Christie to Corzine: 'Man Up and Say I’m Fat'

Measure defeated 20-14; incoming governor promised veto

(AP) - New Jersey's state senate today defeated a bill to legalize gay marriage, leaving it unlikely the state will have a gay marriage law in the very near future. The bill needed 21 votes to pass, but was defeated 20-14. Gay-rights advocates had pushed hard to get the bill passed before Jan. 19, when Republican Chris Christie becomes governor. Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine promised to sign the bill; Christie has said he would veto it. More»

Reports of a great liberal realignment are greatly exaggerated

(NEWSER) - The outcome of Tuesday's elections dispel the myth of a great political re-alignment supposedly heralded by the election of Barack Obama last year, writes Charles Krauthammer . Believers swore young and minority voters would establish a new liberal majority and bury the GOP. But Republican victories in Virginia and New Jersey show that Obama’s victory had more to do with his personal appeal, and the dissatisfaction with George Bush, than any great political shift. More»

Get ready for a permanent tea party as voters seek leaders

(NEWSER) - In the GOP upsets in Virginia and New Jersey, Daniel Henninger doesn't just see Obama backlash, he sees a voter rebellion from both parties, with independent Americans behaving like stampeding cattle. That independents would within one year swing from Obama enthusiasts to backing decent-to-weak Republicans in Virginia and New Jersey is “simply astonishing,” writes the Wall Street Journal opinion editor. “The American voter is absolutely, totally, unremittingly disgusted with both political parties.” More»

Prez shouldn't lose sleep over defeated lackluster Dems

(NEWSER) - if the votes in New Jersey and Virginia were a referendum on President Obama, then Ohio's vote for casinos must have been a referendum on health care reform and Cincinatti's public transit vote a rejection of cash-for-clunkers, smirks Gail Collins. Nearly all of Tuesday's results are being portrayed as blows to Obama, despite the president's lukewarm support for some distinctly substandard Democratic candidates, Collins notes in the New York Times . More»

Polling guru gives a post-mortem on last night's elections

(NEWSER) - The numbers are in, now it's time to make sense of them. Nate Silver breaks down last night's election results:

• Don’t blame Obama; Creigh Deeds and Jon Corzine were probably just weak candidates. In New Jersey, 57% of voters approved of Obama, but 27% of those supporters voted Republican anyway. In Virginia 20% of those who approved of Obama voted GOP.
• Democrats had turnout problems in Virginia; the voters who came out last night supported McCain 51-43 in 2008, a mirror image of that year's margin.