(CNSNews.com) – On what turned out to be a good night for Republicans, Democrats were silent until midnight, when party chairman Tim Kaine released a statement saying that Democratic losses should not be viewed as a referendum on President Obama or Democrat policies.
According to Kaine, Democrats had strong candidates in both Virginia and New Jersey, but the problem was, they “were running against a significant historical tide and faced uphill battles from the start.”
Kaine noted that in New Jersey, the party in power in the White House hasn't won the N.J. governor's office since 1985 -- and the party in power in the White House hasn't won the Virginia governor's office since 1977. “It would have been historic if not unprecedented to win one or both of these races given historical trends,” Kaine said.
Beyond “historical” trends, exit polls showed that the two gubernatorial elections “turned on local and state issues,” Kaine said. “The results are not predictive of the future or reflective of the national mood or political environment,” he insisted. Kaine said that in each state, President Obama’s approval ratings “are better today than the share of the vote he received in each state in 2008.”
But three days ago, during a campaign swing in Camden, N.J., President Barack Obama described Gov. Jon Corzine as “one of the best partners I have in the White house. We work together,” Obama said on Sunday. “We know our work is far from over.”
Obama urged his supporters – thousands of whom turned out to see him – to give Corzine another term in office, something voters decided not to do on Tuesday.
Obama also campaigned for Virginia Democrat Creigh Deeds, despite early predictions that Deeds had run a poor campaign and would lose the election to Republican Bob McDonnell.
Democrats say the most “consequential” race of the night was the one they won – in New York’s 23rd congressional district, where Democrat Bill Owen defeated conservative candidate Douglas Hoffman by about 6,000 votes.
Democrats say the race was hijacked by “right-wing extremists” who forced the liberal Republican candidate, Dede Scozzafava, to bow out at the last minute.
In his post-election statement, Kaine described Scozzafava as a “moderate” who was “purged from the Republican Party by the most extreme elements of the conservative right wing including Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck.”
Kaine said Republicans should be very worried: “ This race turned out to be the worst of all possible worlds for Republicans as not only did the Democrat, Bill Owens, win a seat that Democrats have not held in more than 100 years, but what occurred in New York has exposed a war within the Republican Party that will not soon end.”
Kaine said the “war” within the Republican Party played out in Pennsylvania earlier this year when longtime Republican Senator Arlen Specter became a Democrat -- and is now playing out in House, Senate and gubernatorial races nationwide, where conservatives are challenging liberal Republicans.
“The all out war between Republicans and the far right wing is a disaster for the Republican Party and will dog it well after today," Kaine predicted.