Did the States Elections Damage the President

Has Obama and the Democrats Lost Any Political Capital

Nov 4, 2009

Did some key Republican election victories affect President Obama's political influence, or did they simply reveal a change in public ideals?

On Wednesday, November 4, every major news organization was abuzz with the election results from governors' races in New Jersey, and Virginia. According to a Foxnews.com story, Republicans Win Governor's Races in New Jersey, Virginia, “Republican Chris Christie beats incumbent Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine in New Jersey; Republican Bob McDonnell trounces Democrat Creigh Deeds in Virginia.” This story was covered on the major news media in newspapers, television, and online.

The Elections Implications

This begs the question, why were these elections results so important? It is because New Jersey and Virginia both had Democratic governors before last night. But more to the point, the president himself, and several other high level Democrats, had campaigned heavily in those states in an effort to keep the leadership in the hands of the Democrats the Foxnews.com story continued.

This is the second time the president has tried to use his influence and has failed. Obama’s Olympic Trip by Curt Guillory outlines Obama’s lack of influence in Copenhagen.

The question of conservative ideals came into play as a CNN.com story by Alan Silverleib, “GOP wins key governor races, but lose NY congressional seat” reported that voters in Maine overturned a recent law which legalized gay marriage. This was a highly emotional issue according to Silverleib, and a similar Washington state issue narrowly passed 51 to 49 percent.

Is This a Referendum for Obama

The fear for the Democratic Party is that these results could be somewhat of a precursor to the 2010 midterm elections. An msnbc.com report, Republican wins deal blow to Obama, states the elections, “could also be ominous for Democrats ahead of next year's midterm elections, when a third of the Senate, all of the House of Representatives and most governorships are on the ballot.”

Exit polling did give some insight as to why the electorate voted as it did. Silverleib’s CNN.com story reported that voters cited the economy as their major concern, not President Obama’s performance.

The msnbc.com report painted a different picture however. The story states exit polling data in Virginia showed that, “more than four in 10 voters in Virginia said their view of Obama factored into their choice.”

In addition to the exit polling information there was a source of good news for the Democrats. In an upstate New York election to fill an empty congressional seat that had not been filled by anyone other than a Republican since the Civil War stated CNN.com.

Are the Democrats Losing Traction

Republicans pulled no punches in Tuesday night victory speeches and aimed directly at the president and the Democratic leadership. A Foxnews.com story, GOP Gains Could Hurt Obama Political Capital, If Not Agenda, quoted Virginia Republican Rep. Eric Cantor as saying, “What this is tonight, this victory here tonight, is a warning shot, and it says to the moderate Democrats in the House that they ought to think twice about continuing to pursue the policies of this White House and (House Speaker) Nancy Pelosi.”

The story went on to quote syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer as saying, “You will remember after the 2008 election people talked ... about a new era, about the Republicans becoming a rump party of the south, even losing parts of the south, how this was the death of conservatism. ... Here we are a year later and we can see how ephemeral and one-shot 2008 was.”

Ultimately the American public will have to wait for the midterm elections to see if the Republican Party can parlay their newly found gains.

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