New Jersery Governor Jon Corzine casts his ballot at a polling station in Hoboken, New Jersey. Corzine faces Republican Chris Christie and Independent Chris Daggett in today's election. (PHOTO CREDIT: GETTY IMAGES)
FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
There's an adage that says "all politics is local," which is true - except when it's not. And today's a day when it's not.
Ordinarily a race for an obscure congressional seat in upstate New York would go by unnoticed - even by half the people who live there. But not this time. Same for the governors' races in New Jersey and Virginia.
Because of a growing disaffection with some of President Obama's policies, a lousy economy, two wars, and the failure of the Democratic Congress to do much of anything worthwhile... there's an abnormal amount of interest in how the people in those three races are likely to vote.
With congressional midterms coming a year from now - you can bet the spin doctors from both parties will be working late into the night to interpret the results in New Jersey, Virginia and New York in the best possible light for their party.
Governor Jon Corzine of New Jersey is in a nail-biter with a former Republican prosecutor whom Corzine implied is fat. The fat guy might win.
In Virginia - President Obama has made a significant political investment in the Democrat candidate for governor - but all the polls leading up to today indicate the Republican is going to win.
And that obscure upstate congressional race in New York has become a contest between an ultra-conservative and a Democrat. The Republican dropped out. She wasn't conservative enough.
Here’s my question to you: What will today's races in New York, New Jersey and Virginia tell us about the national political landscape?
Interested to know which ones made it on air?
Craig from New Jersey writes:
Absolutely nothing. National issues always affect down-ballot races, but in the end these are local races about local issues. I'm a New Jerseyan who strongly supports Barack Obama, yet I am not voting for Jon Corzine. I am not alone; there are those like me in all these races. But of course the media will make too big a deal out of this, just like they always do.
Eileen writes:
I suspect that today's election results will reflect what is going on locally in the economy. It will have little or nothing to say about the current national issues. The impact of elections nationally will occur after more of the Obama projects are completed. Votes will demonstrate a pass or fail on the stimulus, on the war, health care etc. There is little to go on right now.
Vinnie in Dunellen, New Jersey writes:
The outcome of today's races, much like midterms, are individually predominately of local concern. However, when all together these local elections follow a pattern, they absolutely show either a national acceptance or disapproval of the way the country and the federal government is moving.
Mike writes:
Basically nothing. Primarily something for you to ask a stupid, inane question about.
Dan from Chantilly, Virginia writes:
As a resident of Virginia, I can tell you that this vote means nothing in the grand scheme of things. The two guys running for governor are awful and have run large smear campaigns with little focus on any issues. When they're not slinging mud, they're criticizing each other for slinging mud. The Democratic base has a hard time supporting Deeds because he has no ideas, and the Republican base has a hard time supporting McDonnell because he's a slime ball.