TROY, Mich. – Proposal 1 sank like a stone.
No, make that a boulder.
By 8:15 p.m., the limited election returns showed a trend that would be impossible to overcome. In Oakland County alone, 77% of voters said no to Prop. 1.
We're talking historic failure here. The closest thing would be former Gov. Jim Blanchard's 1989 sales tax increase proposal. That measure went down 72% - 28%.
Most professional political watcher expected Prop 1 to be failure, but they didn't anticipate the magnitude of this defeat.
One exception was Glengariff pollster Richard Czuba, who predicted this drubbing Monday night.
"I'm absolutely surprised by the margin," said the Michigan Taxpayer's Alliance's Leon Drolet.
Drolet expected Prop. 1 to fail but this tidal wave of disapproval from the voters was a surprise.
"People agree the roads need to be fixed, but this isn't the answer," said political consultant Stu Sandler.
Time and time again I had voters tell me they objected to this fix. They didn't like the formula. They didn't like that all the money wasn't going to roads. They also didn't believe the legislature had come up with the best fix for the taxpayers. The whole "there is no Plan B" pitch clearly did not sit well with the electorate.
The voters sure sent that message loud and clear.
The Safe Roads Yes campaign spent millions to change minds. Paul Mitchell who ran for congress in the 4th Congressional District, but ultimately lost is the one who spent his own money—and not a lot of it—to fund the No on Prop 1 group.
Mitchell says Lansing need to do a lot better: "Let the legislature noodle on this and see if they come up with a better fix than Prop 1 it wouldn't be difficult, let's be honest."
Now Lansing must scramble to look like it can address the issue. News conferences are scheduled for tomorrow and behind the scenes discussions have already been underway for an alternative road funding solution.
In other words, work has already begun on the "Plan B" that supposedly couldn't happen.