2009 Elections: GOP Sweeps Virginia; Polls Close in NJ; Update: Fox Projects Christie Win in NJ!

Update at 10:20: Fox projects Christie the winner in NJ! AP reporting it as well. A humiliating defeat for Corzine and a huge blow to his benefactor, the guy in the White House. Let the state-controlled media spin begin.

10 pm Update: Christie up by about 100,000 votes at 50-44% with 65% of the votes in. Live blog here. NY-23 results slow with Owens over Hoffman 50-45% so far. In one race we haven't mentioned--the NYC mayor's race--with 30% counted it's a virtual tie. Michael Bloomberg outspent Bill Thompson by 10-1. A Thompson win there would be unthinkable.

9 pm Update: Christie leading in NJ. He's up 52-41% with 18% reporting. More importantly, independents supposedly are breaking heavily for Christie, resulting in an Intrade collapse for Corzine. More here. Keep your fingers crossed. Meanwhile, you can follow NY-23 here and anything and everything here.

Polls are closing now in New Jersey, so you can follow this link for updates. We'll update as necessary. State-controlled media already spinning a possible Corzine loss as no sweat for The One. Except for the fact Obama took up residence here the past few weeks. It has nothing to do with him, and it's all about these angry people.

The GOP has won big in Virginia with Bob McDonnell blowing out Creigh Deeds, currently at 62-37% (follow for updates at that link). No wonder Obama threw this guy under the bus a couple weeks ago. So much for the GOP being a losing brand, eh?

NY-23 closes at 9 ET. Absolute hysteria from the left there today.

Plenty of updates throughout the night here with an open thread here.

For Democrats looking to grasp at straws, they're a near lock for the 10th Congressional District in California. They'll be in panic if that race is close and out on ledges if they lose.

White House Throws Mr. Deeds Under the Bus

Two weeks away from imminent defeat in Virginia and the White House thugs throw a sure loser under the bus. Let's forget the fact Obama's about as popular as jock itch right now. Let's assign blame to this hapless candidate and pretend this has nothing to do with the whiny baby in the White House.

Sensing that victory in the race for Virginia governor is slipping away, Democrats at the national level are laying the groundwork to blame a loss in a key swing state on a weak candidate who ran a poor campaign that failed to fully embrace President Obama until days before the election.

Senior administration officials have expressed frustration with how Democrat R. Creigh Deeds has handled his campaign for governor, refusing early offers of strategic advice and failing to reach out to several key constituencies that helped Obama win Virginia in 2008, they say.

Democratic strategists said that over the summer, Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) offered Deeds advice on winning a statewide election. Among other things, Kaine, who is also chairman of the Democratic National Committee, told Deeds that he should lay out more of his own vision and stop attacking Republican Robert F. McDonnell so ferociously. But Deeds did not embrace the advice, according to a national Democratic strategist.

Stop attacking Republicans? So this is their advice? Uh, what has the Obama and his Chicago mob been doing other than attacking Republicans 24/7? What, the War on Fox News and Rush Limbaugh isn't attacking Republicans?

A senior administration official said Deeds badly erred on several fronts, including not doing a better job of coordinating with the White House. "I understood in the beginning why there was some reluctance to run all around the state with Barack Obama," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in order to speak candidly about the race. "You don't do that in Virginia. But when you consider the African American turnout that they need, and then when you consider as well they've got a huge problem with surge voters, younger voters, we were just a natural for them."

Obama has enough problems with the party base right now. He expects to just snap his fingers and the minions will come out?

This is just meant to give his stenographers in the press and his favorite media types their talking points when Deeds gets waxed on November 3. Now they have a couple of weeks to work on how a humiliating defeat was raaaaacist.

Desperate Dems Still Running Against Bush: 'It Will Be a Failed Strategy'

Well, it's not as if they have any accomplishments of Obama's to point to and considering how they're losing both of these races, is it any surprise they're going back to the bash Bush playbook?

Sure, it reeks of desperation, but what else have they got?

Facing the increasing likelihood of losses in the 2010 midterm congressional and gubernatorial elections, President Obama and his fellow Democrats are returning to a tried-and-true campaign strategy — run against former President George W. Bush.

