Election night, November 3

[Midnight Mike]

McDonnell wins Va. governorship, NJ race close
Republicans wrested political control of Virginia from the Democrats on Tuesday and New Jersey's unpopular Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine was fighting for his political life as independent voters swung behind the GOP in both states. It was a troubling sign for President Barack Obama and his party heading into an important midterm election year.

Republican Gov.-elect Bob McDonnell's victory in Virginia over Democrat R. Creigh Deeds was a triumph for a GOP looking to rebuild after being booted from power in national elections in 2006 and 2008. It also was a setback for the White House in a swing state that was a crucial part of Obama's electoral landslide just a year ago.

In New Jersey, exit polls showed Corzine locked in a close race, with independents heavily favoring his Republican challenger Chris Christie in a three-way contest with independent Chris Daggett.

The president had personally campaigned for Deeds and Corzine, raising the stakes in low-energy off-year elections.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_election_rdp

[NIKV69]

NJ is close this will go into tomorrow.

[moose135]

And despite an early call by a couple of outlets, Bloomberg is less than 1% ahead in NYC, and it looks too close to call at this point. Going to be a long night.

[NIKV69]

Christie has done it. Bloomberg is pulling away and should win though he never imagined it would be that close.

[bonanzabucks]

NY1 just declared Bloomberg the winner. Thank God. Thompson would have been a disaster. I'm glad I made it out to vote.

[NIKV69]

I love how only FOX is carrying Christie's victory speech. Sounds like a down to earth guy and I hope he can turn around NJ. CNN and MSNBC couldn't be bothered I guess but I wonder what they would havee done if Corzine won? I bet Obama would have made another trip to use it as a propaganda moment. I tell you election night 2010 is going to be fun.

[bonanzabucks]

I love how only FOX is carrying Christie's victory speech. Sounds like a down to earth guy and I hope he can turn around NJ. CNN and MSNBC couldn't be bothered I guess but I wonder what they would havee done if Corzine won? I bet Obama would have made another trip to use it as a propaganda moment. I tell you election night 2010 is going to be fun.

Christie is much more moderate that was reported. He's pretty neutral on abortion rights and doesn't really believe in the Second Amendment. That's to be expected for NJ.

Virginia's election wasn't much of a surprise.

But what's more telling is that Hoffman lost to Owens in District 23. This district has been Republican since the 1800's. While the GOP should be happy with the NJ (whom they fielded a very moderate candidate) and VA (who was less moderate, but no extremist) results, they must be bitterly disappointed that Hoffman lost. They've been trying to purge anyone who doesn't match their purity test and run candidates who are wingnuts, like Hoffman. It backfired. Maybe they will learn from this, but I don't think so. 2010 will be interesting indeed, but if the GOP fields candidates like Hoffman, they're not going to gain as much as they think.

[NIKV69]

Most don't care about abortion and those things. They want to be able to live on what they make and not have to give most of it away on car insurance and property tax, the two biggest bills in people's budgets. I think it's what put him over the top.

[Midnight Mike]

Christie is much more moderate that was reported. He's pretty neutral on abortion rights and doesn't really believe in the Second Amendment. That's to be expected for NJ.

Virginia's election wasn't much of a surprise.

But what's more telling is that Hoffman lost to Owens in District 23. This district has been Republican since the 1800's. While the GOP should be happy with the NJ (whom they fielded a very moderate candidate) and VA (who was less moderate, but no extremist) results, they must be bitterly disappointed that Hoffman lost. They've been trying to purge anyone who doesn't match their purity test and run candidates who are wingnuts, like Hoffman. It backfired. Maybe they will learn from this, but I don't think so. 2010 will be interesting indeed, but if the GOP fields candidates like Hoffman, they're not going to gain as much as they think.

Most people are going to read the recent elections differently.

*The upstate New York election was probably against the Republican and how they chose the candidate for a special election, had Hoffman been the candidate from the start, he would have won the election. The moderate republican nominee was being creamed in the polls, which is why she dropped out.

*The Virginia Governor race was a nice win for the Republicans, what was a surprise was how large the Republican won by.

*The New Jerson Governor was another nice win for the Republicans in a blue state.

*Mayor Bloomberg is really a Moderate/Republican, even though he is labeled now as an Indepenent.

*Race also showed that not even President Obama can turn the tides for a candidate that is not liked, what the Democratic party will find out is that President Obama will be usefull for fundraiser activities, but, not to get anybody elected.

The Democratic through all the top guns to swing the Virginia & New Jersey Governal races, no-joy in both races.

As for the Republican part running a moderate or a conservative, it all depends on the candidate, when President Reagan ran, he was clearly a conservative, but, attracted a nice percentage of democrats. So, it is not always the labels that are attached to candidates, but, what their message is.....