Republicans hit back at Obama

Washington: By seizing gubernatorial seats in Virginia and New Jersey, Republicans on Tuesday dispelled any notion of President Barack Obama's electoral invincibility, giving the GOP a lift and offering warning signs to Democrats ahead of the 2010 mid-term elections.

Republican leaders were quick to cast Tuesday's outcome as a rebuke of Obama, nearly a year after his election.

"It sends a clear signal that voters have had enough of the president's liberal agenda," Republican Party Chairman Michael Steele said after Robert F. McConnell emerged as the winner in Virginia.

Still, Democrats could take some solace in Tuesday's results, as the party swiped a traditionally Republican House seat in the far north of New York. The contest drew wide notice as moderates and nationally prominent conservatives waged a fierce battle over the future of the Republican Party. With 88 per cent of the precincts reporting, Democrat Bill Owens had 49 per cent to conservative Doug Hoffman's 45 per cent.

In Virginia, McConnell took 59 per cent to Democrat R. Creigh Deeds' 41 per cent, with 99 per cent of precincts reporting. In New Jersey, Republican Chris Cristie took 49 per cent to Jon Corzine's 45 per cent, with 99 per cent in.

Cause for concern

In the San Francisco Bay Area, Democrats easily held onto an open seat when Lt Gov John Garamendi defeated Republican David Harmer. With about a third of the precincts reporting, Garamendi was ahead 56 per cent to 40 per cent.

History suggests that off-year elections are far from predictive. In 2001 — at a like point in Republican George W. Bush's presidency, Democrats won the governorships in New Jersey and Virginia, then lost House and Senate seats a year later.

But even before a single vote was cast Tuesday, Democrats had cause for concern — with Obama slipping in polls and many voters unhappy with the Democratic-run Congress.

Tuesday's gubernatorial results certainly won't help Democrats. Perceptions are important in politics — often more so than reality, and the GOP's success, including a sweep of all three statewide offices in Virginia, should boost the party's fundraising and candidate recruitment in the coming weeks.

More significant was the makeup of Tuesday's electorate in Virginia and New Jersey, states Obama carried a year ago. It was whiter than the electorate that turned out in 2008 to make Obama the first black president in the nation's history, and suggested the difficulty that Democrats could have attracting minority voters without the president atop the ticket.

Also worrisome for Democrats was the sentiment among independents, the voters who swing between parties and often decide elections. They went overwhelmingly Republican in Virginia and New Jersey; if that dynamic carries over to next year, it could mean serious losses for Obama and Democrats fighting to keep their majorities on Capitol Hill.

"It doesn't mean we're going to lose in 2010, but we'd be very foolish to simply assume we're going to win."

Both major parties invested millions of dollars in the gubernatorial contests, aiming not just to push their candidates first across the finish line but also to shape the way the results are interpreted ahead of the midterm vote, when most governors, a third of the Senate and all 435 House seats will be on the ballot.

In the short term, the off-year results will surely colour perceptions within the Washington Beltway, as Obama and the Democratic-run Congress strive to pass landmark health care reform legislation, then turn to a major bill to fight global warming. The outcome, amplified in the echo chambers of cable TV, talk radio and the partisan blogosphere, is unlikely to make things easier for the White House and its allies.

Bloomberg re-elected as New York Mayor

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg won re-election on Tuesday, giving him the third term he began seeking last year in campaigning for a change to the city's term-limits law.

But it was a hard-won victory. Despite an election-eve poll that showed Bloomberg comfortably ahead of Democratic Comptroller William Thompson, the result was in doubt for much of the night before Bloomberg pulled away late.

With 95 per cent of precincts reporting, Bloomberg led Thompson by four percentage points. The close victory is sure to raise speculation about the impact of the term-limits change and how much that served to trump Bloomberg's accomplishments.

"The main thing is to get Bloomberg out," said Veronique Doumbe, 52, a filmmaker from West Africa. "I'm coming from a country where the president never wants to leave. Term limits are essential for a democracy."

Even Bloomberg supporters said the change in the law gave them pause. "I'm not crazy about the way he got himself on the ballot again, but I love the fact that he's non-political," said Vana Gierig, 48, a pianist.