(HuffPo) — The White House and its allies are feeling a bit emboldened by the defeat of several conservative ballot measures on Tuesday evening, arguing in private that the election results demonstrate the dangers of conservative overreach.

Publicly, however, the statements have focused less on politics and more on the substance of the measures that were defeated. On Wednesday morning, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney kept to the script by offering simple praise for the defeat of a measure in Mississippi that would have defined a fertilized egg as a person.

“Last night’s vote was a victory for women and families,” Carney said. “The President believes that extreme amendments like this would do real damage to a woman’s constitutional right to make her own health care decisions, including some very personal decisions on contraception and family planning.”