The California Supreme Court's decision today to uphold Prop 8 is more about the California constitution and the initiative process (the true winner in the case) than it is about same-sex marriage. In effect, by a 6-1 vote, the court makes plain that it would have loved to overturn Prop 8--but couldn't because of the constitution.

And in the following passage from today's decision, the court seems to offer a suggestion to advocates of a constitutional convention: that the state needs provisions limiting the ability of the people to change certain parts of the constitution by initiative. The political problem with this is, of course, that advocates of such a convention desperately want to avoid having issues like same-sex marriage brought into the debate over a convention.

Anyway, here's the relevant passage:

Direct democracy came to Mississippi recently -- in 1992. And the initiative process hasn't been used often there so far. But now Republicans in Mississippi are preparing to qualify an initiative that would require citizens to show a government ID before they could vote. The initiative would be a constitutional amendment and could appear on the ballot in 2010.

Given Mississippi's singular history of denying people the right to vote, this initiative is likely to draw national attention -- and controversy -- if it goes forward. Republicans want the initiative because a voter ID requirement has thus far failed to gain support in the legislature.

Could North Carolina be the 25th state to have the initiative process? A bill introduced earlier this month (the text is here) by Republicans in the state House would bring the ballot initiative to North Carolina. The last state to add the initiative was Mississippi in 1992.

The standard for qualifying an initiative in the legislation would be onerous--a sponsor would need a number of signatures equal to 20 percent of the votes cast in the most recent governor's race. (In California, it's 5 percent). I wonder about its prospects politically. With California such a political and budgetary basketcase, our bad example might be enough to sink this idea. (hat tip: ballopedia.org)

Georgia was the first state in the country to introduce universal pre-k.

Oklahoma has the highest percentage (68 percent) of four-year-olds in state pre-k programs.

Alabama pre-k programs met all 10 quality benchmarks in the 2007 NIEER assessment.

Mississippi has no pre-k program.

Not sure what we mean? Here's Cookie Monster:

Answer: Mississippi. Southern states have been leaders in providing state support for quality pre-k programs, but Mississippi is the only state in region that does not have a publicly-financed pre-k program.

A daily diary of developments in the world of blockbuster democracy:

SILENCE IN MISSISSIPPI: Today is the presidential primary in the Magnolia State, the newest addition to the map of initiative states. But only 23 initiatives have been filed since Mississippi added the initiative in 1992. And there isn't a measure on today's ballot.

NEIGHBORS BACKED CALIFORNIA TRIBES: The support of neighbors of California tribes with fast-expanding casinos was important to the victory of four compacts -- Propositions 94-97 -- on the Feb. 5 ballot, according to this analysis from the Press Enterprise.

CHALLENGE TO STEM CELL: In California, something calling itself the San Jose Group has filed an initiative that seeks to roll back the funding mechanism of Prop 71, the stem cell measure passed by voters in 2004. The measure is here.