BALLOT INITIATIVE ADS: AFFIRMATIVE ACTION.

A year ago, anti-affirmative action crusader Ward Connerly set the goal of placing his misleading “civil rights initiatives” on the ballot in five states. But after legal challenges and accusations of signature fraud, Connerly’s organizers succeeded in only two -- Colorado and Nebraska -- both of which are likely to ban affirmative action programs on Tuesday. That doesn’t just mean an end to considerations of race and gender in college admissions. As I reported last year, an affirmative action ban in Colorado would…

…affect a variety of state programs, some of which wouldn’t be called “affirmative action” at all. The University of Colorado at Boulder’s Simply the Best program offers after-school technology enrichment, field trips, and visits to college campuses for African American and Latina teen girls. Colorado gives special health-care training to minority and bilingual professionals, which ensures more patients have access to culturally competent care. And the Colorado Minority Business Office helps people of color understand how to apply for state contracts.

Pro and anti-affirmative action forces aren’t advertising on TV, but below is a video produced by Colorado progressives opposed to the ban. It highlights Connerly’s shady business dealings and paints him as a carpetbagger, framing the issue as a distraction from everyday concerns such as higher gas prices. Here you can listen to a Connerly radio advertisement airing in Colorado. It references Amendment 82, a failed attempt to put a pro-affirmative action initiative on the 2008 ballot.

—Dana Goldstein