Election Results a Victory for Independents, Defeat for Two Party System

The headlines roared:

• CNN: "A big night for the GOP"
• MSNBC: "Election '09 tests don't bode well for Obama"
• ABC news: "Election Night Lesson for Obama?"
• NY Times: "Republicans Sweep Top Races in Setback for Obama"
• FOXNews: "Wins Give GOP Hope...Election of Republican governors in Va., N.J. could mean trouble for Obama"
• Republican Chairman, Michael Steele: Victories in New Jersey and Virginia show "a transcendent party"

But a look at the exit polls show a different story. In Virginia where Republican, Bob McDonnell, won decisively, voters by 2 to 1 said their vote had nothing to do with President Obama. The same happened in New Jersey. The NY Times concluded that it was neither a win or a lose for Obama. In fact both states have "long histories of electing governors from a political party opposite that of the president." Republican "George Allen was elected in 1993, one year after Bill Clinton won the presidency. Democrat Mark Warner won in 2001, a year after George W. Bush's first presidential victory."

The Conservative Republican right will attempt to paint last night Governorship gains as proofs their message is resonating. In New Jersey, the winning candidate, Chris Christie, is considered a moderate. He won with less than 50% of vote against an unpopular Governor, who is also a wealthy Wall St. investor. His business skills were obviously not much use in running New Jersey. The Independent candidate in that race got 6 percent. President Obama "campaigned for Corzine three times, most recently this past Sunday."

In New York City, the Independent incumbent Mayor, Mike Bloomberg, won with only 51% of the vote despite spending an estimated $100 million, and the commonly held perception that he is someone who gets things done. The voters of New York (where I live) were angered by the Mayor's overturning term limits and his original support for it. Bloomberg changed his allegiance from the Republicans only recently. The Democrats in NYC haven't won the Mayoralty, despite having overwhelming registration advantage, in the last 5 elections. Voters here don't think much of either party.

The 23rd Congressional district in NY dealt the Republicans a major defeat yesterday. Despite having endorsements from heavyweight Republicans, the Conservative candidate, Doug Hoffman, lost to the Democrat. No Democrat had held this seat in over 100 years. The Republican candidate was forced out of the race in favor of Hoffman. But the fact that a third party candidate did as well as he did, is a message to the Democrats and Republicans.

Clearly, the biggest winners were Independent voters. In the 23rd, Independents won it for the Democratic candidate, Bill Owens. In Virginia, "independents opted for McDonnell over Democrat Creigh Deeds by an astonishing 65 percent to 34 percent."

Yesterday election results were a repudiation of the two party system.