In speech after speech since taking office, Mr. Obama has pointed back to the problems he inherited from the Bush administration when he took office. And earlier this month, Democratic National Committee Chairman Tim Kaine catalogued a slew of perceived Bush failures to the delight of supporters.

Already, Democratic gubernatorial candidates in Virginia and New Jersey are testing the strategy — so far, however, unsuccessfully.

"It will be a failed strategy," said Karl Rove, former senior political adviser to Mr. Bush. "They have been doing that very intentionally in New Jersey and Virginia thus far, and both their candidates are behind."

As a New Jersey resident I cannot come up with a single significant accomplishment of Jon Corzine's outside of surviving his stint as a crash-test dummy a couple of years ago.

Corzine is already playing the abortion card, a tried-and-true staple in New Jersey, along with bashing gun owners. I expect those ads to be rolled out before long.

He has nothing else.

Joe Biden admitted yesterday it's game over if they lose big in 2010.

They're running scared.

Cue up the Democrat theme song:

It's Come to This: Toll Lanes Called Racist

You might think this is some sort of Onion parody, but trust me, it's not. We've now reached the point in America where every living, breathing organism, person, edifice, thought, gesture and eye blink is officially racist.

Thank goodness we're living in Obama's post-racial utopia.

These people wonder why they can't be taken seriously.

There's a new turn in the debate over high occupancy toll lanes or HOT lanes.

A lawsuit filed by Arlington County last month claims the lanes benefit wealthy white people and discriminates against minorities. While the only rule to get in the HOV lanes on Interstate 395 is you must have three people in the car, Arlington claims adding HOT lanes would cut out poor and minorities by defacto.

That claim doesn't sit well with Fairfax County Supervisor Pat Herrity (R-Springfield).

"I don't think race or class warfare has any standing in this argument," Herrity said.

Buried in the lawsuit filed last month, county attorneys argued the HOT lanes, "encourage and enable a financially-able, privileged class of suburban and rural, primarily Caucasian residents from Stafford and Spotsylvania counties operating single occupancy vehicles ("SOV") unimpeded access on toll lanes."

In other words, it benefits wealthy white people.

A few pages later, the suit claims the Federal Highway Administration and the Virginia Department of Transportation failed to do the proper environmental analysis and that "their actions also constituted civil rights violations as they discriminated against minority and low income communities."

Arlington County Chair Barbara Favola says the race issue only arose because the environmental review includes socioeconomic impact.

"It is not our intention to play a race card. I think that's a very divisive approach," Favola told FOX5.

Yet they'll do it anyway. When you have no coherent argument, no substance and no defense of your position, what else can you do but play the race card? It's all they have left.

Used to be people would be frozen in their tracks, left stammering trying to defend themselves against spurious race claims and would wind up groveling and apologizing just so they could be left alone. Well, people are sick of it. It's simply shallow and vapid and demonstrates the left's inability to defend their position on almost any issue.

So when in doubt, whip out the race card.

H/T Political Castaway.

Update: Eddiebear has had enough of these spurious charges of racism and goes nuclear.

A masterful refutation of this leftist bilge here. Language warning there, but in this case it's necessary to make the point.

Hot Air links. Thanks!

Clinton Bagman Blown Out In VA Primary

Few things as sweet as seeing the unctuous Terry McAuliffe getting smoked by an relatively unknown state legislator in Virginia.

R. Creigh Deeds, a longtime state legislator from rural Bath County, won a stunning come-from-behind victory in the Democratic primary for Virginia governor last night, overwhelming a pair of better-funded and better-positioned opponents.

Deeds beat Brian Moran and Terry McAuliffe in every region of the state, including vote-rich Northern Virginia, despite a pro-gun stance and relatively conservative positions that are out of line with many of the area's voters. His victory was so dominant that he captured 10 of the state's 11 congressional districts, including the one held by Moran's brother, U.S. Rep. James P. Moran Jr.

All three campaigns and state political experts had agreed that Deeds was coming on strong in the final days of the race, but no one expected him -- or the other candidates -- to come close to winning the 50 percent of the vote that he captured. In an e-mail sent to supporters less than two hours before polls closed, McAuliffe's campaign predicted that "this thing could come down to the wire." McAuliffe came in second, with 26 percent of the vote, followed by Brian Moran with 24 percent.

