Side Step...Off Year Election Madness

Typically I avoid politics like a serious plague. I rather discuss your religion (I am an atheist) than discuss anything political. It usually saves me both syllables for the day, and the potential for serious harm.

However I am going to take a Side Step into it for the moment.

I am trying to figure out why certain people, talking heads and the Flying Jello Circus are making a serious hullabaloo over the fact that in this off year election, the Republicans picked up two governors seats. To some it seems like this is a sign that that Republicans are going to sweep the Democrats out of the House and Senate in 2010. A repeat, some say of the 1994 mid term elections when the same thing happened.

I pondered this in my musings and decided to look into this a bit deeper. And I found a couple of interesting facts.

In the case of New Jersey, Governor Jon Corzine was in a very deep hole. His popularity rating was in the neighborhood of 39% by some accounts.

In the case of Virginia, the state is a new swing state after years of being a Republican state.

Also in the case of the New Jersey, we were looking at a deeply Democratic state.

Also in the case of Virginia, the independent voters were out again.

On the surface it looks like something. Both New Jersey, long a Democratic stronghold, and Virgina, a state that swung Democratic in the 2008 Presidential election picked Republicans over Democrats heavily campaigned for by Obama.

Once again, this was an off election year. Can the trading of two governors really mean anything for 2010?

I am uncertain of what to make of it. Reading online, the White House is making nothing of it, just a bump in the road. They certainly could be right.

Reading online also, the Republicans are making a big deal of this, despite losing a chance at a congressional seat in a special election. They say that the people are unhappy. They certainly could be right.

In the end, I think it is far too early to tell, no matter what anyone thinks. But it will be interesting to see if history repeats itself in 2010.

If it does it will make for an interesting 2012, provided the world doesn't end first.