Just out from the AP:
The White House says that Republican wins in two governors’ races were not referendums on the president.
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters Wednesday that voters went to the polls in Virginia and New Jersey to work through “very local issues that didn’t involve the president.” The presidential spokesman said voters were concerned about the economy. He said “I don’t think the president needed an election or an exit poll to come to that conclusion.”
Right. It was about the economy. And one of the most Democrat-friendly states in the union chose a Republican to lead it, rather than the incumbent Democrat who made his closing message solely about working with the President on the economy.
That’s a referendum.