Sending the Moderates to the Tall Grass

Even the NY Times, the official house organ of the Democrat party, has to admit that last night's results will make life more difficult for Obama:

The results in the New Jersey and Virginia races underscored the difficulties Mr. Obama is having transforming his historic victory a year ago into either a sustained electoral advantage for Democrats or a commanding ideological position over conservatives in legislative battles.

The coalition that swept him into the White House was absent on Tuesday night, with evidence that the young, African-American and first-time voters who supported Mr. Obama failed to turn out to help the Democrats Mr. Obama had campaigned for: Gov. Jon S. Corzine in New Jersey and R. Creigh Deeds in Virginia. (There are no exit polls in the upstate Congressional race to provide demographic information on the electoral outcome.)

Independent voters who had flocked to Mr. Obama in Virginia and New Jersey last year shifted on Tuesday to the Republican candidates in both states, Christopher J. Christie in New Jersey and Robert F. McDonnell in Virginia, according to exit polls in both states. That is a swing that will certainly be noted by moderate Congressional Democrats facing re-election next year, who may now be more reluctant to support Mr. Obama on tough votes in Congress.

Yep. When that Obamacare or cap-and-tax vote comes up, it's going to be harder to strong arm the Blue Dogs and moderates into supporting whatever Pelosi wants. Even newly elected NY-23 Congressman Bill Owens will have to step carefully, or his district that has been Republican since the Civil War will be Republican again in 2011.

Things just got a lot tougher for the liberal agenda.

Dick Morris thinks last night was the death blow for Obamacare. I'm not so sure, but I'd love for it to be true.

And Michael Barone, who knows the precinct-by-precinct election business better than anybody has his take here.