students, because “they are kids voting liberal, voting their feelings, with no life experience”?

Other Iowa Republicans also joined the student-bashing bandwagon, including some in the GOP Senate leadership:

Sen. Steve Kettering, R-Lake View, ranking Republican on the Senate Appropriations Committee, said it was “plane asinine” that students “would be paraded in front of a politically driven show” set up by people who want the state to spend more money. “No one was invited today to speak for the taxpayers,” he noted.

Nevertheless, Hamerlinck’s remarks may be the most infuriating yet. Reps. Stone and O’Brien and Sens. Hamerlinck and Kettering all appear to take the view that students are just too naive to discuss policy. But only Sen. Hamerlinck was personally addressing five specific students who'd been invited to share their views, all of them student government leaders (elected in their own right, perhaps?) whose experience clearly makes them more qualified than the average student voter of any age to discuss the impact of higher education budget cuts.

But that obviously made no difference to Sen. Hamerlinck, who’s also the only legislator from these incidents who lists his occupation as an “Adjunct Professor" at Augustana and Black Hawk Colleges.

Maybe Senator Hamerlinck is just following the lead of Professor Hamerlinck in teaching students that there's no point thinking for themselves. But in politics, anyone with a point of view has a right to express it, and if the people don't think their elected officials are listening, they have a remedy that Shawn Hamerlinck clearly understands.

They can tell him to take his own advice and "go home."

The thoroughly debunked, racially charged conspiracy theory of “birtherism” has its roots in the 2008 presidential election. Fringe elements of the Republican Party fixated on the false notion that Barack Obama was not eligible to be president of the United States because he supposedly was born in another country. No major GOP candidates promoted this lie at the time, and birthers continued to scratch at the fringe of the Republican Party for a couple of years.

In the year following President Obama’s inauguration, it seemed as though birtherism would remain the purview of ultra-conservative media personalities like Jerome “Swift Boat” Corsi and Rush Limbaugh. But the nature and scope of birtherism have since changed dramatically.

Just a few months ago, Republican state legislators began working feverishly to mainstream the birther lie. Supporters of “Birther Queen” Orly Taitz ascended to leadership positions in their caucuses. Legislation based around the notion that Obama’s presidency is illegitimate began popping up in statehouses. With slight variations here and there, these “birther bills” question the validity of President Obama’s Certification of Live Birth by requiring presidential candidates to provide various documents proving they were born in the United States in order to qualify for a state’s ballot.

Birther bills have been filed in legislatures all over the country this year, and not just in “red” states. While this list may well continue expanding, it currently includes

• Arkansas
• Arizona (GOP Gov. Brewer just vetoed this birther bill.)
• Connecticut
• Georgia
• Indiana
• Iowa
• Louisiana*
• Maine
• Missouri
• Montana
• Nebraska
• New Hampshire
• Oklahoma
• Tennessee
• Texas

*Republican Governor Bobby Jindal has stated publicly that he would sign a birther bill, should the Louisiana legislature send one to his desk.

Meanwhile, on the federal level birtherism began attract renewed attention as the potential 2012 GOP presidential field addressed the “issue.”

Enter Donald Trump.

Shortly after announcing that he may launch a long-shot run for the GOP presidential nomination, Trump began pushing birtherism in a big way.

Why?

Months of Republican state legislators’ attempts to legitimize the birther lie through legislation has helped validate the GOP base’s suspicions that President Obama is not “one of us.” This cementing of conservatives’ views on the issue is demonstrated by polling that reveals 45 percent of Republicans believe he was born in another country, as The New York Times reported yesterday. Last July, a poll revealed that 41 percent of Republicans believed President Obama was “probably” or “definitely” born in another country.

Republican state legislators helped provide Donald Trump with a path to credibility with the conservative base.

Will Trump’s next issue position involve union-busting? Perhaps he’ll take a stand against the non-existent problem of sharia law. Or maybe he’ll advocate for the use of gold and silver as currency.

Whatever Trump’s next political move may be, look for its roots in GOP statehouse crazy.

