at least this Christie guy campaigned on the economic issues of government spending and jobs, instead of the typical conservative social issues of gay and immigrant bashing
It seems the Virginia winner did the same, these guys might not be that bad.
There's the old adage that "all politics are local." Democrats held New Jersey for 12 years and Corzine was long unpopular. A party switch in the governor's office here was likely inevitable. And Republicans appear to have run a better campaign in Virginia and earned the victory. Considering, currently, that the largest political affiliation in the U.S. these days is "Independent," what does Obama really have to do with either of these races? Probably nothing. Can you really imagine New Jersey voting for, hypothetically speaking, Sarah Palin in 2012? Hah!
NY-23 is interesting only because GOP conservatives pinned all their hopes on this race all by themselves as a referendum on Obama, and they still lost. I think this race stands as a greater metaphor for the state of American politics in that substance still matters over ideology, even if that doesn't make for a very good soundbite for pundits.