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November 4, 2009

Election Day 2009 a referendum on President Obama? Depends on who you ask

Charles Oliver

There was no way you could say Republicans had a bad night on Election Day, Dalton State College history professor Tom Veve said Wednesday.

“It could have been better. But they have themselves going in the right direction,” Veve said.

Republican Chris Christie defeated incumbent Democrat Jon Corzine in the New Jersey governor’s race, becoming the first Republican elected to that office in 12 years. In Virginia, Republican Bob McDonnell defeated Democrat Creigh Deeds to become the first Republican governor in that state in eight years. Republicans also won that state’s lieutenant governor and attorney general races, the first time in 12 years the GOP won all three seats.

But in another highly watched race, Democrat Bill Owens won a special election for New York’s 23rd District seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, which has been held by the Republicans for more than a century. He defeated Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman after Republican Dede Scozzafava dropped out and endorsed Owens after several prominent Republicans had endorsed Hoffman.

Whitfield County Republican Party chairman Phil Neff said the elections were a referendum on President Barack Obama’s policies.

“Not so much on Obama personally as on the direction that the Democrats and Obama are trying to take America,” Neff said. “Do I see a resounding victory for Republicans? I see a resounding victory for conservative Republicans.”

But some local Democrats say they don’t believe the elections were a referendum on Obama.

Murray County Democratic Party chairman John Kuehl said the races were probably decided more on local issues.

“In New Jersey, they have had a lot of corruption, and I think the citizens there just decided it was time for a change,” he said.

Veve, who is Republican, said local issues did play a big part.

“Corzine clearly got himself in trouble with voters with the high property taxes and the lack of jobs,” he said.

But he also noted that Obama came to New Jersey five times to campaign for Corzine and rally voters.

“It was a resounding defeat for Corzine personally, and for Democrats it was a big loss,” he said.

Veve said that if Democrats had a choice between keeping Corzine in office and picking up New York’s 23rd House seat, they would easily have picked Corzine.

Fred Gould, a Georgia Democratic Party state committee member from Murray County, said both parties will be analyzing all the factors in each race to determine why they turned out the way they did.

“There’s probably going to be a lot of late nights looking at all the information,” he said.

Kuehl said he thinks it’s too early to say whether the results tell much about how the 2010 congressional races will go.

Veve said the key factor in the 2010 races will be the economy, especially jobs.

“Unless the unemployment number comes down dramatically by next year, the Democrats are going to pay a big price,” he said.

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