Senator Mark Warner News

Republican Bob McDonnell's bludgeoning of Democrat Creigh Deeds in the Virginia governor's race last Tuesday has spurred a frenzy of speculation about national Democrats' problems heading into the 2010 midterm elections.

Virginians headed to the polls in a steady stream Tuesday to decide whether Republican Robert F. McDonnell or Democrat R. Creigh Deeds will become the state's 71st governor.

The top three Republicans won Virginia in a clean sweep on Tuesday, claiming the Governor's Mansion, along with the lieutenant governor and attorney general's posts.

In last year's campaign, the one true thing Obama said to his critics was, "The political ground is changing under your feet." But what is not sufficiently recognized is that is going on again, right now, in the opposite direction.

HAPPY ELECTION DAY: Voters today in Virginia , New Jersey , New York , Maine and elsewhere are heading to the polls to cast their votes in races -- some high-profile, some less so.

Election Day losses in Virginia and New Jersey have congressional Democrats focused like never before on jobs -- their own.

Even members of Congress - many among the country's richest people -- aren't impervious to the nation's economic recession.

Virginia's blue streak ended Tuesday night. After electing two consecutive Democratic governors, two Democratic U.S. Senators and clinching President Barack Obama's win last year, all three statewide candidates fell to their Republican counterparts on Election Day 2009.

Even in tough times, it's good to be a lawmaker: According to a report released this week by the Center for Responsive Politics, there are 237 millionaires serving in Congress, according to 2008 figures.

Close NOVEMBER 3, 2009 Outcomes in New York, New Jersey and Virginia Are Unlikely to Forecast Much About National Races in 2010, History Shows WASHINGTON -- Republicans appear positioned for strong results in three hard-fought elections Tuesday.

The Virginia donkeys got their hind parts handed to them in Tuesdaya s election.

As expected , Democratic candidate Creigh Deeds got creamed yesterday by Republican Bob McDonnell, losing by about 18 points .

"Tea party" activists say Tuesday's elections show that the Republican Party needs conservatives for victory, but the results suggest solidarity is more important: unified Republicans steamrolled in Virginia, while they fractured in New York and lost a House seat that they had held for more than a century.

Bob McDonnell yesterday announced his transition committee leaders, including Tom Farrell, chairman and CEO of the state's largest utility, Dominion Resources.

As the final votes were being counted, it was possible to draw some lessons from Republican Bob McDonnell's victory in Virginia and the close, three-way governor's race in New Jersey, never mind that White House press secretary Robert Gibbs has taken to saying that the elections don't mean much.

Virginiansa TM choice for a new governor in Tuesdaya TMs election was the choice for voters in Henry County, but not those in Martinsville, unofficial election results show.

Floyd County voters, for the most part, returned to status quo Tuesday, giving Republicans wide support and strengthening the GOP stranglehold on the Board of Supervisors.

Botetourt County Supervisor Terry Austin, a Republican who abandoned the party to run for re-election as an independent, overwhelmingly defeated the challenger the GOP had hoped would unseat him Tuesday.

Voters will head to polling places across Virginia today to choose the state's next governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general and a host of local officials.

In addition to tonight's election for mayor and City Council in St. Pete, there are governors' races inA New Jersey and Virginia this off-year election, which political analysts invariably call a referendum in part on the leadership in Washington.