WASHINGTON (AP) — An ebullient Republican Party Chairman Michael Steele asserted Wednesday that GOP victories in governors' races in New Jersey and Virginia demonstrate "a transcendent party" on the move again. The White House said the elections were not a repudiation of President Barack Obama.
"We're not crowing, we're just smiling," Steele said in a nationally broadcast interview. "I think it's a bellwether for the party ... You look at where we were nine months ago."
Steele said he believes Chris Christie's victory in New Jersey and Robert McDonnell's win in Virginia show that the GOP has "really found its voice again" after sustaining damaging losses last year.
For its part, the White House said the elections were about local races, local issues and local candidates — not about Obama.
Press secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters voters went to the polls in Virginia and New Jersey to work through "very local issues that didn't involve the president." The presidential spokesman said voters were concerned about the economy.
"I don't think the president needed an election or an exit poll to come to that conclusion," Gibbs said.
By contrast, Gibbs acknowledged that the 2010 midterm congressional elections will be more about the Obama agenda.
Republicans turned aside Democratic candidates in both Virginia and New Jersey, raising questions about the limits of the president's influence on his party's base of support and on the moderate lawmakers he needs to advance his legislative priorities.
Gibbs noted that Democrats did win two special elections for congressional seats, in California and New York.
Democratic Party Chairman Tim Kaine said he thought voter anxiety about jobs and the economy played heavily in the balloting and said the defeat of incumbent Gov. Jon Corzine in New Jersey and candidate Creigh Deeds in Virginia shouldn't be seen as a referendum on Obama. He said Obama "really retains a strong popularity among the voters." Kaine is the outgoing governor of Virginia. Under the state's constitution, chief executives cannot succeed themselves.
Exit polls showed many independents who voted for Obama in 2008 voted for Republicans this time around, and Kaine did say in a CNN interview, "We're going to have to scratch our heads a little bit on that one." He said Obama continues to enjoy even stronger support among independent voters than he has in the past.
Obama's campaign chairman, David Plouffe, said the president's approval rating "is at or above his vote totals."
Plouffe called politics "a comparative enterprise" and said "the Republican brand right now, with independents all across the nation, is really hurting."
"I think, generally, these elections tend to be overrated as to what they'll mean later. These are local races," Plouffe said. He also said he believes the GOP has a problem because conservatives "(Sarah) Palin and (Rush) Limbaugh and (Glenn) Beck are out there purging moderates from the party."
Steele and Plouffe appeared on CBS's "The Early Show" and Kaine was interviewed on NBC's "Today" show.
Steele said he wasn't particularly upset about the GOP's loss in a hotly contested race in upstate New York, saying "this process is done at the local level. The drama of 23 (district) was nice and is cute and funny and everybody made fun about how the party is fractured." He said "we'll have a cleaner process there" in the future.
In that race, retired Air Force Capt. Bill Owens, a Democrat, won the special election in which the Republican candidate withdrew over the weekend under pressure from the party's right wing and GOP heavyweights endorsed the Conservative Party nominee.
House Republican Whip Eric Cantor of Virginia said, "I do think that the Virginia model shows that when we're united as a party, independents are attracted to our message of vision for the future, where we can empower folks to get their economic security back."
Gibbs said the White House sees no need to recalibrate its legislative agenda or message based on the results of the governors' races or the swing of independents in this election toward the GOP. And he expressed no concern that the election results will make conservative Democrats on Capitol Hill more skittish toward backing the president's agenda as they head toward their own re-election bids in 2010.
