KINDER'S COMMENTARY: ELECTION NOTES FROM ALL OVER: QUOTAS AND WOMEN IN LEADERSHIP

Herewith, some overlooked election results from earlier this month.

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Curtains for quotas, and no to gay marriages: Results of initiative campaigns and referenda from several states are fascinating. Several were decidedly in a conservative direction, which explains why they suffered a near total blackout in national media coverage.

First is an initiative campaign from the state of Washington. That fairly liberal state became the second in two years to give overwhelming approval to a measure banning quotas and preferences in state contracts, hiring and university admissions. The Washington measure was nearly identical to the one passed in California in 1996, which was known as the California Civil Rights Initiative. An overwhelming 59 percent of Washington voters endorsed it this year. Initiative supporters achieved this result despite the fact that they had most of the state's major corporations (Boeing, Microsoft, etc.) against them and most newspapers were fiercely opposed. Opponents outspent supporters by a 6-1 margin.

Expect more such initiatives in 2000, and look for them to carry wherever they are introduced. Elite media opposition notwithstanding, rank-and-file Americans can hardly wait to vote for these measures.

Then there are results from Hawaii and Alaska. Both these states had measures on their ballots providing that the state may recognize marriages only between members of the opposite sex, the effect of which is to outlaw attempted gay "marriages." Both passed overwhelmingly. Especially in liberal Democratic Hawaii, supporters of gay marriage had hoped to prevail.

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Women leaders, conservatives: "Arizona made history by electing women to all five constitutional offices, led by Gov. Jane Hull," The Wall Street Journal observed in an editorial. "In addition, Republican Brenda Burns will return as president of the state Senate. Republican Lisa Graham Keegan, the school-choice supporter who ran unopposed for a second term as state school superintendent, has a theory about the dearth of national news" coverage, the Journal added. (I have become acquainted with both Senator Burns and superintendent Keegan through a national organization of state legislators. Keegan, a mother of two in her mid-30s, is a national leader in the battle for parental freedom in education. Both are attractive, highly impressive, tough-minded.)

The Journal continues: "`It's an inconvenient fact that five of the six top women in Arizona politics are Republicans, and, gasp, several are strong conservatives,' Keegan told us. `On one level it's great if it isn't news that women had a clean sweep, but you'd think it would have landed on some media radar screens.'"

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Prediction: The first woman president of the United States, perhaps some time in the first decade of the next century, will be a conservative -- an American Margaret Thatcher.

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Women a record in Missouri Senate: For many years, the Missouri Senate Democratic caucus has been referred to as the all-male caucus, this as women have steadily swelled that body's Republican ranks. Of 34 state senators, a record five will be women when the newly elected members take the oath in January. The four women who are today senators or senators-elect are all Republicans. One Democratic woman is certain to be elected next month to fill an unexpired term of a Kansas City senator who resigned this past summer.

~Peter Kinder is assistant to the president of Rust Communications and a state senator from Cape Girardeau.