WASHINGTON -- The extent to which Ohio Gov. John Kasich's collective bargaining measure has been a national issue has always been a bit murky. But with Mitt Romney getting drawn into endorsing SB 5 and with the White House subsequently backing its repeal, the threads to the presidential campaign became clear.
With Tuesday night's vote overturning the measure, the Obama administration and its allies were quick to offer statements of solidarity and support, and in one case, a bit of partisan taunting.
Jay Carney, the president's press secretary, offered the following remark shortly after the Associated Press reported that Ohio voters rejected Issue 2, the ballot referendum on SB 5 that would restrict collective bargaining rights for more than than 360,000 public employees.
The President congratulates the people of Ohio for standing up for workers and defeating efforts to strip away collective bargaining rights, and commends the teachers, firefighters, nurses, police officers and other workers who took a stand to defend those rights.
Vice President Joe Biden offered similar congratulations in a statement Tuesday night.
Tonight the people of Ohio delivered a gigantic victory for the middle class with their overwhelming rejection of a Republican attempt to strip away collective bargaining rights. Fundamental fairness has prevailed. By standing with teachers and firefighters and cops, Ohio has sent a loud and clear message that will be heard all across the country: The middle class will no longer be trampled on. The people of Ohio are to be congratulated.
Others were less reserved. Bill Burton, the former deputy press secretary for the president and now a senior strategist for Priorities USA Action -- a campaign-allied group -- blasted out a statement under the title "Ohio Rejects Mitt Romney's America."
"Tonight, Ohio voters rejected the Republican vision for America that rewards big corporations and the wealthiest at the expense of middle class families," the statement read. "John Kasich's agenda in Ohio is a mirror of Mitt Romney's vision for America: Cutting education, health care and public safety to finance more tax cuts for big corporations and the wealthiest. In 2012, voters will not have to guess what Mitt Romney's America looks like because they have seen and rejected it in Ohio."
The Obama campaign, meanwhile, did not immediately issue a statement. But campaign manager Jim Messina tweeted his congratulations.
"Congrats to my brothers and sisters in labor. Big win in Ohio tonight!"
Earlier on The Huffington Post: