Political analysts across the country were closely watching votes on two key initiatives in Ohio Tuesday to get a sense as to where the nation is on the power of labor unions as well as the President's signature piece of healthcare legislation.
On MSNBC's Morning Joe Wednesday, the failure of Ohio's Issue 2 - which strikes down Governor John Kasich's (R) anti-collective bargaining law by public unions - was raised several times as a major defeat for Republicans, but not once in three hours did the overwhelming passage of Issue 3 - which effectively makes ObamaCare illegal in the state - surface.
As the Cleveland Plains Dealer reported, Issue 3 passed by a larger margin than Issue 2 failed.
Yet this major defeat for the President wasn't mentioned once in three hours of Morning Joe Tuesday.
The show began with this exchange between the co-hosts:
MIKA BRZEZINSKI: Ohio.
SCARBOROUGH: Up in Ohio, a big setback for Republicans.
BRZEZINSKI: Absolutely.
Moments later, this led to a group discussion about how this result helps Obama and the Democrats heading into next year's elections while harming Republicans.
The margin this initiative lost by was also raised: 62 percent to 38 percent.
For those interested - which obviously doesn't include the supposedly conservative Scarborough or any of his guests - Issue 3 won by a wider margin of 64 percent to 36 percent.
But that wasn't the last time the MJ crew discussed just one of the results in Ohio. It was raised again with Maryland's Democratic Governor Martin O'Malley, who of course thought this was a big deal.
For some reason no one asked him whether Ohio voters striking down ObamaCare in their state was similarly momentous.
The same was true when Virginia's Republican Governor Bob McDonnell was brought on to discuss Tuesday's election results - not a peep about Issue 3.
Which makes you wonder why.
To be sure, the defeat of Issue 2 has huge implications for 2012. Nobody's questioning that.
But more Ohioans voted to strike down ObamaCare in their state than voted to strike down the Governor's anti-collective bargaining law.
As such, these results are both newsworthy with significant political ramifications.
Yet in three hours, there were numerous discussions about the one with positive portent for Obama and the Democrats, and not one single word said about the one casting another serious black cloud over the President's signature piece of legislation.
As I've been noting for weeks, despite the supposed political leanings of one of the hosts, Morning Joe more and more resembles - albeit with clear distinctions because of the variety of guests and the seriousness of the discussions - everything else offered by this joke of a so-called news network including its prime time fare.
