The electorate was pretty tough on incumbents tonight. Democrats got kicked out in Virginia and New Jersey, Republicans got kicked out in NY-23, and Michael Bloomberg, who was expected to win reelection in a rout, only barely squeaked by. John Garamendi won in CA-10, but that was hardly a race in the first place.
I guess that’s not too big a surprise considering the lousy economy and the generally sour mood of the voters. Unfortunately, it looks like the Maine referendum on same-sex marriage got caught up in the sour mood too, losing by 52-48, the same as California last year. From a purely practical political perspective it’s easy to understand why Obama didn’t want to get involved in this, but it might have made a difference. I don’t have any doubt that California and Maine will both flip within a few years anyway, but sooner sure would have been better than later.
UPDATE: More here on the NY-23 race from David Corn.
