New Jersey voters told pollsters this summer that they supported embryonic stem cell research by a margin of 71 percent to 19 percent.
Those are numbers you normally find only when you ask people if they love their mothers.
So the fact that those same voters soundly rejected the stem cell initiative on Tuesday's ballot was a shock, maybe even a turning point.
The meaning was unmistakable. Voters no longer trust Democrats to handle their money.
They're not ready yet to switch partners and hand power to Republicans. But they want their Democrats to sober up.
This vote was a warning shot from the voters, and perhaps a sign of things to come. They weren't ready this time to abandon the Democrats, but they know something is very wrong with the budget and they're tired of gimmicks and further debt.
