(Nov. 4) -- Forget what voters told exit pollsters. Tuesday's election is being analyzed as a referendum on President Obama.
Republicans Bob McDonnell in Virginia and Chris Christie in New Jersey captured governor's seats that were held by Democrats. Obama won both states a year ago. He campaigned hard for Gov. Jon Corzine in New Jersey and made appearances for Creigh Deeds late in the campaign, despite some bad blood between the Virginia Democrat's campaign and the White House.
In every major news organization's exit polls, most voters said the election wasn't about the president. In Virginia, 56 percent told Fox News pollsters Obama wasn't a factor in their vote. In New Jersey, it was 60 percent. The numbers were virtually identical in exit polls done by CNN, MSNBC, ABC and CBS.
Still, there are some clear messages from voters for the president and his party. By overwhelming margins, they told pollsters they're worried about the economy. In hard times, voters take out their frustration on incumbents.
Tuesday's most noteworthy Democratic victory isn't being spun as a win for the president. Bill Owens edged out Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman -- who had the backing of Sarah Palin and Tea Party activists -- in New York's 23rd Congressional District. Owens will be the first Democrat in more than 100 years to hold that House seat. Republican candidate Dede Scozzafava, branded too liberal by Hoffman supporters, quit the race Saturday and endorsed the Democrat.
The only thing that can be said for certain about this election is that the media will overinterpret and oversimplify the results, Mark McKinnon wrote in The Daily Beast. The former strategist for President Bush said it's not fair, but every election gets interpreted as a referendum on the president -- and so this one will have "very real consequences" for Obama's policies.
Steve covers general news and writes The Point, a daily column about hot topics on the Web. He started at AOL in 2000 after working for Reuters and the Associated Press.
Obama and Pelosi have done more for the Republican Party in ten (10) months, than the Party could have ever done themselves. Keep up the good work Obama, Pelosi, and Reid. Obama is narcissistic fool. I heard one of his supporters say he has done more for the country in the last ten months than both Bushs. That is how dumb and partisan Dems are. My question is simple, tell me one thing of substances he has accomplished? The one thing he is doing, is this. He is putting more debt on our shoulders than all of our privious Presidents in total! What a fool!
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sitokhan1
11:31AM Nov 4th 2009
Republikkers can spin and crow all they want, but the fact is HARD LINE CONSERVATIVES LOST! The Repubs who won pretended to be moderate. REPUBS LOST A CONGRESSIONAL SEAT IN NY THEY HELD SINCE EDGAR ALLEN POE WAS ALIVE! The loser was the candidate backed by Palin, Limbaugh and the Tea Baggies.
DEMS NEED TO LEARN THAT THE OBAMA NATION WON'T COME OUT AND VOTE BLINDLY LIKE ZOMBIES. WE'RE PISSED OFF THAT THE LEFT IS IGNORED WHILE THE DEMS KISS RIGHT WING BUTT.
I DIDN'T BUST MY ASS IN THE 2008 ELECTION SO HARRY REID CAN SURRENDER TO MAX BAUCUS AND JOE LEIBERMAN!!
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SpiceMonkey
11:49AM Nov 4th 2009
sito, reality is too hard for them to face, you know that, and so do they, deep down. That's why they have to spend all their time waving their stubby little arms and calling people names.
RATE THIS COMMENT: (-128)
ckkjgc
1:36PM Nov 4th 2009
Typical AOL user poll in terms of validity. 55% of 9,214 on-line poll respondents said they voted yesterday (approx. 5,068 people). 69% of people who said they voted said President Obama was a factor in their decision (9,929 people answered that one). 69% of 9,229 is approx. 6,368 people). Therefore, based on this ridiculous on-line AOL poll, 126% of those voting yesterday claimed their decision was influenced by Obama. There sure are lots of lying teabaggers out there....
RATE THIS COMMENT: (-46)
mcstarznstripes1
8:24PM Nov 4th 2009
Obama Nation won't vote blindly????How about explaining why 80% of voters that voted for Obama did not know ONE policy he backed.You freakin libs saw a chance to get a radical in office and jumped all over it.I hope you dill holes are proud of Van Jones(self proclaimed commie),Cass Sustein(wants to let animals sue their owners and take organs from dead people without consent),Mark Lloyd(wants white business leaders to step down from their positions so BLACK PEOPLE CAN SEE HOW IT FEELS TO RUN A COMPANY)and last but not least Kevin Jennings(self proclaimed gay and homosexual activist who wants to teach elementary school kids what it feels like to be gay and have gay sex).Good luck trying to explain this freak show to mom and dad.
