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Source: Reuters -
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Republicans rolled to victory in Virginia and New Jersey
governor's races in a sharp blow to Democrats that showed the
limits of US President Barack Obama's political clout.
After suffering a one-two punch in those two states, Democrats
salvaged a victory over a conservative candidate in a congressional
district in upstate New York in a race that exposed a split in the
Republican Party.
Republican Bob McDonnell scored an easy victory over Democrat
Creigh Deeds in Virginia.
In New Jersey, Republican Chris Christie had a tougher time with
incumbent Democratic Governor Jon Corzine but prevailed.
The victories buoyed Republican hopes that they had emerged from
the political wilderness after losing control of the US Congress in
2006 and the White House in 2008.
And it raised questions for Democrats as they try to protect strong
majorities in the US House of Representatives and the Senate in
2010, amid concerns about the weak US economy and their inability
so far to reduce the country's unemployment rate, now at
9.8%.
"Losing Virginia in a landslide, his key swing state victory in
2008, plus the loss of New Jersey means a bad night for Obama,"
said Larry Sabato, a University of Virginia political
scientist.
"Presidents have to take their lumps and Obama has just taken a
big one."
The Virginia and New Jersey losses suggested Democrats have a
challenge in trying to attract voters to the polls without Obama's
name on the ticket.
Democratic turnout suffered particularly in Virginia.
Some analysts wondered aloud whether some moderate Democratic
members of Congress might look at the results and question whether
expensive programs such as a broad overhaul of the US healthcare
system are politically palatable.
"It could have an effect that people in Congress say 'you know I'm
not going to go along with some of Obama's stuff, I'm really
scared, we've gotta be careful, we're going into 2010,'" said
Democratic consultant James Carville on CNN.
A year ago, Obama became the first Democratic presidential nominee
to win Virginia since 1964.
Obama campaigned twice for Deeds but Democrats were unable to
muster a large turnout the way they did a year ago despite holding
the state for the last eight years.
Republicans had not won a state-wide race in New Jersey since 1997.
Obama won the state by 16 percentage points and travelled there to
campaign three times for Corzine, a former Wall Street executive
who pumped $31 million of his own money into the campaign.
Obama not watching results
The president was described by the White House as not having
watched the election returns, and spokesman Robert Gibbs earlier
dismissed the potential impact of the governors' races on Democrats
and the 2010 elections.
"These races turned on local and state issues and circumstances and
on the candidates in each race - and despite what some will
certainly claim - the results are not predictive of the future or
reflective of the national mood or political environment," said
Democratic Party chief Tim Kaine.
But the Republican Party was eager to blame the policies of Obama
and the Democrats.
"Tonight voters sent a warning shot to Democrats and the White
House: they are tired of the spending, tired of the waste and tired
of the over-reach they see coming out of Washington," said Eric
Cantor, the No 2 Republican in the US House.
ABC News said majorities of voters in both Virginia and New Jersey
approved of Obama's handling of his job - 51% in Virginia and 57%
in New Jersey.
But it said 90% in New Jersey and 85% in Virginia said they were
worried about the direction of the country's economy in the next
year.
Democratic strategist Bud Jackson said the long night for Democrats
could be seen as an indication of impatience with Obama.
"A lot of these people who voted for Obama last year, they voted
for the hope. Well, hope hasn't had time to meet reality so there
are a lot of independent voters who aren't completely sold on Obama
yet and they won't be until they start seeing some results," he
said.
Democrat wins in New York
US television projected Democrat Bill Owens defeated Conservative
Party candidate Doug Hoffman in upstate New York's 23rd
congressional district.
The House seat had been left vacant when Obama picked Republican
John McHugh as his Army secretary.
The race took a bizarre twist over the weekend when Republican
candidate Dede Scozzafava withdrew because of flagging support and
endorsed the Democrat.
Democrats charged the race was an example of divisions within the
Republican Party between conservatives and moderates.
Hoffman had been endorsed by conservative Republicans such as
Sarah Palin, last year's Republican vice presidential
nominee.
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who engineered a rules change to
allow him to run for a third term, was re-elected.
The billionaire mayor defeated Democrat Bill Thompson by a
narrower margin than expected after spending almost $124 million on
the campaign to Thompson's $9.7 million.
In Maine, a citizen's veto is on the ballot to overturn a May 2009
law allowing same-sex marriage.
If the law is upheld, Maine would become the sixth US state to allow gay marriage, but the first to approve such a law at the ballot box - a potential turning point for gay rights after a stinging 2008 defeat in California.
