Voters Now a Rampaging Herd

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»

GOPers 'nationalizing' gubernatorial contests to up conservative cred

(NEWSER) - Republican gubernatorial candidates are falling over themselves to attack President Obama, eager to turn their local elections into national referendums, Politico reports. Would-be Georgia governor John Oxendine, for example, has started a website called “YouCanStopObama.com,” which focuses on Obama’s health reform efforts, while Michigan gubernatorial hopeful Pete Hoekstra has slammed Obama’s attempts to move Guantanamo inmates to US jails, and said he should be held responsible for the failed Christmas terror attack. 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»

Deficits were the rallying cry for yesterday's winners

(NEWSER) - "Conservatives have supposedly gotten their groove back," Peter Beinart writes about the results of yesterday's state races, "but it's not the same old groove." The candidates who won—or almost won—downplayed social issues and focused on the economy, which Beinart calls the “new culture war." Sure, a “jihad against deficit spending” isn’t a particularly coherent position when spending and stimulus are keeping the country afloat. But “economic fury” brings in votes, and it’s something the entire country can understand. 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.