The GOP’s war on workers has dominated recent national media coverage, with two states in particular getting most of the attention. Unfortunately, this means that some other truly loony Republican actions didn't receive the attention they deserved.

So we’re taking a moment today to revisit some of the things you may have missed in the last few weeks.

The New Hampshire House is quickly gaining a reputation as the nation’s Petri dish for right-wing buffoonery. We’ve already discussed recent GOP efforts there to abolish universal kindergarten, declare technology training irrelevant to an adequate education, and block U.S. efforts to combat piracy. But did you know that GOP state Representatives have also proposed ordering TSA agents to register as sex offenders (he calls it the “Don’t Touch My Junk” bill) and shipping the mentally ill to Siberia?

The latter idea, proposed by GOP state Rep. Martin Harty, prompted Harty to resign a few days later (not out of shame, according to him, but because "So far I really don't know what I'm doing" - a mystery most of New Hampshire still grapples with). Amazingly, GOP Speaker Bill O’Brien declined to clearly condemn Harty. Instead he simply said that Harty "has earned the right to say what he thinks."

Meanwhile, at the other extreme, New Hampshire state Rep. Kenneth Weyler implied during a committee hearing that mental illness was no more than an elaborate racket, and that “by cutting the amount of help we're willing to offer, we'd like them to discover that some of these people can be cured.”

Moving on to the Iowa House, GOP state Rep. Chris Hagenow has filed legislation that would allow private security officers (like the ones in shopping malls) to carry “offensive weapons.” Existing Iowa law, in turn, defines “offensive weapons” to include “a bomb, grenade, or mine, any rocket having a propellant charge of more than four ounces, certain rockets, missiles, and other similar devices.” Perhaps Rep. Hagenow thinks mine fields would deter shoplifters.

Or maybe Hagenow was simply panicked by his GOP colleague across the hall in the Iowa Senate, state Sen. Mark Chelgren, who argued that universal preschool was nothing more than a cover for Nazi indoctrination sessions (audio here).

Continuing the theme of compassion for children, Maine Republicans are picking up an idea first proposed by Missouri GOP state Sen. Jane Cunningham, who tried to repeal most child labor laws in that state. Similar legislation has now been filed in both the Maine House and Maine Senate.

In the Kansas House, GOP state Rep. Connie O’Brien first said she could determine if people were illegal immigrants or not based on whether they “had the olive complexion.” A few weeks later, GOP Rep. Virgil Peck suggested that shooting illegal immigrants from helicopters would be an effective policy.

Georgia state Rep. Bobby Franklin, who last made headlines for trying to label rape victims as "accusers" in all Georgia court proceedings, is back in the news after he compared the United States to the oppressive regimes in Egypt and Libya, declaring that “Americans are the most delusional people in the world.”

And speaking of GOP efforts to blame the victim in rape cases, debate over a school dress code bill in the Florida House was marred by GOP state Rep. Kathleen Passidomo, who spoke in favor of the bill because “There was an article about an 11 year old girl who was gangraped in Texas by 18 young men because she was dressed up like a 21-year-old prostitute.”

A bill in the Montana House would have eliminated all educational requirements for the State Superintendent of Instruction – an elected position. Forty-six House Republicans apparently thought that was a great idea, because why would we want the person responsible for education to be, you know, educated?

And finally, Arizona Senate Majority Leader Scott Bundgaard recently invoked his state constitution’s legislative immunity clause to avoid a domestic violence charge after he was accused of hitting his girlfriend on the side of the road. Amazingly, now that Bundgaard has used the loophole himself to avoid the charges, he wants to repeal it so no one else can follow his example.

[hat tips: Blue Hampshire, Dirigo Blue, Montana Cowgirl Blog, Under the Golden Dome, and Think Progress]

On Tuesday, DLCC Chair and Iowa Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal issued a call. 

“I stand with Democratic state legislators in Wisconsin and all across the country who refuse to allow Republicans to devastate the livelihoods of hardworking people by balancing state budgets on the backs of those who can least afford it. I call on Democratic leaders everywhere, at every level, to join me in supporting the fourteen Wisconsin Senators who stand between the GOP and the gutting of workers’ rights in that state.  Using state budgets to execute cynical political attacks against working families is a brand of politics Democrats cannot tolerate.”

