Republicans win Virginia, New Jersey governorships

By Steve Holland

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republicans rolled to victory in Virginia and New Jersey governor's races on Tuesday in a sharp blow to Democrats that showed the limits of U.S. President Barack Obama's political clout.

After suffering a one-two punch in those two states, Democrats salvaged a victory over a conservative candidate in a congressional district in upstate New York in a race that exposed a split in the Republican Party.

Republican Bob McDonnell scored an easy victory over Democrat Creigh Deeds in Virginia. In New Jersey, Republican Chris Christie had a tougher time with incumbent Democratic Governor Jon Corzine but prevailed.

The victories buoyed Republican hopes that they had emerged from the political wilderness after losing control of the U.S. Congress in 2006 and the White House in 2008.

And it raised questions for Democrats as they try to protect strong majorities in the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate in 2010, amid concerns about the weak U.S. economy and their inability so far to reduce the country's unemployment rate, now at 9.8 percent.

"Losing Virginia in a landslide, his key swing state victory in 2008, plus the loss of New Jersey means a bad night for Obama," said Larry Sabato, a University of Virginia political scientist. "Presidents have to take their lumps and Obama has just taken a big one."

The Virginia and New Jersey losses suggested Democrats have a challenge in trying to attract voters to the polls without Obama's name on the ticket. Democratic turnout suffered particularly in Virginia.

Some analysts wondered aloud whether some moderate Democratic members of Congress might look at the results and question whether expensive programs such as a broad overhaul of the U.S. healthcare system are politically palatable.