MISSOURIANS SPOKE OUT ON OVERRIDE

This week, Mel Carnahan became only the seventh governor to suffer the override of one his vetoes in 178 years of statehood.

Overwhelming majorities of both the House and Senate voted to override his veto of House Bill 427, the Infants Protection Act. This is the bill banning the gruesome practice of partial-birth infanticide.

Governor Carnahan saw his party desert him in droves. To grasp the full extent of the isolation he has crafted for himself, consider that in the House 49 of 86 Democrats voted to override, while in the Senate, 11 of 18 Democrats spurned the increasingly shrill, even desperate appeals of their party's first two-term governor since Warren Hearnes. Every Republican in both chambers voted to override. The result is that overall nearly 80 percent of the House and Senate voted against the governor's extreme position, leaving him on the short end of a lopsided defeat.

How a leader responds to setbacks says as much about him or her as anything. What response did Carnahan offer after this historic legislative rebuke? Here is how the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported the governor's statement from his post-override press conference: "Carnahan said members of his own party were under `extreme pressure. It caused them to make a mistake.'

"Carnahan attributed the override to a campaign of misinformation, much of which was distributed in churches and `preached from the pulpits.'"

With this statement Carnahan becomes the first governor in memory to openly take on churches -- from Roman Catholic to the Assembly of God, including his own Baptists as well -- on this highly charged moral issue. Whether this will prove to be good politics remains to be seen. But we have the answer of 80 percent of the Legislature, which declined to join him in such a reckless characterization of his multitudinous opponents.

The successful override owes everything to the enormous outpouring of citizen contact with members of the Legislature. In sharp contrast to the governor, we see this as an unmistakable sign of health and vitality in our democratic process. The cards, letters, e-mails and faxes flooded into members' offices in quantities that dwarfed anything in recent memory. Face-to-face personal contacts made all the difference. Prayer vigils organized humbly at the grass roots, such as the half-dozen held across Southeast Missouri last weekend, represent the finest American tradition of a faith-based prayer for, and appeal to, our leaders. The thousands who traveled to Jefferson City for Wednesday's session, including busloads from this region, helped to make history. The whole effort was a model. We salute everyone who took part.

Of course opponents to the Infants Protection Act, egged on by the governor, will file the inevitable court challenge. This is their right. Missouri's new law, though, by targeting infanticide, represents a unique approach. It will be what the lawyers call a case of first impression. With expectant hope we believe that HB 427 will pass constitutional muster.

For now it is sufficient to say that our constitutional system has worked. All sides have had their say. Our checks and balances, diffusing power among many, remain effective. Perhaps most important: The will of the people -- "Salus populi suprema lex esto" -- still reigns supreme. And that properly summoned and led, that popular will can still triumph over millions of dollars spent for slick ad campaigns on behalf of powerful people in high places.

It is a great day for Missouri and Missourians, born and unborn, and worth every bit of the trouble, effort and expense of the last four years of arduous struggle.