The final election wrap-up. For the second election cycle in a row criminal justice reformers have done extraordinarily well with death penalty opposition being used as a sword rather than as something to talk around. In 2005 it was Governor races in Virginia & New Jersey, this time it was criminal justice reformers / abolitionists in the northeast including Patrick (Gov. - Mass), Sanders (Senator - VT), Brown (Senator - Ohio), O'Malley (Gov. - Md), and Doyle (Gov. - Wis) who opposed the death penalty and won.

One interesting not, as noted in this AP report, in the race for Ohio attorney general, Ohio state senator Marc Dann defeated Ohio auditor and former attorney general Betty Montgomery yesterday in what is generally described as an upset victory. He has previously noted that "I am not a proponent of the death penalty on a policy basis . . . . But those who want the death penalty to be administered in Ohio ought to want there to be a truth and fairness approach to how we do it, and honesty, and bad cases to be tossed out and good cases to provide and to move forward." " I’ve already offered [ ] to have a study of the application of the death penalty in Ohio." [more here]

In two notable Senate races, those in Rhode Island & Maryland, Sen. Chafee & Lt. Gov. Steele, respectively, both lost but effectively used their opposition to the death penalty and support of criminal justice reform to broaden their coalition of support. Indeed, Lt. Gov. Steel offered pro-life candidates a template of how to cut in to progressive support for their opponents by aggressively touting his anti-death penalty credentials. Additionally, a Dem house likely means the end to efforts to radically expand the federal death penalty and to gut habeas. Expect to see versions of thing like Innocence Protection Act II, the prosecutors & defenders student loan act (helping make public service a real career option for all law students), as well as other innovative criminal justice reform ideas in the new Congress.

I would be remiss not to note that Rep. Ford's race in Tennessee was a loss as well as the Wisconsin DNA & death penalty referendum, however, in light of Governor Doyle's re-election th matter seems moot. Senator Kyl won as well, however he appears to no longer have the numbers to push thru his radical pro-death penalty agenda.