Arnie loses out in ‘special’ vote
They also turned back all four of Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s efforts to reshape state government.
Democratic Senator Jon Corzine easily won the New Jersey governor’s seat after an expensive, mudslinging campaign, trouncing Republican Doug Forrester.
Democratic Lieutenant Governor Tim Kaine won a solid victory in Republican-leaning Virginia, beating Republican Jerry Kilgore by over 5%. Democrats crowed that Mr Bush’s election-eve rally for the former state attorney general only spurred more Kaine supporters to the polls.
In California, Mr Schwarzenegger failed in his push to rein in the Democrat-controlled Assembly. All four of his ballot measures flopped: capping spending, removing legislators’ redistricting powers, making teachers work five years instead of two to pass probation, and restricting political spending by public employee unions.
Texas voters overwhelmingly approved a constitutional ban on gay marriage, Maine voted to preserve the state’s new gay rights law, and Republican Mayor Michael Bloomberg easily clinched a second term in Democratic New York.
Democrats said the results were the first steps toward bigger victories next year - when control of Congress and 36 governors seats are at stake - and for the 2008 presidential race.
Republicans warned against reading too much into two governorships that started the day in Democratic hands and ended that way. Virginia Governor Mark Warner was barred by law from seeking a second term, and New Jersey acting Governor Richard J Codey opted not to run.
In California, where Mr Schwarzenegger faces re-election next year, the special election was seen as a referendum on his leadership. His prospects for a second term darkened as all four of his ballot measures failed.
