All Blog Posts from Political Hotsheet

Texas governor Rick Perry declared that the Obama administration was "hell-bent" on socialism during a speech to the Republican Women's Club in Midland, Texas yesterday, according to Texas local newspapers. He also called for more tea party protests against health care reform efforts.

Perry accused the administration of "punishing" Texas through what he calls the Alien Transfer and Exit Program. He complained to the crowd about what he said is the administration’s system of dumping illegal immigrants captured in other areas of the country into rural Texas, where the state must deal with them. Perry went on to describe a recent conversation he had with officials from the small border town of Presidio.

"They said, ‘do you all know what’s fixin’ to happen?’ I said, ‘well, no. What’s going on?’ They said, ‘the government has just called us and said for us to get ready for an influx of illegal aliens who were captured illegally crossing the border from San Diego to Nogales, Arizona," Perry recalled. "Way on the western side of this country. It's called the Alien Transfer and Exit Program."

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The Republican challenger Chris Christie narrowly defeated Democrat Jon Corzine in the race for New Jersey governor. Christie is the first Republican to be elected governor of New Jersey since Christie Whitman was elected in 1993.

New Jersey's Jon Corzine was the only governor who was up for re-election this year and heading into this contest, Corzine was facing an unhappy electorate anxious about taxes, the economy, and dissatisfied with his job performance.

A reliably blue state for years when it comes to presidential politics, Barack Obama coasted to victory here last November, besting John McCain by 15 points.

New Jersey's electorate was older and slightly more conservative than last year. Voters were looking for change, but while change represented the Democrat, Barack Obama a year ago, New Jersey voters saw Christie, the Republican, as the change agent this time around.

Christie received strong support from the traditional Republican base: 82 percent of conservatives backed him, as did 91 percent of self-identified Republicans.

But independents were key to his victory. They made up 28 percent of the electorate and backed Christie over Corzine by 60 percent to 30 percent. Corzine's performance among independents was 21 points lower than Mr. Obama's last fall when 51 percent of New Jersey independents backed him. Also moderates, who made up 45 percent of the electorate, narrowly backed Christie by 48 percent to 45 percent. Mr. Obama won the support of New Jersey moderates last year.

Governor Corzine held his own among his base, getting the backing of 86 percent of Democrats, 83 percent of liberals, and 88 percent of black voters. Corzine also won the support of 57 percent of young voters, but voters age 18 to 29 represented just nine percent of the electorate. On Election Day 2008, 17 percent of New Jersey voters were under age 30.

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Republicans went two-for-two in Tuesday's gubernatorial races as Chris Christie pulled out an upset over Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine.

How could this have happened in a state where Barack Obama defeated John McCain by 15.5 percent last year and where registered Democrats outnumber Republicans by 700,000?

Republicans were ecstatic over their Virginia victory; their joy over the New Jersey win is almost indescribable. Just a year after being trounced across the board, the GOP picks up a governor's seat in a solid Democratic state over an extremely well-funded incumbent.

"Chris Christie secured a major victory for the Republican Party tonight," Republican Governors Association Chairman Haley Barbour said in a statement. "Defeating a deep-pocketed incumbent in a Democratic state like New Jersey is a tremendous accomplishment and signals the beginning of the GOP's comeback."

But before declaring a GOP comeback and assigning blame to President Obama and national Democrats, don't forget that Corzine's downfall has been festering - independent of national trends - for the past 18 months; his approval rating began to tank in 2008 – in the middle of a historically successful year for national Democrats.

Corzine's unpopularity going into Tuesday's election cannot be underestimated. The target of blame for the state's financial problems and high property taxes, Corzine's approval rating has consistently been in the high 30s to low 40s – since mid-2008.

And not one poll during the gubernatorial race this year showed Corzine with more than 43 percent support.

Simply put, New Jersey voters have been looking at other options for a while.

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Updated 8:51 a.m. ET, Nov. 4, 2009

Here's a summary of the winners and losers from the key races decided on Election Day 2009:

Virginia Governor: Bob McDonnell (R) defeats Creigh Deeds (D)

New Jersey Governor: Chris Christie (R) defeats Incumbent Jon Corzine (D)

New York Congressional District 23: Bill Owens (D) defeats Doug Hoffman (C)

California Congressional District 10: John Garamendi (D) defeats David Harmer (R)

Maine Referendum: Gay Marriage Law Repealed

Maine Referendum: Expands Medical Marijuana Law

Breckenridge, Colo., Referendum: Legalizes Marijuana Possession

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Updated 2:09 a.m. ET, Nov. 4, 2009

Republican Chris Christie has won the race for governor in New Jersey over Democratic incumbent Jon Corzine and independent Chris Daggett.

As for reasons as to why Corzine lost, CBS News political director Steve Chaggaris notes that his popularity has been dropping for a while.

"Corzine's unpopularity going into Tuesday's election cannot be underestimated," he wrote in his analysis of the race. "Simply put, New Jersey voters have been looking at other options for a while."

Looking at exit polls, independents made up 28 percent of the electorate and backed Christie over Corzine by 60 percent to 30 percent.

Updated 2:25 a.m. ET, Nov. 2009

Republican Bob McDonnell defeated Democrat R. Creigh Deeds today in his bid to wrest control of the Virginia governor's mansion from Democratic control, continuing a long Virginia tradition going back to 1977 of voting for a governor from the opposing party of the sitting president.

