Precisely one year to the day after Barack Obama’s stunning victory, the Democrats have suffered reverses in the gubernatorial elections in New Jersey and Virginia.
The Democrats, however, do not appear overly upset: Obama’s campaign manager, David Plouffe, warned against reading too much into the votes:
“The results of these elections tend to be over-read,” he told the NBC network’s Today programme. “These are local races. There’s 18,000 lifetimes between now and next November.”
18,000 lifetimes? If only I could understand that comment, I’m sure I’d find real wisdom there.
David, if you don’t mind me asking, were you a McCain supporter or an Obama supporter back in 2008? Perhaps this is too narrow-minded – Bob Barr or Alan Keyes might even have been your choice.
I tend to watch US elections from a neutral standpoint. It was very obvious, however, fairly early on that Obama was going to win. I was in the States in September and Obama had a clear advantage.