In the wake of last night’s elections results, a few things come to mind:

This was no Super Tuesday: Sorry MSNBC, but 2 East Coast gubernatorial races and a house race so far up north in New York that it has more Canadians voting than any other bloc do not a super day make. This was more like a nor’easter of charismatic-less candidates. Except for the name Scozzafozza. Its Italian phonetic glee makes you want to throw caution to the wind and dig into some penne a la vodka, while watching Fozzie Bear on a TV Land Muppet Show rerun.

Coattails are overrated: Obama didn’t affect these elections. These races for governor appear to have been about issues on the ground. In New Jersey, incumbent Jon Corzine is highly unpopular. There are a lot of reasons why this may be: for instance, he presides over the highest property taxes levied in the history of the state and has a Wall Street pedigree at a bad time to be known for that. Plus, he didn’t wear a seat belt. In Virginia, the GOP’s Bob McDonnell won handily with a focus on local issues and kitchen table common sense. He didn’t spend his time ragging on Obama. The Washington Post validated that choice persuasively with an incisive and revealing poll: 70% of Virginia voters said Obama would not be a factor in their decision, and those who said he would were split evenly between the Democrat and the Republican. So, no net effect. Read the rest of this entry »