Voters send a message on the economy

[Terri]

Boston Globe

WASHINGTON - Democratic moderates who will determine the fate of much of President Obama’s domestic agenda heard an early warning from this week’s off-year elections: Congress had better do something about the economy, or sitting lawmakers will lose their jobs in 2010.

Republicans scored glitzy wins Tuesday night in gubernatorial races in New Jersey and Virginia, prompting many in the GOP to cite what they saw as public disillusionment with President Obama and his policies, especially his plan to expand health care coverage. Democrats, meanwhile, pointed defensively to their own victories in two special elections for US House seats - giving them two more votes for a strong health care bill that, they said, the nation still wants.

But the election sent a message that was deeper than those conveyed by short-term, partisan talking points.

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