No matter how they slice and dice it, Democrat losses in the New Jersey and Virginia governor races are bad news for the party of President Barack Obama as he tries to move an ambitious agenda forward.
Congressional Democrats are already jittery about mid-term elections in 2010 when the party of a first-term president usually loses seats. And Tuesday’s Republican wins will only scare them more.
Even before the New Jersey race was called for Republican Chris Christie over incumbent Governor Jon Corzine, Democrats were postulating that this would be the race to watch rather than the Republican win in Virginia where Bob McDonnell beat Democrat Creigh Deeds.
“If the Democrats have a bad night…” James Carville, Democratic pundit, said on CNN after the Virginia race was called but before the New Jersey results were out.
“Let’s assume that the Democrats lose New Jersey, it could have an effect that people in Congress say ‘you know I’m not going to go along with some of Obama’s stuff, I’m really scared, we’ve gotta be careful, we’re going into 2010.’ That could be a reaction to that, maybe even an overreaction, which could be a danger,” Carville said. “That’s something that could have some implications.”
