Elsewhere, Red bloggers continue to pound their bare Republican chests over the victories in the VA and NJ gubernatorial races.  The punchline is aways the same - The End of the Obama Era has begun! 

To those who've been in a cave for the past week - do not be deceived!  All that noise is merely the echo of Michael Steele's therapeutic talking points.  Here's the straight dope from CBS News:

A majority of voters in both states said they are worried about the direction of the nation’s economy over the next year. 85 percent of Virginia voters said they are worried, as are 89 percent of voters in New Jersey. These percentages were similar on Election Day in 2008.

In both states the economy topped the list of issues that mattered most to  voters in their choice for governor – in Virginia health care was second, while in New Jersey the second choice was property taxes.

And what about the Obama factor? President Obama campaigned for both the Democratic gubernatorial candidates, even visiting New Jersey as recently as Sunday to stump for Jon Corzine.

Still, majorities of voters in both states (56 percent in Virginia and 60 percent in New Jersey) said President Obama was not a factor in their vote today. Those who said Mr. Obama was a factor in New Jersey divided as to whether their vote was a vote for the president (19 percent) or against him (19 percent). In Virginia, slightly fewer voters said their vote was for Mr. Obama (17 percent) than against him (24 percent).


http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/11/03/politics/politicalhotsheet/entry5514455.shtml