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Election '09 results: Splitting the vote?

November 22, 2009 12:36 am

Election '09 results: Splitting the vote?

Despite the lofty rhetoric from national political figures, it is very difficult to tell how the recent elections in Virginia, New York, and New Jersey tilted the national political landscape one way or another.

Clearly, some independent voters who supported President Obama last year shifted to the GOP side this year. And yes, the large numbers of Obama voters, especially among young people and minority voters, just did not turn out.

Historically, the party in power has lost in New Jersey and Virginia for decades. Remember, Virginia elected two Democrats while George Bush was in the White House.

Also, it is hard to extrapolate national results from just 4 percent of the states. To be fair, these two events, in and of themselves, do not form a trend.

What should be more ominous for Republicans is the outcome in New York, where far-right conservatives abandoned the GOP candidate and basically split the vote.

This phenomenon promises to repeat itself nationally in places like Florida and Illinois, among others.

The national GOP seems to have created a purge set on purifying the party of all moderates. That approach will make a group already in a minority status even more so.

The Big Tent may be consumed in all the fires being set.

Christian L. Andros

Spotsylvania





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