Analysis: How Colorado Became the First State to Reject a Ban on Affirmative Action

The Chronicle of Higher Education
Monday, November 10, 2008

Ward Connerly's campaign against affirmative action took a hit last week, as Colorado voters narrowly rejected a ballot measure banning preferences based on race, gender, ethnicity, and national origin. The one-percentage-point defeat, the first time a state had rejected such a measure, can largely be credited to Barack Obama, political scientists and other experts say.
Voters in Washington, Michigan, and now Nebraska have all passed similar bans with about 58 percent of the vote, while California voters approved theirs with 54 percent of the vote.
Mr. Connerly, a longtime activist against affirmative action, expressed his disappointment at the defeat, but he has already begun efforts to get a similar measure on the ballot in Missouri for 2010. And he is eyeing Arizona and another attempt in Colorado, among other states. But in an interview, the 69-year-old former member of the California Board of Regents said he planned to spend more time campaigning on other issues, such as prison reform, which could divert attention from the anti-affirmative-action movement. [Full story: http://chronicle.com/daily/2008/11/7031n.htm?utm_source=at&utm_medium=en]