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Casey's campaigned focused on fiscal responsibility and government accountability, while downplaying social issues.

Key Races: Missouri Senate
Another leader among Christian conservatives, Missouri Sen. Jim Talent, went down to defeat. Democratic State Auditor Claire McCaskill campaigned hard in favor of embryonic stem-cell research. A controversial and confusing ballot initiative favoring such research narrowly passed.

"It will permit cloning of human embryos for research and enshrine that right in the constitution," said Americans United for Life (AUL) vice president Daniel McConchie. The measure passed by only two percentage points, even though proponents spent $30 million—about 10-times what opponents mustered, according to McConchie. "The people thought they were voting on a ban on cloning, when they really weren't," he said. "It took them a lot of money and a lot of deception to secure that victory."

Key Races: Illinois House
Illinois provided one of the evening's few bright spots for conservatives. In Chicago's western suburbs, State Sen. Peter Roskam edged out Democrat Tammy Duckworth to replace retiring 32-year veteran pro-life leader Rep. Henry Hyde. The closely watched race centered on U.S. policy in Iraq, taxes, and illegal immigration. But the Democratic campaign also painted Roskam as extreme for his opposition to embryonic stem-cell research and abortion, including with cases of rape and incest.

Democrats recruited Iraq war veteran Duckworth from a neighboring congressional district to run against Roskam, a conservative evangelical from Wheaton with 13 years in the state legislature. Duckworth repeatedly accused Roskam of avoiding the war issue, and was one of the few Democrats who articulated a specific plan for U.S. troop withdrawal.

Key Races: South Dakota Abortion Ban
Voters in South Dakota rejected a state law that would have banned all abortions except to save a mother's life. Proponents in the legislature had hoped the ban would serve as a test case that could have led to the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade.

AUL's Daniel McConchie said the measure's 56-44 defeat proved that abortion-rights advocates can win outside of the courts. "A lot of people on the pro-abortion side have hid behind judges for years, afraid of the democratic process," McConchie said. "This shows the other side that democracy worked in their favor, and that we can have a democratic debate about this rather than leaning upon judges."

Earlier polling indicated that a majority of voters would have supported the ban had it included clear exceptions for rape and incest.

"South Dakotans reaffirmed that the right to choose should be between a woman, her doctor, her family, and her God—not legislators," NARAL president Nancy Keenan said in a press release.

Pro-life advocates said the ban's defeat could make state legislatures more reluctant to enact less ambitious laws for waiting periods and parental notification. Voters in California and Oregon on Tuesday turned back measures that would have required doctors to inform parents 48 hours before performing abortions on their daughters, aged 18 and under.

Key Races: Traditional Marriage
Bans on same-sex marriage fared better than measures to restrict abortion. Seven more states voted to adopt constitutional amendments banning gay marriages. They passed by significant margins in Tennessee, South Carolina, Virginia, Idaho, Colorado, and Wisconsin. But Arizona delivered the first defeat to such a ban, with voters rejecting the measure 51-49. Meanwhile, South Dakotans approved a ban 52-48. The small margin of victory came as a surprise given the state's conservative—if somewhat libertarian—orientation.

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November (Web-only) 2006, Vol. 50