Was it a referendum?

Big wins for the GOP in “old Virginny” and Joisey last night as Republicans pulled off a sweep of Governor, Lt. Governor and Attorney General in Virginia and got the Governorship of Blue Collar Blue State New Jersey.

The question on everyone’s mind now is…was yesterday a referendum on President Obama?
I don’t know for sure, but yesterday showed that conservative principles can win. Not only that, but they can win in places you wouldn’t expect.

The New Jersey governorship can be seen as a big win for Republicans. NJ is traditionally a blue state but even with Obama stumping for him right up until election-day the Democratic candidate Corzine lost. A week or so ago Corzine even complained that Obama’s campaigning may have been hurting his chances at the ballot box, which caused a terse exchange from the White House to the Governor’s Campaign.

In Virginia, even though in 2008 he was the first Democrat to carry Virginia since 1964, Obama stopped campaigning weeks ago because the governor’s race had become a lost cause. Obama knew he wasn’t making inroads and so he cut and ran. The nearly 20 point difference between the Republican and Democrat votes proved him right last night.

In both NJ and VA the independents who swept Obama to power in 2008 voted solidly Republican. Yesterday moderates and independents in both states voted Republican in droves based on things like the economy and government interference. (In the interest of intellectual honesty, I have to say that many people who were fed up with the Republicans after the ’08 election registered as “Independents” this year so it may not be the shift we think it is, but it is enough for me to say the trend is encouraging.)

Unlike most pundits now talking, I think that the President and his party should be most worried about the election in upstate New York. NY23 was a closely contested race. Granted, the Congressional seat had been a GOP held position for a very long time, but it was always held by a RINO (Republican In Name Only).

RINOs have become anathema to many in the GOP. This is markedly different from a year ago when a RINO was selected as a candidate for the Presidency at the Republican National Convention. So when a true conservative ran as a member of the Conservative Party of New York he knocked the socks off the Republican candidate in the 23rd District. The Republican candidate was forced to withdraw (though her name was still on the ballot) and then throw her endorsement over to the Democrat. Even so, the Conservative party nominee came within a few points of winning and had the Republican’s name not still been on the ballot, he would have won.

So was yesterday a referendum on Barack Obama?

I don’t know for sure, but yesterday showed that conservative principles can win. Not only that, but they can win in places you wouldn’t expect.