A Great Night For Conservatives And Yes, The Republicans

UPDATE:
A huge win for traditional marriage in Maine where voters repealed a law passed by the state legislature and signed by the governor that legalized same-sex marriage. The numbers are roughly California-like, 53% for repeal 47% against. No win for the pro-same-sex marriage crowd here. 0 for 31. Civil unions would be the way to go, but the left-wing gay activist community is not getting the message. Losing in a state like Maine is a body-blow to those advocates of same-sex marriage.

Although it appears that the Great Conservative Hope, Doug Hoffman, will not be going to Washington from the New York state 23rd congressional district, the news is still great for conservatives and the Republican party in this off, off-year election.
Republicans gained the governorships of New Jersey, yes New Jersey, and Virginia and seats in both state legislatures that put the GOP in a great position nationwide.
Let's take New Jersey first.
Republican Chris Christie won the most brutal race in memory against incumbent Governor John Corzine.
With 99% of precincts reporting, here are the results:

Chris Christie
GOP
1,140,134
49%
Jon Corzine(i)
Dem
1,040,404
45%
Christopher Daggett
Ind
132,919
6%

Now, it is possible that without "Independent" Chris Daggett in the race, this may have been a total blowout. Of course, since the soon to be ex-governor is a millionaire and spent millions of his own money slinging mud beyond belief, it also helped to make it close.
But, Mr. Christie winning being outspent over five to one shows that at the end of the day, issues do matter. And the issues won out here.
Virginia went way over back to the Red state that it has been with the win of Republican Bob McDonnell and the whole Republican ticket.
Here are the latest results as of this post:

Bob McDonnell (R)
1,157,672
58.64%
Creigh Deeds (D)
814,032
41.23%

Ouch!
And it does not get better down ticket in the two other elected statewide offices:
Lt. Governor:

William Bolling (R)
1,100,925
56.41%
Jody Wagner (D)
849,294
43.51%

Attorney General:
Kenneth Cuccinelli (R)
1,116,994
57.52%
Stephen Shannon (D)
823,129
42.39%

This is an embarrassment as the two down-ticket Democrats did better than the man at the top of the ticket, Mr. Deeds.
And worse, it appears that the Republicans are poised to gain seats in the House of Delegates and the State senate.
But all is not good for the Republicans, but good for conservatives.
Because of the foolishness of the New York state 23rd congressional district Republican county chairs hand-picking Dede Scozzafava as their congressional candidate, a Democrat won this race, Bill Owens. But, a spirited challenge by Conservative party standard-bearer Doug Hoffman showed that conservatives are the back and could have won if there was a primary and the GOP and Conservatives backed him to the hilt. Because Mrs. Scozzafava's name remained on the ballot and pulled votes that probably would have gone to Mr. Hoffman, Mr. Owens squeaked out a win in this Democrat district. The results are:

Bill Owens
Dem.
62,662
49.2%
Doug Hoffman
Con.
57,572
45.2
Dede Scozzafava
Rep.
7,041
5.5

There is the five percent that would have made Mr. Hoffman the winner and not Mr. Owens. The lesson here is that the New York state Republican party needs to not go down this road of hand-picking candidates. There needs to be an open and fair primary or caucus. This is two disasters in a row. Let us hope that new New York state party chair, Ed Cox, does two things. One, make sure that Mr. Hoffman is welcomed back in the Republican fold and encouraged to try it again in 2010. And to get rid of archaic ways of choosing candidates. Make the party democratic, not autocratic.
And in the California 10th congressional district, California Democrat Lt. Gov. John Garamendi bested upstart Republican David Harmer. While the results are a little over 50% of precincts reporting, here are the numbers.

John Garamendi (D)
52,042
55.07

David Harmer (R)
38,043
40.26%

Now, the numbers to look at are Mr. Garamedi garnering a scant 55% of the vote. Former congressman Ellen Tauscher won this district with 65% in the last election. The Dear Leader, President Obama, won this district by the same number. That means in a Democrat district, it is a ten-point drop in less than one year. Mr. Harmer has the best showing in 10 years of this district. So, it is a psychological win for the Republicans. But, it is not a win, and that is all that counts. If things do not get better by next year at this time, it is possible that there may be a rematch and a different result.
All in all this is a great night for the Republicans and importantly conservatives. And it sends a real message to the Dear Leader, President Obama.
S L O W D O W N!