LANSING (AP) - Nine western states could be among the next sites for debate over whether race and gender should be considered in determining who gets into public universities and who gets government work.

The expanded effort announced Wednesday was sparked by the recent success of a ballot proposal to amend Michigan's constitution, said Ward Connerly, chairman of the Sacramento, Calif.-based American Civil Rights Coalition. The group supports banning public affirmative action programs based on race and gender preferences, a proposal that passed in Michigan in November with 58 percent of the vote.

"It played a huge role," Connerly said of the group's Michigan success during a teleconference Wednesday. "Had we lost in Michigan, we would not be on the phone here announcing plans to get this done."

Connerly announced the formation of exploratory committees to look at nine states: Arizona, Colorado, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming. He said potential for success in each state will be explored over the next 45 to 60 days.

The proposals could target the 2008 election.

Similar proposals passed in California and Washington in the past decade.

Connerly's opponents said they will continue their fight to preserve affirmative action programs. Wade Henderson, president of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, said Connerly is "capitalizing on the politics of fear" by targeting states that are experiencing major economic and demographic shifts.

"Michigan taught us some valuable lessons," Henderson said in a written statement. "But Michigan is not the nation and there are unique circumstances that say it won't be the way the nation goes."

The amendment to Michigan's constitution bans the use of race and gender preferences in university admissions and government hiring. It is scheduled to take effect Dec. 23, but it has been challenged in federal court by a pro-affirmative action group called By Any Means Necessary.

Some state universities have been named as defendants in that lawsuit. In a motion filed in response, three universities - the University of Michigan, Michigan State University and Wayne State University - have asked U.S. District Judge David Lawson for more time to implement the necessary changes required by the new law.

The universities want to complete this year's admissions and financial aid cycles using the same standards that have been in place since the process began earlier this year. Those cycles, which end in May 2007 or later, mostly affect students who would enter college in fall 2007.

A hearing date on the case had not yet been scheduled.

The anti-affirmative-action initiative, called Proposal 2 on the Michigan ballot, has the most impact on the University of Michigan's Ann Arbor campus.

The measure was prompted by a 2003 U.S. Supreme Court decision that upheld a general affirmative action policy at the University of Michigan's law school but struck down the school's undergraduate admissions formula, which awarded points based on race, as too rigid.