What Tuesday's Elections Really Mean

Posted by Adele Stan, AlterNet at 7:47 AM on November 4, 2009.

While the mainstream media yammer relentlessly about what last night's election results say about President Barack Obama, the real question is what they say about the power of the organized right wing of the Republican Party.

Yes, Obama campaigned vigorously for New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine, who lost narrowly to Republican Chris Christe, and less so for Virginia gubernatorial candidate Creigh Deeds, who lost by double digits to Republican Bob McDonnell. But those races turned on local issues more than anything on the Obama agenda.

In New Jersey, mounting property taxes -- a circumstance over which a governor has little control -- combined with high unemployment figures to put the electorate in a sour mood toward the incumbent. Add to that a major corruption scandal in North Jersey that didn't involve Corzine, but emcompassed a prominent member of his administration, added to the ill will.

Virginia's Deeds lost to McDonnell on what should have been a Democratic issue: transportation. Unemployment figures for Virginia are far below those of New Jersey, but in the home state of Thomas Jefferson, just getting to your job can be a source of misery.

But more than anything, the results of these races, taken together with the peculiar special election in the 23rd congressional district of New York State and the vote against same-sex marriage in Maine, offer one resounding warning: the right is getting its act together, organizing up a storm.

In the New York state congressional race, right-wingers led by Dick Armey (and given a big boost by Sarah Palin) forced Republican candidate Dede Scozzafava from the race, backing Doug Hoffman, a third-party contender in a throw-down with GOP leaders. Scozzafava, you see, wasn't a winger: she even supports the Employee Free Choice Act -- the thing I believe really drew the scorn of Armey and his conferates, even more than Scozzafava's support of same-sex marriage and reproductive rights.

With the help some marquee friends, including Palin, former Sen. Fred Thompson, and Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, Armey marshalled the forces of the Tea Party movement, which he helped to create via FreedomWorks, the astroturfing group he chairs. And even though Hoffman went on to lose the election as the Conservative Party candidate for Congress, the victory is still Armey's; going into the 2010 mid-term elections, he has successfully defined who is and is not an acceptable Republican candidate.

In Virginia, McDonnell won by whistling past his religious-right roots with the help of campaign manager Phil Cox, who is currently on leave, according to the Virginian-Pilot,  from his post at Americans For Prosperity, another powerful astroturfing group that has been organizing protests against health-care reform and climate-change legislation. McDonnell's roots with AFP run deep. Americans For Prosperity President Tim Phillips is a former campaign adviser for McDonnell, and the governor-elect did legal work for the group, the Pilot reports.

Up the seacoast in Maine, same-sex marriage, legalized by the state legislature earlier this year, was defeated largely through the efforts of the National Organization for Marriage -- an outfit closely allied with the Family Research Council -- with a major assist from the Catholic church. FRC is one of the powerhouse organizations of the religious right, and its leaders know how to turn out a vote.

And Jersey, sweet Jersey, my home state...sigh. Usually vituperatively moderate in its collective electoral disposition, New Jersey has see the rise of a Tea Party movement of its own. In a close race, I fear the Tea Partiers made a difference by not throwing in with the third-party candidate, Chris Daggett, and instead backing the Republican Christie. I mean, with Joe "You Lie" Wilson on your team, you're sure to bring in the wing nuts. Oh, and Corzine's fat joke about his opponent sure didn't help. We're not exactly (PDF) a state of skinny people.

Tagged as: creigh deeds, nom, bob mcdonnell, doug hoffman, jon corzine, 2009 elections, same-sex marriage maine, new jersey gubernatorial, virginia gubernatorial, bill owens, national organization for

Adele M. Stan is AlterNet's Washington bureau chief.