November 4th, 2009:

via  NY 23 Election Results: Bill Owens Beats Doug Hoffman

Congressman-elect Bill Owens

“Our challenges aren’t Democratic or Republican. They’re not liberal or conservative. They are American challenges that we will overcome with American resolve,” Owens said in his victory speech. “The only way that we can create jobs and attract economic development to our communities is by bringing people of all parties together and giving everyone a seat at the table.”

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First, the governor’s races.

The big news of the election, of course, were the two governor’s races in Virginia and New Jersey. Virginia, an historically red state that leans to the middle, was no surprise with Republican Bob McDonnell winning over Democrat Creigh Deeds. But the race in New Jersey was a huge upset for Republicans. Republican Chris Christie edged out Democrat incumbent Governor Jon Corzine.

The main stream media, and FOX Entertainment, tried to make these governor races about President Obama, but it never really stuck. They want to say that these elections reflect the amount of influence that Obama still has over the electorate, but, a majority of those polled in exit polls in both states claimed that Obama did not have any influence over the way they voted.

President Obama and Vice President Biden both campaigned for Corzine. Obama went to New Jersey, but not with the full weight of his well oiled campaign machine behind him. His organization, Obama For America, did not go all out phone banking and fund raising, at least as much as they are capable. When Obama took Virginia last year, he went there over and over, almost enough to establish residency. Virginia turned “purple” for the first time.

Six out of ten voters in Virginia stated in the exit polls in Virginia that Obama did not influence their vote.

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Now, The Meltdown in the special election for NY-23rd Congressional District:

There has been a real brouhaha up in New York of late. The Republican candidate for  NY-23rd District House seat suddenly dropped out of the race over the weekend. But that’s not half of the turmoil, and frankly, out-and-out hilarity that has caught the attention of the fringe conservatives across the country.

Believing that the locally chosen Republican candidate, Dierdre Scozzafava, was much too moderate, the conservative far-right fringe group that proudly hosted tea-bag parties and held rallies claiming the President was a Nazi, interjected their own candidate into the fray running on the Conservative Party ticket. Republican heavyweights like Rush Limbaugh, Glen Beck, and Dick Armey who is the chairman of the PR firm Freedom Works, loudly supported the far-right Conservative candidate, Doug Hoffman. Remember that Freedom Works is the organization behind the Astroturf campaigns and tea-bag rallies last April.

Hoffman’s candidacy was also boosted by the endorsement of Sarah Palin.

All this superstar publicity, media circus, and continual gushing over Hoffman by the far-right was too much to bear for the main stream Republican, Scozzafava. It appeared that the Conservative Hoffman had the endorsements and the momentum to glide to victory on the backs of Limbaugh and Beck.

But all that melted like icing off a wedding cake left in the sun when the voters themselves told these carpet bagging meddlers where to stick their endorsements. The guy who plodded along running his own campaign with his own local newspaper endorsements crept up and snatched victory when the big guns were too busy self-congratulating. It has been pointed out that Hoffman was irritable when asked about local issues, claiming that those things weren’t what was on the minds of the voters. Big mistake.

Democrat Bill Owens squeezed out victory over Hoffman and after all the hullabaloo, after all the media circus pawing over Hoffman, a Democrat takes this House seat for the first time since before the Civil War.

But we must consider just what kind of Democrat we have here. Being a Democrat, and having won in a redder-than-red district, means that Owens has to be somewhat conservative. I think the clue to how he’ll approach legislation lies in the statement he made today that I have quoted above:

“Our challenges aren’t Democratic or Republican. They’re not liberal or conservative. They are American challenges…”

Doesn’t this sound familiar? Didn’t Obama say something to the effect of the states aren’t red or blue, but they are the “United States of America”? This is not a statement a progressive Democrat would make. We’ll see, only time will tell, but I’ll bet my next retirement check that Owen joins the Blue Dog Coalition.