I'm not sure how it will read actually. The NJ was more a referendum on the very unpopular Corzine (and the Dems knew they were going to fight a very tough battle with him as their candidate, at best).

Virginia will surely be a disappointment as it was trending blue in recent years, but it's one of the ironic subtleties of the state in that over the past few decades it has always elected a governor different to who was the Party in the White House. Once the primary was decided I don't think the Dems though they had a realistic chance, but were hopeful.

Congrats to Republicans. I think it's very telling however that in New York, teh conservastive candidate who was backed by Plain and Limbaugh got his head handed to him.

I understnad also that it was we independent voters carried the day and now make up the largest voting block in the country. This says to me that particianism is out.

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got his handed to him? first I really dont care in any event, I would have liked to see it go R/C but dede was left of some libs, the mish mash and the NY gop being the morons they are , this will still catch their attention and other gop boards around the country and give them pause, second ; how in the world does a 49 45 win rate "a head handed to him"?....if thats the case then I guess Christie handed Corzine his head? Your context and metaphors is way off amigo.

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"The captain has turned off the `No Dubbing' sign. You are free to speak any language you choose."

Well, perhaps - but I think it takes a certain amount of wishful thinking to explain away these elections.

The Dems will make a serious mistake if they refuse to see this as a wake-up call.

The message appears to be: whoever wins the Independents will win most elections. The Democrats did quite well with that group in both 2006 and 2008; they did not do well at all in these elections.

What is the difference? The economy is now their responsibility. And there's no point at all in attempts by Obama, Pelosi, Reid and company to refuse to accept it. It has nothing to do with what they want. It is the reality of politics.

And the economy is a mess. The Dems have been focusing almost exclusively on Health Care, which remains a confusing and complex issue that no one really understands. They have wasted enormous amounts of time, effort and political capital on this, and have nothing at all to show for it at this point.

They may indeed produce a plan that may prove helpful. But they are continuing to ignore the current reality: a deep recession, nationwide foreclosures, high and growing unemployment, and stratospheric deficits.

As long as they consistently misread the public mood - whether through genuine and sincere blindness, or arrogance, or ideology, or a combination - they will have a difficult time.

Thanks, it was a good night.

I'm so glad he lost...he's the sort of guy who could put me in a coma while he was campaigning...

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I was happy to see my state keep up their tradition of being a counter balance to those in power in Washington. Hopefully this does send a message to the Democrats in power and lights a fire underneath them to get their act together a bit more and start accomplishing more.

As far as Virginia goes, I don't see it as a vote on Obama's jobs performance (and a large majority of those exit polled said it wasn't a factor in their vote, either). Deeds was an absolutely terrible candidate and due to the state's voting history I kinda predicted a Republican victory the moment Obama won the election last year, no matter if he had the worst or best first year of a president ever.

I think the Republicans still have a long way to go before they can contend with the Democrats on a national level, but hopefully they're on the right path to adding a bit more balance of power in Washington.

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they threw in the towel as they had no hope of money to buy votes as Warner and Kaine had won with (despite never delivering the roads NOVA and Tidewater elected them to deliver). the administration's failed policies saw to that.

Virginia is a one issue state, roads.

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I'm also wondering how much (if at all) the smoking ban played into things. Lots of people were pretty pissed about that.

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Just 12 more months.

It is hard to say what effect Obama had on the NJ election.
The guy was a lousy governor, and NJ is in terrible shape.
So the fact that the governor was not re-elected is not a real surprise.
A Republican in NJ??...Ok that is a surprise.

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Yeah, that seems about right.

And the way VA's term limits work, it always alternates well with the WH.

We should have won the last VA Gubernatorial race but the DP issue mucked it all up.

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I wonder if the net effect will be republicans feeling like they've got everything figured out now, no need to change the party message.

That would be a bit insane .... because the GOP hasn't actually changed the party message at all from what drove them into the dumpster in the first place.

Well part of that was because he played both ends against them middle...he gave a shit but not to much, he did go there several times in the last month, but he or probably axelrod said hey put out the word we don't give a shit because we don't want it reflecting on us, and yes Deeds was not it appears a good candidate...

B UT neither was Christie, he never really crystallized a message even on Taxes, that was thorough and clear. BUT he wasn't Corzine so in that sense yes that worked for him...now as far as Obama or any party leader- the help they can bring and the biggest reason they even stump is to mobile the base......IF we were at 8% unemployment, where he told us we would be, had a fairly open health care debate and not Nancy as a front person, his credibility would be high hence he would be motivating folks, at the very least the party faithful, Democrats , who stayed away in drives, and kept the indies in line, they certainly came out in force BUT to an almost 2-1 margin voted the other way. Obama did not influence the election in NJ very much, if at all.

THAT is worrisome and dangerous, because the blue dogs’ will take the inevitable message away from this, he wants me to vote his way, but, at the end of the day, we are out here on our own. After they get my vote and their bill,I am fucked, not them.

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"The captain has turned off the `No Dubbing' sign. You are free to speak any language you choose."

Strangely, i think there is a lot of anti-Goldman Sachs sentiment out there after it took over the Treasury department in recent years and Paulson's bailouts and what not.

Still, Corzine is a miserable failure compared to Paulson.

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Two points on this. First, the GOPs problems were not primarly one of message, it was one of actions not conforming with their "message". Second, what last night showed was that we don't have to field "moderates" to win, that economic and socially conservative candidates can win without being apologetic for their social conservativism, so long as they are not overly chest-thumping about them either, but rather focus on the economic conservatism.

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