GOP wins guv races in Va. and Jersey, but anti-RINO gambit in NY-23 flops
November 4th, 2009 at 07:52am Pat Cunningham
For 24 years now, the party that holds the White House has lost the governorships of Virginia and New Jersey, and such was the case in Tuesday’s voting as Republican candidates carried both states.
But in the 23rd Congressional District of New York, a far-right-winger who had chased a moderate Republican from the race, lost to a Democrat.
This was a contest in which a passel of prominent ultra-conservatives — Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Dick Armey, et al — had skin in the game. This was going to be the first great test-case in a nascent campaign by the teabagger crowd to rid the GOP of its so-called RINOs. And it failed — in a district that hadn’t elected a Democrat to Congress in more than 100 years.
Republicans would like to think the voting in Virginia and New Jersey was a referendum on Barack Obama, but exit polls show that the president wasn’t a factor (see HERE). In fact, voters in both states said they generally approve of Obama’s performance in office (see HERE).
Nor will the loss of governorships in Virginia and New Jersey directly affect Obama’s legislative agenda. Governors don’t vote in Congress. But the win in NY-23 gives House Democrats one more member than they had before this election.
UPDATE: Ruth Marcus WARNS AGAINST over-analyzing the results in Virginia and New Jersey. Read it all. It’s worth your while.
UPDATE II: Writing before all the votes were counted, E.J. Dionne CORRECTLY NOTED that Democrats need to do a better job of mobilizing young voters than they did this time in Virginia and Jersey.
UPDATE III: The FUNNIEST STORY from yesterday’s political doings was the one about right-wingers jumping to conclusions over a flat tire on the vehicle of a poll-watcher in NY-23.
Entry Filed under: Sarah Palin, teabaggers, Democrats, Republicans, Rush Limbaugh, Barack Obama
12 Comments Add your own
1. Orlando Clay | November 4th, 2009 at 9:40 am
What happened in New York, Cons? I thought carpetbagger Hoffman had surged to an unstoppable a double-digit lead in the polls.and was well on his way to being the next Fox News darling. What a stunning defeat for the Beckerheads, the Dittoheads, the Palintologists, the Savage disciples and the rest of the Fox Nation of conservative insurgents!
I didn’t get a chance to watch the Fox Propaganda Channel before leaving for work this morning. Have they started blaming ACORN yet?
2. Richard | November 4th, 2009 at 9:44 am
Now let’s see … where did The Community Organizer spend most of his weekend? Oh yeah … I seem to remember that he spent much of the weekend in New Jersey to campaign for Governor John Corzine. Joe Biden went there too. All for naught. Chris Christie won … a Republican winning in a heavily Democrat State … and winning in the face of intense campaigning by Obama.
Bob McDonnell, the Republican candidate for governor of Virginia won big … that would be by 18%.
The White House, predictably, is saying that neither of these races is a reflection on the job Barack Obama has been doing. That’s the exact same thing The White House would say if the president were a Republican and Democrats had taken two Governorships from Republicans. We’re also told that Obama wasn’t watching election returns last night; he was watching basketball. Imagine that.
As for the 23rd District of New York? That’s where the liberal Republican candidate Dede Scuzzywhatsit withdrew from the race and threw her support to the Democrat. I’m still trying to figure that one out. One thing seems certain … New York needs to do something about their Republican leadership .. and this Michael Steele thing isn’t working out all that well either.
3. expdoc | November 4th, 2009 at 9:47 am
Interesting that you attribute doom to the conservatives in the NY race because they had “skin in the game” yet don’t want to make the same attribution to the Corzine loss in NJ where Obama clearly had skin in the game.
That being said, I don’t think these elections mean much except for the people of New Jersey and Virginia. In NY, before the conservative party candidate got in, it was going to be a left of center Republican or a left of center Democrat going to D.C. either way. I think the most interesting outcome of that race may be how it affects who the RNC pushes forward as candidates for the 2010 election cycle.
I think 2010 will be about the economy and jobs (unless Iran nucs Israel).
Unfortunately for the Democrats they have been smoking too much weed as they continue to try and lie about the effect of the hundreds of billiions of dollars of stimulus money spent.
A raise equals a job created..really? Thank God pot will be legal soon, because I think otherwise we may have a major drug scandal in the White House.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jMNoef6xDenBbHWO0Im6rIjDmAgAD9BOJH300
“The raises themselves were appropriate — the stimulus law set aside money for Head Start salary increases — but converting that number into jobs proved difficult. The Obama administration told Head Start officials to consider a fraction of each employee as a job saved.
“That’s more than ridiculous,” said Antonia Ferrier, a spokeswoman for Republican House Minority Leader John Boehner.
Many Head Start programs around the country went further, counting everyone who received a raise as a job saved.”
4. Mike Carroll | November 4th, 2009 at 9:58 am
Ruth Marcus seems to have her rose colored glasses firmly in place as will most liberals concerning the outcome of these races. Good.
5. realfoxnews | November 4th, 2009 at 11:08 am
Orlando who’s mom forgot to take her pill, witch two races are more important here. Last time I seen over the weekend BOBO was in New Jersey. This is just a start.
6. DingDong | November 4th, 2009 at 11:44 am
Funny how Pat keeps equating the Republican with the Independent that lost is NY. What makes Doug Hoffman such a “far-right-winger”?