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Steven
11:20PM Nov 4th 2009
Watch it Spice, Khan will call you a racist for opposing him. He and his looney-left friends don't understand is that people are not going to stand by while they try to use the system to steal the hard earned wealth away from them. He even misuses the term Khan as it refers to an Asian ruler. He may be Asian but will never be a ruler. He doesn't even have the guts to get a job and work for himself. He instead believes that he should not have to work and that the government should give him other people's money. He unfortunately is living in a country where most people like us believe in hard work. This election shows that people (even democrats) are fed up with this socialist turn. Step one is to purge the Republican party of RINO's. Then fill the party with people that can agree that social issues should be left to the states and that government should not have its hand in every single thing business related or otherwise. 2010 is going to be Democrat slaughter.
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jodylrwebb
11:15AM Nov 4th 2009
Excuse me please but it would be more properly stated and can be said without reservation,Obama lies.
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jhooperaa
11:16AM Nov 4th 2009
The Obama controlled media can spin this anyway they want but independent voters, some Democrats, and even some Republicans who voted for Obama are fed up. This is not the change they voted for. Bailouts, Cap and trade, and national health?? If the Democrats ram thru thier healthcare takeover they will lose bigtime next November,.
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BEVERLY A GOLD
11:16AM Nov 4th 2009
Come on Republicans lets run all them out of office.
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longnkrnch
11:18AM Nov 4th 2009
I'm sure Obama's people will spin this, but the fact is, american have realized they were dupped in the pres election. Its time to start turning that around. This is just the first wave. People are realizing that this country is headed for destruction under this administration.
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longnkrnch
11:19AM Nov 4th 2009
Lets re-hold the presidential election today and see what happens. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me!
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ckkjgc
1:25PM Nov 4th 2009
I bet you felt pretty ashamed after November 2004.
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longnkrnch
11:20AM Nov 4th 2009
Let the Blue Dogs read and heed. Healthcare bill and you leave the hill.
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conchhorn
11:22AM Nov 4th 2009
The election was the American people coming out of the dream like state that they have been in and becoming aware that America under Obummer is becoming a Socialist State. The Second Bloody American Revolution is close at hand and the scum in Washington and Wall Street will pay the price for their lies and treachery.
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Luette
11:26AM Nov 4th 2009
Obama is a Marxist -if you dont beleive that listen to his 'pastor" for five minutes screaming Marxism and Racism....he is also a Narcissist--
Anything that does not help them is beneath them and do not deserve their attention. If an issue raised in the Senate does not help Obama in one way or another, he has no interest in it. The "present" vote is a safe vote. No one can criticize him if things go wrong. Those issues are unworthy by their very nature because they are not about him.
Obama's election as the first black president of the Harvard Law Review led to a contract and advance to write a book about race relations. The University of Chicago Law School provided him a lot longer than expected and at the end it evolved into, guess what? His own autobiography! Instead of writing a scholarly paper focusing on race relations, for which he had been paid, Obama could not resist writing about his most sublime self. He entitled the book Dreams from My Father. Not surprisingly, Adolph Hitler also wrote his own autobiography when he was still nobody. So did Stalin.
For a narcissist no subject is as important as his own self. Why would he waste his precious time and genius writing about insignificant things when he can write about such an august being as himself? Narcissists are often callous and even ruthless As the norm, they lack conscience. This is evident from Obama's lack of interest in his own brother who lives on only one dollar per month. A man who lives in luxury, who takes a private jet to vacation in Hawaii, and who has raised nearly half a billion dollars for his campaign (something unprecedented in history) has no interest in the plight of his own brother. Why? Because, his brother cannot be used for his ascent to power. A narcissist cares for no one but himself.
This election is like no other in the history of America . The issues are insignificant compared to what is at stake. What can be more dangerous than having a man bereft of conscience, a serial liar, and one who cannot distinguish his fantasies from reality as the leader of the free world? I hate to sound alarmist, but one is a fool if one is not alarmed.
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cloos85717
3:14PM Nov 4th 2009
and you have not found it alarming that Bush lied about Iraq?
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Catherine
11:27AM Nov 4th 2009
Jesse Ventura was correct on the Larry King Show last night. He said Pres. Obama is being blamed for the problems he inherited from the Bush Administration. All the naysayers about President Obama on these blogs probably didn't vote for him and want him to fail as Rush Limbaugh does. Rush's and Sarah Palin's endorsements of the Conservative in the N.Y. election didn't help him. He lost to Owens, the Democrat, in a highly Republican area.
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Obamamustgo
11:35AM Nov 4th 2009
Still drinkin' the Kool-Aid Cathy, what Nobama inherited, was brought on by the dems in congress, quit listening to the state run media and start thinking for yourself.
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loucardsfan
11:39AM Nov 4th 2009
There was no Republican running there, dim wit.
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craigwied
11:41AM Nov 4th 2009
For the so called more intelligent Party, Liberal Dems, you just don;t get it. If this election has you people reeling wait till 2010.