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In blow to Obama, Republicans win two state races
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 Gov. 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 percent.
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.
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.
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.
But the Republican Party was eager to blame the policies of Obama and the Democrats.
ABC News said majorities of voters in both Virginia and New Jersey approved of Obama’s handling of his job -- 51 percent in Virginia and 57 percent in New Jersey.
But it said 90 percent in New Jersey and 85 percent in Virginia said they were worried about the direction of the country’s economy in the next year.
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.
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 $90 million on the campaign to Thompson’s $7 million.
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