pro-ID candidates bite the dust

Reason for optimism. Ed Brayton:

In Michigan, Dick DeVos, the pro-ID candidate for governor, was voted down by a wide margin.... It also looks as though Democrats took control of the state House of Representatives for the first time in 8 years, which should reduce the pro-ID activity we've had to battle constantly for the past few years in this state.

In Ohio, Deborah Owens Fink went down in flames, losing to Tom Sawyer and getting less than 30% of the vote. Huge victory for my friends at Ohio Hope. Pro-science candidate Sam Schloemer also won election to the state Board of Education. Following on the heels of what happened in Kansas, this is a big reason to celebrate. Congratulations to Patricia Princehouse, Steve Rissing, Dick Hoppe and everyone else in Ohio who worked so hard to make that happen. Also religious right looney and darling of the televangelists Ken Blackwell lost his bid for governor by a huge margin....

And pro-ID Senator Rick Santorum went down and went down hard, about 60-40. Good riddance.

And cynicism. P.Z. Myers:

The side of science has seen mixed results. Santorum's gone, the Ohio races that pitted creationists against pro-science moderates seem to have all broken for the good guys, but Kansas has opted to support their creationist candidates. The fact that Bachmann could get elected in my state is discouraging: she's a flaming anti-science, pro-god kook. Being an irrational nut is still not an obstacle to getting elected, apparently.