Deeds, 51, will face Republican Robert F. McDonnell in a general election battle that amounts to a rematch of the race for attorney general four years ago, which McDonnell barely won after a late surge by Deeds.

So here we have a state that went Democrat in the presidential race for the first time since 1964, but it's not quite gone liberal yet if you consider Deeds is pro-gun and relatively conservative.

Or is he?

Read more.

Great News: Terry McAuliffe to Run for Governor of Virginia

Dear Lord, help us. This abrasive greaseball might be able to raise prodigious sums of money, but his grating personality may not go over well with voters.

It's obvious the Clintons are never going away and now it seems every stooge and lackey that was along for the ride in the 90s aren't going away either.

Former Democratic National Committee chairman and McLean businessman Terry McAuliffe said yesterday that he has decided to run for Virginia governor.

In a three-minute video e-mailed to supporters yesterday afternoon, McAuliffe, 51, said a two-month tour of the state convinced him that his business and political experience prepared him to work on issues of concern to Virginians: creating jobs, improving public schools and working toward energy independence.

McAuliffe did not mention his competitors in the June Democratic primary, state Sen. R. Creigh Deeds of Bath County and former state delegate Brian J. Moran of Alexandria. Instead, he sought to contrast himself directly with the Republican nominee, Attorney General Robert F. McDonnell, and to portray himself as a natural successor to former Democratic governor Mark R. Warner, who was elected in November to the U.S. Senate, and Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D).

Warner and Kaine, McAuliffe said, "know that not every good idea comes out of Richmond. When it comes to fixing our economy, there's no such thing as a Republican job or a Democratic job. It's about bringing people together to create good jobs." McDonnell, in contrast, has opposed the Warner and Kaine administrations for seven years, McAuliffe said.

Democrats always have a funny way of bringing people together. It always seems that involves character assassination and duplicitous behavior.

Court Rejects NAACP Suit To Extend Virginia Voting Hours

Don't worry, though, expect them to keep trying this all over the country. If voters aren't able to get out and vote in the allotted time, then sue to keep the polls open as long as possible. To get the proper amounts of votes to declare victory, of course.

If an Obama victory is in doubt, create confusion and chaos, then you can claim the election was stolen.

A federal judge Monday refused to order any last-minute changes to Virginia's voting procedures in response to allegations by the NAACP that the state is not prepared to handle the predicted historic voter turnout in Tuesday's election.

But U.S. District Judge Richard L. Williams will consider Tuesday a separate request by Republican presidential nominee John McCain to allow overseas absentee ballots an extra 10 days to arrive in Virginia.

State officials said Monday afternoon that they were relieved that Williams did not order extended polling hours, more paper ballots or the moving of equipment among precincts, as the NAACP had requested.

The lawsuit, filed last week, contends that the state is violating the U.S. and state constitutions by not providing enough voting machines, poll workers and polling places, particularly in precincts with large minority populations. The shortages could result in long lines and lost votes, the suit says.

"We are urging all voters to stand in line," NAACP President Ben Jealous said after the ruling. "Americans have waited 230 years for this -- a multi-gender, multi-generational, multiracial [campaign]. This is a big day. Stay in line."

The states go through elections every year and in 2008 there's no excuse for incompetence. But voters also need to be prepared to stand in line if need be.

Isn't your vote worth it?

Still, expect a flurry of stories about extending hours once we get to closing times around the country tonight.

Reminder to Stupid People: Don't Forget to Vote November 5

The oldest trick in the book.

A phony State Board of Elections flier advising Republicans to vote on Nov. 4 and Democrats on Nov. 5 is being circulated in several Hampton Roads localities, according to state elections officials.

In fact, Election Day, for voters of all political stripes, remains Nov. 4.

The somewhat official-looking flier - it features the state board logo and the state seal - is dated Oct. 24 and indicates that "an emergency session of the General Assembly has adopted the follwing (sic) emergency regulations to ease the load on local electorial (sic) precincts and ensure a fair electorial process."

I have to figure with those misspellings it was Democrats who put this one out there. Don't worry though, Democrats, your fearless leaders are on to this nefarious scheme.

Can't slip anything past them.