Shades of blue

Obama snub comes with a big fat asterisk

The US election snub comes with a big fat asterisk. Republicans reclaimed a majority in the US Senate in what is widely considered a rebuke of Barack Obama's presidency. Yet local voters said yes to minimum wage hikes and a tax on millionaires. Anti-abortion efforts failed and pro-marijuana ones passed. To keep control will require the GOP to grasp the nuances of Tuesday night's outcome.

There's no denying the overwhelming Republican success on one level. After gaining at least eight seats - with two Senate polls still undecided - they took control of the senior congressional chamber. What's more, they added to their superiority in the House of Representatives by adding 10 more members and secured 24 of 36 gubernatorial seats up for grabs, including in traditionally Democratic Illinois, Maryland and Massachusetts.

Ballot initiative results, however, cannot be overlooked. The minimum wage may have had at least as good a night as Republicans. All five states with the issue on the ballot, four of which are controlled by GOP governors, easily passed increases. In Illinois, for example, two-thirds of voters opted to bump the local pay floor to $10 an hour, while just 53 per cent pulled the lever for the new Republican governor. The Land of Lincoln further sided with the White House by opting to raise taxes on incomes of more than $1 million.

Republicans also suffered some policy rejections. Both Colorado and North Dakota voted down stricter terms on abortions. Marijuana advocates fared well, too. Cannabis was legalised in Oregon and the District of Columbia, while Alaska may allow the recreational drug once the ballots are all tallied. The issue doesn't fit neatly into either of the major party platforms, but legalisation is hardly a conservative talking point.

Gun control and environmental protection measures prevailed on some ballots, as did a new tax on soda in California. Republicans may want to take it all into account as they press ahead with proposals that hew to the party line. Based on the finer points of the latest results, dogmatically clinging to their ideas may increase the chances they're on the receiving end of a rebuke in 2016.