Sen. Gronstal’s words clearly resonated within the progressive legislative community. Today, Huffington Post’s Amanda Terkel reports:

More than 270 state legislators from 44 states and two territories have signed a letter standing with the Democratic state senators in Wisconsin, who left the state to prevent their Republican colleagues from pushing through a controversial budget repair bill.

The “Wisconsin 14” are entering their second week in self-imposed exile, away from their homes and families, but resolute in their commitment to preventing Wisconsin Republicans from hurting working families. This support from their colleagues around the country is greatly appreciated.

But some legislators are doing more than just expressing their support. Other Democrats are taking drastic measures to halt radical right-wing agendas in their states. We’ve told you about the Indiana House Democrats, who were compelled to leave their legislative session to prevent Gov. Mitch Daniels and his GOP accomplices from gutting education and damaging middle-class families.

In the dawn hours of this very morning, Iowa House Democrats ended a marathon committee meeting in which they spent 15 hours fighting to change a bill designed to eviscerate workers’ rights. A party-line vote ended their efforts in defeat, and this anti-worker legislation is on its way to the House floor.

But working families in Iowa can still look to their state Senate for recourse. Sen. Gronstal spoke to a state paper about the bill’s problems, as well as its likely fate.

“It’s ending the ability for public employees to bargain,” he said. “Without binding arbitration public employees have no power in the relationship. We’re not going to take away – for thousands of employees – that power. It’s dead in the Senate.”

Democratic state legislators know that budget cuts shouldn’t be a knife in the back of working families.

Onward.

Early childhood education, especially preschool and kindergarten, are critical for putting children on the path to educational success. And that’s more than just our opinion; it’s also the conclusion of a huge volume of educational research.

But that’s exactly why Democratic leaders in two states, Iowa and New Hampshire, are fighting pitched battles to save early childhood education from Republican leaders who seem determined to abolish these programs.

First, in Iowa, Democratic Senate Majority Leader (and DLCC Chairman) Mike Gronstal is working to save his state’s universal preschool program, which the Republican-controlled Iowa House just voted to eliminate. And according to Leader Gronstal, preschool has the votes in his chamber:

Democrats hold 26 votes in the 50-member Senate. That thin majority is enough to block legislation aimed at ending state funding for preschool for all 4-year-olds.

Gronstal vowed to make major changes to the bill in the Senate.

"We're going to make a decision as to whether we're going to take up that piece of legislation or whether we're going to start a piece of legislation on our own," Gronstal said.

But keeping his own caucus united is just one key to saving universal preschool in Iowa. Gronstal still must negotiate with the GOP-controlled House and the Governor, who is vested with line-item veto power in Iowa.

Meanwhile in New Hampshire, a united Democratic legislative caucus and outraged New Hampshire parents successfully scuttled a Republican plan to abolish universal kindergarten in the state:

Local legislators like Dover Democratic Rep. Peter Schmidt, had spoken out against the bill. Schmidt noted recently there would be a loss of jobs if the bill were passed.

"To pass this bill would be unwise and unwarranted," he said. "It would have no benefit for the public."

Democrats may be badly outnumbered in the state legislature, but when it comes to education, they clearly have the public on their side.

But the fight over New Hampshire schools isn’t over. Republican leaders are still pushing separate legislation that would strike technology, art, health, and foreign language education from state requirements. House Democratic Leader Terie Norelli is leading the opposition to that bill:

One such bill is HB39, which seeks to cut education funding, remove such core subjects as arts, world language, health and technology education from the state curriculum and weakens math and English language arts standards.

Although HB39 is currently in "limbo," according to Jones and has yet to be scheduled for an executive session following its initial hearing, it has been the topic of recent conference calls House Democratic Leader Terie Norelli conducted with media.

Norelli denounced it as a "dangerous bill for New Hampshire."

At a recent hearing on this bill, a massive crowd of angry parents and teachers spoke out against the GOP plan, raising hopes that Democrats will be successful once again in saving another key piece of the state’s education system.