Any candidate yesterday who went the Teabagger route yesterday failed, and failed miserably.
In yesterday's key race - the election for the House in New York's 23rd Congressional District - the most Conservative candidate, Douglas Hoffman, failed with a thudding flop. He had an avalanche of money to spend on his campaign, and the support of the conservative media establishment - Rush, Glenn, Sarah, et al. And yet a district, most of which hasn't sent a Democrat to Congress in more than a century and a half, decided to repudiate the far right-wing, teabagging, batshite crazy movement and vote in Bill Owens, whom I believe is a good and decent man.
Then you had the Governorships in Virginia and New Jersey. How did Bob McDonnell win a state that has been trending blue for some time? He ran as fast and far away as possible from the likes of Sarah Palin and the Teabaggers, even going to so far as to extend an olive branch to Barack Obama over his recent stunning victory of the Nobel Peace Prize. And how about Chris Christie over in New Jersey? He must have embraced the far right-wingers right? Um, not exactly. He also refused to appear with Sarah Palin, moving staunchly to the center and embracing Obamaesque themes of hope and change.
What yesterday's election proves is that it most definitely was NOT a referendum on Obama. Let's look at Virginia. According to the exit polls, Obama got a 51% approval rating just among voters who actually showed up yesterday, a plurality of which WERE REPUBLICANS. This means that among the greater Virginia electorate as a whole, Obama's real approval rating is much, much higher. And in New Jersey, where Corzine narrowly lost his reelection bid, Obama's approval rating was a whopping 57%.
Therefore, it is extremely clear that yesterday's election was not in any way a referendum on Obama, but in fact, a referendum on the radical right wing of American politics and how if the GOP placates this wing too much, it will destroy itself. Luckily for us, the teabaggers aren't going to go away any time soon. Let the Civil War continue!