7. Mr. Funfsinn | November 4th, 2009 at 12:00 pm
Newt has it backwards, though. The issue is not that a social conservative would not win in that district since Maine voters overturned the gay marriage law in that state, but voters are willing to back a Democrat who represents or at least appears to represent their own values. In that case, they are not afraid to switch parties. Second, Barack Obama carried this district.
I wrote this on another blog, but I believe that it is relevant in this Congressional District since, like the New York 23rd, Obama carried this district while actually losing the districts that cover most of the downstate, south of the Illinois River:
“First, this district elected Barack Obama last year. Second, it is the neighbor of Vermont. Third, Republicans, or should I say Republites, need to get beyond the Civil War. That horrible point in history should not be dredged up for the millionth time, but Republicans seem to think that all that ever matters is slapping the Republican label next to their name because of the Civil War. That is just so backwards since so many people that would be in the Party DO NOT identify with 150 years ago, which is just silly especially when that was such a bad point in our nation’s history that was more susceptible to personalities than rationality. I am actually glad that the 23rd district was consistent with their support for Obama, but I expected the switch from the Democrats to the Republicans in the Tennessee legislature, for the first time since the Civil War, to also be reported. Several weeks ago, Tennesseans elected a Republican to a formerly Democrat seat that switched the majority in the legislature of Al Gore’s home state.”
8. Illinoistom | November 4th, 2009 at 3:26 pm
Most likely the RINO was splitting the liberal vote thereby skewing the polls. Had she stayed in and not betrayed the Republican Party by endorsing the Democrat over the moderately conservative Hoffman, the race would have had a far different outcome. No sour grapes here, though, I’m happy with the message VA and NJ voters sent.
9. Dave Barrett | November 4th, 2009 at 3:58 pm
Illinoistom,
If your analysis is correct then the Republicans should have been asking their candidate to stay in the race rather than asking her to drop out. Huge tactical blunder there, eh?
10. Illinoistom | November 4th, 2009 at 4:22 pm
@ Dave: Absolutely, I consider Micheal Steele to be a work in progress and I hope he learns from this race. It is helpful to remember that NY 23 will be redistricted out of existence before 2012 and this seat will face another election in 2010 so we’re only talking about a temporary change from Republican to Democrat, and then it will be chopped up among 3 Democrat districts. The NJ and VA results are therefore much more important.
11. expdoc | November 5th, 2009 at 8:08 am
Oh what ever happened to the all inclusive and loving liberals who want to help the Republican party to be more succesful by being open to moderate candidates?
Did they forget the words to Kumbaya? I hope this puts a stop to all of Pat’s bloviating…..but it won’t, because hypocrisy is a drug man and it’s hard to kick.
http://commonamericanjournal.com/?p=5570
MoveOn.org threatens Blue Dog Dems
by Michael Stone
Portland Progressive Examiner
November 3, 2009
In the politics of health care, MoveOn.org is playing hardball with Blue Dog Democrats. Yesterday MoveOn raised an astounding $2 million in less than 24 hours in support of a primary challenge against any Democratic senator who helps Republicans block an up-or-down vote on health care reform.
The amount of money pledged in such a short period of time indicates the profound level of commitment to health care reform by an army of progressives willing to put their money where their mouth is. Many are willing to support a challenge against anyone who blocks reform.
The amount sends a clear signal to the media, Senate leadership, and conservative Democrats. In addition, potential primary challengers will know there’s a huge group of Americans who are ready to help defeat anyone preventing health care from getting an up-or-down vote in the Senate.
MoveOn is right to place a target on the back of any member of the Democratic Caucus who keeps health care reform from getting an up-or-down vote. The Portland Progressive Examiner has advocated for similar tactics in an earlier post.
12. Ashley St.Claire | November 7th, 2009 at 12:55 pm
Election Results. Nov.3,2009
November 6, 2009 by politicalsnapshots.wordpress.com
Election Results. Nov.3, 2009
The election results of Nov. 3, 2009 in Virginia, New Jersey and New York, will not give us a conclusive answer as to the resurgence of the Republican Party, nor the coming demise of the Democratic Party. At the same time, not paying attention to certain clues will be politically futile.
Few reasons for Democratic Party loss.
* Low voter turn out in historically Democratic strongholds.
* High unemployment, (in spite of 10,000 points at the Dow and so-called economic growth ballyhoo.)
* The disappointment of the progressive forces that helped put Obama in the White House. (Especially young white voters). Disparity between campaign rhetoric and reality.
* The uncertain, dim future of the U.S. economy.
* The unpopularity of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and,
* The Health Care Reform drama. (“not bound by any time lines” Sen. Reid)
For the time being, the Democrats might take third party candidates, as in (New York 23rd District) as their friends who might weaken the Republican Party. But, third party candidates are a double edged sword. In the future, progressive local candidates could arise challenging the status quo within the Democratic Party.
In other words, it will not be hard to envision for Conservatives and Progressives running their own candidates. After all, the rise of independents is based in the awareness that the two major political parties in the U.S. are not in step with the needs of the majority of the people. It is also an acknowledgment that the two party monopoly of politics is not conducive for democracy.
Finally, as my dear friend Ashley St.Claire says, “ may be, just may be, the so-called “ Blue Dogs”, ( I don’t know about the color but, the second part, they might be, if they call themselves one) might have a better fit in the Republican Party.”
Professor Mekonen Haddis
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