Conservatives can’t believe their hero Tony Bennett lost.
Bennett had the support of the national conservative establishment.
The Thomas B. Fordham Institute had crowned him the American Education Idol.
He had nearly $1.5 million to spend.
Republicans loved his attacks on unions.
The Obama administration loved his support for the Common Core standards.
He is president of Jeb’s group of rightwing superintendents called Chiefs for Change.
He is on the board of directors of the Council of Chief State School Officers (its president is Tony Luna of Idaho, whose teacher-bashing laws were repealed by the voters).
Education Week invited Bennett to lead a forum on “Road Maps to Success” in implementing the Common Core in March 2013 (that should be a hoot, especially since one of the session will be held in Indianapolis!).
And he got shellacked in the election by a political novice.
Glenda Ritz received 100,000 votes more than Mike Pence, who was elected Governor.
The pondering goes on and on.
How did David beat Goliath?
Here is one effort to explain it.
Let’s see: teachers, principals and superintendents were angry, but that would not be enough to beat him.
The unions were angry, but that would not be enough to beat him.
Parents were angry at the avalanche of testing. There are lots and lots of parents. That would matter.
Hoosiers who graduated from public schools, who loved their teachers, who respect the importance of public education figured out that he was doing his best to turn it over to entrepreneurs.
Maybe that’s what did it.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Reblogged this on Transparent Christina and commented:
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The oppressive Common Core, high-stakes standardized testing gone awry, the cyber education push, and privatization are just a few of the reasons that Bennett lost. The citizens have had enough and they have spoken loud and clear.
As an educator in FL, sadly it looks like Indiana’s win is FL’s loss, as Tony Bennett’s name keeps coming up as the next Secretary of Ed in FL. Could the folks in Indiana figure out a way to keep him from coming here?
Reform idol winner and 2012 election loser, Tony Bennett.
Is this tape real? I thought it had to be satire. This is sick. Absolutely sick, vile, repulsive. I’m glad this Tony Bennett, “King Of The Privatizers” and Jeb Bush lackey, got his butt kicked…and kicked GOOD, last week.
Keep this poison out of Florida—or any state. Again, how very vile this is.
http://neifpe.blogspot.com/2012/11/never-underestimate-your-ability-to-get.html
The oligarchs must continue to spin fabrications of Tony Bennett’s demise because they do not want the public to be aware of the truth: the power still lies with the people. People can form a movement. The people can still work for change. The people can revolt against corruption in a civilized democracy. And, in this case, they did.
Nothing scares the oligarch more than this. So they continue to try to deceive the public on what really happened.