By Pamela Gentry, Senior Political Analyst

Nov. 3, 2009 — Democratic candidates for governor in New Jersey and Virginia were defeated and Republicans are calling these races a “referendum” on President Obama.  But just what did we learn Tuesday night from the results?

President Obama campaigning for New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine.

 President Obamas influence in these races can’t be discounted, but neither can the fact that Gov. John Corzine was having problems in New Jersey more than a year before the re-election, and he just couldn’t get Dems behind him which lead to his defeat.  

Corzine’s defeat wasn’t linked to any of the president’s issues, and based on exit polling by CNN, more 55 percent of those surveyed said the president didn’t influence their vote.  Chris Christie, former federal prosecutor   won with the economy as his primary issue; promising to fix the state’s fiscal problems. 

The same was true for the race in Virginia.  Bob McDonnell defeated Creigh Deeds who ran a lack-luster campaign and just wasn’t able to motivate Democratic voters to turn out.  McDonnell was able to capture the enthusiasm of Republican which ended a 12 year streak of Democratic governors in the Commonwealth. 

But two New Yorkers named “Bill” registered the biggest political bang of the night in my book.  One won, and one lost, but both delivered.

 Democrat Bill Owens managed to win an upstate New York congressional seat that has been held by Republicans for 100 years.  Owens won the 23rd District seat by defeating a conservative Independent candidate, Douglass L. Hoffman. 

Owens was helped a bit by the endorsement of the Republican candidate Dierdra Scozzafava who pulled out of the race; endorsed Owens and siphoned 6 percent of the Republican vote away Hoffman because her name remainded on the ballot.    

African-American William “Bill” Thompson, New York City’s comptroller lost his race against  third-term billionaire Mayor Michael Bloomberg.  But he ran a strong race and loss with a much smaller margin than expected.

  Bloomberg outspent Thompson 10 to 1 close; close to 90 million dollars on his campaign, that’s about $170 per vote.  Bloomberg won 51 to 46 percent over Thompson, not bad for a guy with only $8 million dollars to spend.

By Pamela Gentry, Senior Political Analyst

Nov. 3, 2009 – Governor races in New Jersey and Virginia are being watched closely by Democrats and Republicans to see if the “Obama influence”  impacts the outcome by delivering a win for either candidate.  

Its doubtful President Obama will determine the outcome of either race, but the fact that he traveled to New Jersey five times to campaigned for the Democratic incumbent Gov. Jon Corzine can’t be ignored.  In Virginia the president wasn’t as visible for Creigh Deeds and his campaign was slow to accept help from Pennsylvania Ave.

Deeds is trailing in recent polls by double-digits and appears to be headed for defeat by his rival Republican challenger Bob McDonnell.  But it might be too soon to count him out; Deeds won the primary trailing his Democratic challengers and bested both with a sizeable margin.   

Other Key races to watch around the country with African American conternders include Detroit and Atlanta. Detroit Mayor Dave Bing is pretty much a shoo-in but Atlanta, for the first time in 35 years, may elect a White Mayor, Mayor Norwood.

More: See other Key races to watch on CNN.Com

Few races in the country have African-American’s in contention, but one to watch is in California.  Kamala Devi Harris (D) is running for California attorney general in 2010.  In 2003 Harris became the first woman to become San Francisco district attorney the first Black woman to serve as District Attorney in California’s history.

Another California political powerhouse, Rep. Maxine Waters (D) released a statement in response to the pending investigation by the House Ethics Committee (see my Blog Oct. 30) regarding her influence with federal agencies on behalf of a minority owned bank that received bailout dollars.

 “My longtime advocacy on behalf of women- and minority-owned institutions is well known and appreciated by these institutions, which have been historically denied access to government regulators to address their concerns.

“I am confident that as the investigation moves forward the panel will discover that there are no facts to support allegations that I have acted improperly or violated the Code of Official Conduct or any law, rule, regulation or other standard of conduct in performing my duties and discharging my responsibilities as a United States Representative.”

On a lighter note, Monday First Lady Michelle Obama made an emotional announced she was launching a mentoring program to give local high school girls access to women at the White House.

Mrs. Obama was joined by 13 of the young ladies in the State Dining Room who will be matched with White House staffers as mentors including senior advisers Valerie Jarrett and Melody Barnes.

Mrs. Obama said, “We thought, what we can do to make the White House different, to make kids in our own new neighborhood know that the White House is a place for them?” She also told the   young women, “That when you get to this position in your life that you do the same thing for somebody else.”