Ohio Split: Yes on Collective Bargaining, No on Obamacare

Liberals and conservatives each scored victories in Ohio Tuesday, with voters overturning restrictions on collective bargaining by public employees and opposing the Obamacare requirement to buy health insurance.

Labor unions from around the country spent more than $25 million to overturn a state law that barred government workers from collectively negotiating pensions and health-care benefits. The law, championed by Republican Gov. John Kasich, also banned public-sector strikes, scrapped binding arbitration and eliminated annual pay raises for teachers.

Pollsters and pundits widely predicted that unions would defeat Issue 2. And with the help of more than 350,000 affected government workers, a significant percentage of the overall vote, the union campaign prevailed.

Downplaying the result, Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus called Issue 2 "a local issue."

The vote against the health-care mandate was convincing, but largely symbolic, since the legality of Obamacare will almost certainly be determined by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Still, Ohio voters' passage of Issue 3 -- an opt-out from Obamacare -- was the latest sign of growing public resistance to the health-care law's individual mandate.

Ads by the Ohio Christian Alliance said the vote "preserved Ohioans freedom to choose health-care coveragefree of abortion funding and health-care rationing."

The outcomes reinforced Ohio's reputation as a swing state in the run-up to the 2012 election.

Typically reflective of the nation's political mood, Ohio is a quadrennial battleground in the race for the White House. Barack Obama carried Ohio in 2008, but Republicans racked up big gains there in the 2010 congressional elections.