Washington - As Barack Obama celebrates the one-year anniversary of his historic election as president on Wednesday, US voters have dealt his Democratic Party a blow. Republicans won significant electoral victories in two critical states Tuesday, recapturing the governorships of Virginia and New Jersey.
Bob McDonnell won by a landslide of nearly 20 percentage points over Democrat Creigh Deeds in Virginia, ending nearly a decade of defeats for Republicans in the Southern state.
Incumbent Democratic Governor Jon Corzine was defeated by five points by Republican Chris Christie in New Jersey, a typically left-leaning state in the North-East.
It is easy to read too much into victories in an off-election year. The state elections hinged in part on local issues that had little to do with Obama.
Christie, a former prosecutor, campaigned on a promise to clean up the state of New Jersey, which has been dogged by corruption, while Corzine had been unpopular before Obama even came to office.
In Virginia, Deeds ran a largely negative and ineffective campaign and even sought to distance himself from Obama at various points in the race.
The true test for Obama and his fellow Democrats is to come in November 2010 when the entire House of Representatives and one-third of the Senate is up for election.
But Tuesday's polling did offer some worrying signs for Democrats, who were unable to recapture the level of excitement that catapulted Obama to the presidency on November 4, 2008. This time around, it was Republicans who seemed more energized.
There were some major national issues at play. Exit polls showed that the struggling economy topped voters' concerns in both states.
Many voters signaled their unhappiness with a still-rising unemployment rate, which is at a 28-year high of 9.8 per cent. Republicans are angry with what they view as irresponsible spending policies by Democrats, who control both houses of Congress.
Obama has pushed the country's budget deficit to record levels in an effort to pull the US economy out of its worst recession in decades.
McDonnell was especially effective in channeling some of that voter disaffection, campaigning as the "jobs governor" who would restore fiscal discipline to Virginia.
But there are also worrying signs for Republicans, who are still struggling to settle on a clear direction for their party in the wake of George W Bush's presidency.
Infighting among Republicans was largely to blame for a surprising Democratic victory in a special congressional election in upstate New York. Bill Owens captured a district on the Canadian border that had not elected a Democratic congressman in more than 100 years.
The largely unknown district was catapulted into the national limelight after a series of top Republican figures bolted from their own party's candidate, Dede Scozzafava, a moderate with left-leaning views on social issues. Former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin was among those who instead threw their support behind a more conservative third-party candidate, Doug Hoffman.
Scozzafava was eventually forced to pull out of the race Saturday, and she surprisingly endorsed Owens. It remained to be seen what lessons Republicans would draw from the bruising experience.