Virginia Attorney General Bob McDonnell won in Virginia by shoring up support among Republicans, conservatives, evangelicals, by being competitive among moderates, lower income voters, and the younger voters who showed up to the polls, and by garnering the support of independents. McDonnell also benefitted from a decline in turnout among so-called "surge" voters from 2008 – namely African Americans and voters under thirty.

Both candidates won nearly all the votes of members of their respective parties, but McDonnell took a decisive 66 percent majority of the independent vote – a group that was divided between Barack Obama and John McCain in 2008.

McDonnell's victory in this off-year election has as much to do with who didn't vote as who did. African Americans broke overwhelmingly for Deeds, there weren't enough of them. Though African Americans made up 20 percent of voters in 2008, they made up just 16 percent of voters today in Virginia. Voters under 30 made up only 10 percent of the voters in Virginia – half the percentage that turned out in 2008 – and more than half of those who did turn out voted for McDonnell. In the 2008 election for president six in 10 voters under 30 picked Barack Obama.

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Republican Bob McDonnell is Virginia’s new governor-elect, ending 8 years of Democratic reign and his victory over Democrat Creigh Deeds comes just 1 year after President Obama became the first Democratic presidential candidate to win Virginia since 1964.

So what happened?

First off, turnout is always lower for off-year elections and, it turns out, those record numbers that came out to support Mr. Obama last year stayed home this year.

Exit polls back this up: African-American turnout was 15 percent this year (20 percent in 2008) and voters aged 18-29 only made up 10 percent of the vote today – down over 50 percent from last year, when young voters made up 21 percent of Virginia’s vote.

That combined with McDonnell’s deft navigation of this year’s contest by downplaying his social conservative views and emphasizing important local issues such as taxes and transportation and while Deeds debated how to align himself with Mr. Obama as well as waffling on such issues state taxes, it didn’t come as much of a surprise to observers that McDonnell won easily.

Well, what does this say about Mr. Obama’s presidency?

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Updated 9:55 p.m. ET

CBS News has projected that Republican Bob McDonnell has won the race for governor in Virginia over Democratic candidate Creigh Deeds.

McDonnell's win ends eight years of Democratic reign and comes just one year after President Obama became the first Democratic presidential candidate to win Virginia since 1964.

According to exit polls, the Republican's decisive 62 percent majority of the independent vote was a key to his victory.

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This post was written by CBS News' Jennifer DePinto and Fred Backus. It was updated at 2:20 a.m. ET, Nov. 4, 2009

As voters in Virginia and New Jersey headed to the polls today to elect their governors, Americans across the country were watching these off-year races for implications about the nation's mood heading into 2010.

In Virginia, Republican Bob McDonnell and Democrat R. Creigh Deeds are battling to succeed the term-limited sitting governor Tim Kaine in what is widely viewed as a potential swing state in the future. In New Jersey, Democrat Jon Corzine is the only incumbent governor in the country to face a re-election challenge this year against Republican Chris Christie and independent Chris Daggett.

A majority of voters in both states said they are worried about the direction of the nation’s economy over the next year. 85 percent of Virginia voters said they are worried, as are 89 percent of voters in New Jersey. These percentages were similar on Election Day in 2008.

In both states the economy topped the list of issues that mattered most to voters in their choice for governor – in Virginia health care was second, while in New Jersey the second choice was property taxes.

And what about the Obama factor? President Obama campaigned for both the Democratic gubernatorial candidates, even visiting New Jersey as recently as Sunday to stump for Jon Corzine.

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Politics Today is CBSNews.com's inside look at the key stories driving the day in politics, written by CBS News Political Director Steve Chaggaris:

**Today's elections: What will they mean for White House?

**Obama talks to Karzai with Afghanistan decision looming

**Inside the Palin campaign

ELECTIONS: New Jersey and Virginia voters go to the polls today to vote for governor and a host of other state and local seats; voters in New York's 23rd and California's 10th congressional districts will fill vacant House seats in special elections; several cities including New York, Boston, Atlanta and Detroit vote for mayor and some states have controversial ballot initiatives to be voted on today.

And what do all of these elections mean in terms of the national political mindset? Not as much as you think.

The Associated Press' Liz Sidoti: "Heading into Tuesday's elections, Democrat gubernatorial candidate R. Creigh Deeds was trailing Republican Bob McDonnell in polls by double digits in Virginia. In a three-way race in New Jersey, Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine was in a close race with Republican Chris Christie and independent Chris Daggett. And in the race to fill the vacant 23rd Congressional District seat in New York, Democrat Bill Owens was in a tight fight with conservative Doug Hoffman after the GOP's hand-picked candidate bowed out over the weekend.

"Elsewhere, California Lt. Gov. John Garamendi is expected to maintain the Democratic Party's hold on the open 10th Congressional District seat near San Francisco, while New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is expected to cruise to a third term. Atlanta, Houston, Boston, Detroit and Pittsburgh also will elect mayors, while voters in Maine and Washington weigh in on same-sex unions and voters in Ohio decide whether to allow casinos.

"To be sure, it's easy to overanalyze the results of such a small number of elections in a few places. The results will only offer hints about the national political landscape and clues to the public's attitudes. And the races certainly won't predict what will happen in the 2010 midterm elections.

"But, given that Democrats control the White House and Congress, defeats in Virginia — a new swing state in national elections — or New Jersey — a Democratic stronghold — would be setbacks for the White House, even though both states having long histories of electing governors from a political party opposite that of the president."

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