Turnabout

Election '09 | Decisive Republican gains in off-year elections spell work for Democrats to win back 'change' voters | Edward Lee Pitts

Associated Press/Photo by Christopher Barth

The Sunday before New Jersey picked its next governor, President Barack Obama tried to recapture his 2008 campaign mojo:

"We will not lose this election if all of you are as committed as you were last year," Obama predicted to 11,000 supporters in Newark.

Just days later the result was clear: They weren't.

With Chris Christie becoming the first New Jersey Republican to win a statewide election in more than a decade, Democrats failed to duplicate their electoral intensity just one year after Obama's message of hope led to decisive victories. This time many young and minority voters stayed home while independents swung Republican.

"Obama was able to generate additional voters for himself last year, but he hasn't been able to transfer them this year," said University of Virginia political scientist Larry Sabato.