As of 8:20pm Arizona time (10:20 EST) two very important races have been decided, with Virginia appearing to come down as a referendum on Barack Obama and the liberal Democrats in Washington.Make no mistake - Bob McDonnell winning Virginia is a massive statement on the job performance of Capitol Hill. According to Fox News, exit polls showed that nearly a third of voters in Virginia Tuesday described themselves as independents, and they preferred the Republican to the Democrat by almost a 2-1 margin. Obama carried Virginia by five points in 2008; McDonnell will carry the state by nearly twenty percent, an overall swing of twenty-five points.
The president had personally campaigned for Democrat Creigh Deeds. Also, a rather popular Tim Kaine left the Virginia Governor's office due to term limits, therefore Virginia was in theory an incumbent stronghold for the Democrats. Jobs were the number one issue in the minds of Virginia voters, something that President Obama has not yet delivered.
Meanwhile, New Jersey voters clearly were disappointed with incumbent John Corzine. A reported 42% of that state's voters said that they were voting for Christie as a vote against Corzine. President Obama also campaigned strongly for Corzine in New Jersey, a state that he won handily in the 2008 presidential election.
"I think what this night does is it completely explodes the mythology of the meaning of the 2008 election," said syndicated columnist and Fox News contributor Charles Krauthammer.
"You will remember after the 2008 election people talked ... about a new era, about the Republicans becoming a rump party of the south, even losing parts of the south, how this was the death of conservatism. ... Here we are a year later and we can see how ephemeral and one-shot 2008 was," he added.
As if hoping to avoid the outcome, the White House issued a statement after the GOP win in Virginia saying the president is not watching election returns and will not be making any remarks on the results.
****UPDATE**** At midnight Fox News called the NY-23 race in favor of the Democrat, Bill Owens. However, make no mistake - this particular race was an absolute wake-up call to the GOP, and liberals had better take notice. If we were able to have that much influence in that short a time, Conservatism is alive and well, and we are organizing.
6 comments:
Just like my college friend, the Obama "bundler", they won't talk politics anymore. HA! Because this doesn't suit them. Better this way than them crowing about victory. Let the Blue Dogs take heed. America is a different country now than it was in 2008. The shot has been fired.
Opus, I agree we are different one year later.
And although it looks like Hoffman will not win NY-23 (FNC just called it), there is no doubt that race has to be a wake-up call to the old guard in the GOP.
Newt should be embarrassed right now - he used to be that voice of Conservatism.
And Steele needs to wake up and seize the moment, or step aside.
N.Y.'s election was indicative of a push back in the Republican Party by Conservatives against the "good old boy" leadership. Long time members are tired of their donations going to support RINOs like Dede Scuzzyfavors. You are absolutely correct to say that this should serve as a wakeup call to "the party". Correction, this should serve as yet ANOTHER wakeup call - the tea party protests should have been the first one.
(This is Jamie, btw. I can't remember my Google pw, lol. Gettin old, I guess.)
All we need are candidates
Hey Jamie.. thanks for stopping by!
We'll see what really comes of it all... I must say I was glad to hear Newt on Hannity tonight apologize and acknowledge the anger being shown him for his Scuzzy endorsement.
Steele seems a bit cocky still, but he did have a reasonable explanation that he is bound by what the locals do, and once Scuzzy bailed he called the shot and backed Hoffman.
Kid - excellent point. Without worthy people with solid values, we're stuck with the same old same old.
Something tells me we'll see a bit of an uprising though...
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