US News
(2009-11-04)
Republican Bob McDonnell wooed Virginia's independent voters Tuesday to win a landslide election for governor just a year after the state bucked tradition and voted for Barack Obama.
McDonnell, a conservative former state attorney general, had about 60 percent of the vote with most precincts reporting. He takes back the governor's office after eight years of Democrat control.
The election largely turned on independent voters, who preferred McDonnell by nearly a 2-1 ratio over Democrat R. Creigh Deeds, exit polls showed. It was a shift from 2008, when independents in the state split about evenly between the parties.
"I just got tackled by my five kids and my wife, and there are a lot of tears on my cheeks right now," McDonnell told The Associated Press.
The race, along with one in New Jersey, has been closely watched as a potential referendum on Obama and his policies. Obama was the first Democrat in 44 years to carry Virginia in a presidential race.
Virginia voters were split on Obama's job performance, exit polls showed. While many said the president was not a factor in their votes for governor, about a quarter said their vote for McDonnell was also a rejection of Obama.
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Republican Chris Christie, a former corruption-busting prosecutor, unseated the deep-pocketed but unpopular Gov. Jon Corzine on Tuesday in a bruising contest that focused on New Jersey's ailing economy, its highest-in-the-nation property taxes and even Christie's weight.
Christie, 47, became the first member of his party in a dozen years to win a statewide contest in heavily Democratic New Jersey.
"Tomorrow, starting tomorrow, we are going to pick Trenton up and turn it upside down," Christie said in his acceptance speech in Parsippany in front of cheering supporters.
President Barack Obama invested heavily in the race, campaigning with Corzine five times on three separate visits. A Republican captured the only other governor's race in the country, in Virginia, a troubling sign for Obama heading into next year's midterm elections.
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Democrat Bill Owens has captured the special election for a New York congressional seat that became a fight over the identity of the Republican Party.
Owens defeated Conservative Doug Hoffman and Republican Dierdre Scozzafava in the heavily Republican 23rd congressional District in rural northern New York. Scozzafava abruptly withdrew Saturday and supported Owens.
Hoffman has conceded the race.
With 88 percent of the precincts reporting, Owens had 49 percent of the vote to 46 percent for Hoffman. Scozzafava had 6 percent.
The race has been getting national attention, with some calling it a referendum on President Barack Obama and others saying it could help Republicans focus their message to attract more people to the party.
© Copyright 2012, Associated Press
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