The potpourri of election results on Tuesday is a political scientist’s delight – there’s a data point to support any argument you like.

Calling for a Democratic avalanche next year? Look at how soundly unions won in their bid to roll back a Republican-supported law curtailing the collective bargaining power of Ohio state workers.

Predicting a continuation of the anti-Obama tide that started in the off-year elections of 2009? Ohioans also repudiated President Obama’s central accomplishment by ratifying a constitutional amendment blocking his prescription for mandatory health insurance.

Mississippians voted down what would have been the most stringent pro-life measure in the country. Hooray for Democrats! But wait, Mississippians also overwhelmingly voted in a severe limitation on eminent domain power and new requirements for voters to show photo IDs. Hooray for Republicans!

The truth is that referenda make poor predictors of future electoral behavior.

Republican Haley Barbour announced Monday he will not run for president in 2012, saying he does not have enough “fire in the belly,” and will instead finish his term as Mississippi governor.

“I will not be a candidate for president next year,” he said. “This has been a difficult, personal decision, and I am very grateful to my family for their total support of my going forward, had that been what I decided.”

Mr. Barbour, former chairman of the national Republican Party, indicated he did not have the energy to commit to the White House for the next decade...

It’s been exactly one year since President Obama signed a sweeping federal health care law, and with Republicans determined to undo it, Obama knows his 2012 re-election will be a tough referendum on himself and his signature legislation.

Last month, conservatives from all over the country gathered in Washington at the group’s biggest convention, CPAC, uniting behind potential Obama opponents and the call to repeal his law.

“Repeal Obamacare. That would be a good win,” cheered former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum...

The Democratic National Committee has asked the Pentagon to provide records of correspondence between the Army and nine potential challengers to President Obama in 2012, Fox News has confirmed, giving a unique glimpse of part of what appears to be the Democrats' opposition research strategy.

ABC News first reported an internal Army e-mail that indicates the DNC filed Freedom of Information Act requests for "any and all records of communication" between military agencies and Sarah Palin, Mitt Romney, Haley Barbour, Tim Pawlenty, Newt Gingrich, John Thune, Mitch Daniels and Bobby Jindal, all of whom are considering campaigning for the White House...