Just one year after President Barack Obama was elected to presidency,voters headed to the polls again Tuesday night for a mix ofgubernatorial, Congressional and various local off-year elections.
The stakes in some races were higher than in others for the nationalDemocratic Party and Republican Party, but despite a mixed bag ofsuccess for both parties, one political observer said these racesdon’t say much about the 2010 elections in Louisiana.
Republicans snatched two spots in the governor’s mansion — one intraditionally blue state New Jersey and the other in a state trendingpurple, Virginia. Democrats snagged a Congressional seat in New York’s23rd Congressional District, a district traditionally dominated byRepublicans.
[The November 3 elections] don’t have much to say about the Senaterace,” said Kirby Goidel, Senior Public Policy Fellow at the ReillyCenter and political communications professor.
Goidel said it’s common for winning political parties to try and”nationalize” local races — calling them “bellwether” elections andclaiming they are indicative of future election results. That usuallyisn’t the case, though, Goidel said.
“All politics is local,” Goidel said, echoing a famous quote fromformer Congressman Tip O’Neill. 
 
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