Post-election news from California was dominated by Barack Obama’s hefty margin over John McCain in the state and passage of Proposition 8, overturning gay marriage. But it was the unheralded passage of another initiative that may make the most history and crimp Democrat hopes for a prolonged era of dominance.

Proposition 11, which passed with the narrowest of margins (50.8 percent), could mark the most serious challenge to the political class by voters since the foiled term limit movement of the 1990s. It strikes at the core pillar of power: incumbency guaranteed through gerrymandered districts. Californians took away from their legislature the power to draw its own districts–a key element of nearly uninterrupted Democratic control since 1970. The task will now be handled by an eight-member commission chosen much like a jury, whose members cannot come from the political class.