Last month we talked about Oregon’s move to repeal a law which would mandate the issuing of drivers licenses to illegal immigrants. (As well as the involvement of Jose Antonio Vargas in this “important issue.”) Well, the elections are over and the Democrats did very well, so keeping that order alive should have been a no brainer, right? As Rick Moran reports, think again.

Little noticed after the midterm vote, which saw the GOP take control of the Senate and increase their majority in the House, was a referendum in sky blue Oregon to repeal the law that granted illegal immigrants the right to obtain a driver’s license.

Even though the Democrats increased their majority in the state legislature and a Democratic governor was reelected, the measure for repeal passed by a 2-1 margin.

This is a stark warning to President Obama and the Democrats that if he acts alone to amnesty 5 million illegals, his march to irrelevancy will be complete, and the party he leads could pay an awful price in 2016.

Rick notes the AP story which shows that the measure – in a state where the GOP was fairly well clobbered – wasn’t even close.

The state law had seemed to be popular. It easily passed last year with bipartisan support in the Democratic-controlled Legislature and was signed Democratic Gov. John Kitzhaber, who was re-elected Nov. 4.

Opponents barely gathered enough signatures to put the repeal question on the ballot. Immigrant rights groups outspent their opponents 10-1.

Still, the measure failed in every county but the state’s most liberal one, Multnomah, home to Portland. Even there it trailed significantly behind other Democratic candidates and causes.

Keep in mind that this is a state which handily reelected a Democrat governor who was mired in one scandal after another. They elected more Democrats on the state and local level. They were drinking the liberal Kool-Aid by the gallon. And yet, when asked if illegals should just be given blanket access to drivers licenses, the measure was rejected in all but one county.

The Democrats are setting themselves up as the offensive line with Obama as quarterback on immigration right now. The goal line is located way down the field at November of 2016. They clearly think they have a winner on this amnesty thing, but Oregon may be a very good test lab for a bubbling undercurrent which the White House and the Democrat leadership is completely misreading. Much like the Obamacare discussion, there are some individual facets of the immigration debate where they find a lot of support among sympathetic Americans. But there is a line they should be wary of crossing. A drivers license is a powerful form of identification which can open the door to all manner of things, including voting when you are not eligible to do so and taking jobs in a still scarce market.

These are not popular issues among rank and file Americans. The White House crosses this line at their own peril.