Don't read too much into Repuglican victories in Virginia and New Jersey.    

As I wrote last week, "Most polls show that the only part of the country where the Republicans have any real presence is in the south in states like Virginia, land of right wing fundamentalists. Virginia is home to both the Falwell and Robertson headquarters." 

The reality is that Virginia has always been a Republican stronghold when it wasn't Dixiecrat.  The Democratic Party in Virginia is DINO. Real Democrats are few and far between in this southern state.

Former Democratic governor Mark Warner, and the soon to be former governor, Tim Kaine, were/are conservative DINOs and the current loser, Creigh Deeds, was cut from that same cloth only worse.

I said this about Tim Kaine recently: "Kaine doesn't believe in women's reproductive rights, and was a cheerleader and avid supporter of Bush's invasion and occupation of Iraq.  He backed the construction of Dominion Power's new coal fired plant, a blatant anti-environment stance.  But, of course, Dominion contributed to his campaign and inaugural to the tune of six figures.   And this anti-labor DINO is proud that Virginia is a right to work state!

"That Obama seriously considered him for his vice-president is appalling.

"That Obama chose the mediocre DINO, Tim Kaine, as DNC chair says a lot about Obama and what he thinks of the Democratic Party." 

Both Warner and Kaine, as titular heads of the Democratic Party, failed to build a strong state Democratic Party that should have been a progressive force for change to be reckoned and is proof and a damning indictment of their ineffective DINO credentials that greatly contributed to an unskilled, second rate DINO becoming the Democratic gubernatorial candidate.

David Sirota wrote yesterday: "....while these elections are important, and while the Democratic Party certainly has its problems right now, these contests do a better job of illustrating severe Republican weakness than anything else right now.

"Virginia has long been a conservative, Republican-leaning southern state.....

"New Jersey has always been a much more "purple" place in statewide elections than the Punditburo would have you think. Twelve years ago, New Jersey had a Republican governor. In 2004, John Kerry managed just 52 percent of the vote in the state. In 2005, Jon Corzine racked up only 53 percent of the vote in his run for governor. Add that stealth swing quality to the fact that A) Corzine is a former Goldman Sachs CEO running in the shadow of a Wall Street meltdown {bold added] and high-profile New Jersey Democrats like Bob Torricelli and Jim McGreevey did their level best to ruin the Democratic Party's name in the Garden State, and it's amazing Corzine is even running close. 

[My note: perhaps Obama should learn from Corzine's loss and reexamine all those Wall Streeters and lobbyists and their protectors filling high level posts in his administration.]

".....New York's 23rd district, everyone seems to forget what the ultraconservative Weekly Standard quietly admits: This seat has been held by Republicans for 138 years. The idea that a district that has been in GOP hands since the end of the Civil War is some sort of telltale gauge of national trends is absolutely laughable....

"Indeed, if there is real cause for electoral/political concern for Obama and the national Democratic Party, it is.....that Democrats may not fulfill the progressive promises they made, not that they have fulfilled them too aggressively. Polls (see here and here for examples) are starting to suggest that with the economy is still hurting, that health care reform may be watered down and that Wall Street reform is being gutted by financial lobbyists could create a NAFTA-style effect in the mid-term elections - that is, it could drive down turnout/enthusiasm among millions of progressives who thought they voted for change in 2008.  {Bold added.}

"That Rove and so much of the Punditburo refuse to acknowledge this reality and instead forward this fantastical story about today's elections being a pro-Republican "bellwether" is to be expected. More and more of the political prognostication industry has been taken over by biased shills who are wielding a partisan axe. But the objective truth is clear: Democrats certainly have some weaknesses and problems, but the fact that Democrats are even competing in these supposedly "key" races suggests Republicans have their own - and arguably far bigger - weaknesses and problems as well."

As for New York's 23rd district.....from the NYTimes: "Democrats won a special election in New York State’s northernmost Congressional district Tuesday, a setback for national conservatives who heavily promoted a third candidate in what became an intense debate over the direction of the Republican Party.

"The Democratic candidate, Bill Owens, led with 49 percent of the vote, while the Conservative Party candidate, Douglas L. Hoffman, had 46 percent. 

"The district has been a Republican stronghold for generations, and the party has represented parts of it since the 19th century.

"But the race was perhaps most notable for the fissures it opened in the Republican Party"