State Races

Even though the White House later denied it, we all knew that the 2009 gubernatorial elections were really just... a test for Obama:

WASHINGTON — President Obama has returned to the campaign trail. He is appearing in television advertisements in New Jersey this week on behalf of Gov. Jon S. Corzine, the embattled Democrat struggling to win a second term. And he campaigned on Thursday evening alongside R. Creigh Deeds, the candidate for governor fighting to keep Virginia in the Democratic column.

The New Jersey and Virginia races for governor are the only big-ticket political contests for 2009. And fairly or not — Mr. Obama’s advisers are not alone in arguing that the significance of these races does not extend beyond the boundaries of either state — the contests are being held up as an early measure of how Mr. Obama is doing and a predictor of how Democrats might fare in next year’s Congressional campaigns.

In the age of Obama, every election is a referendum... on Obama.