AFP

A YEAR after winning America's presidential election, Barack Obama and the Democrats have suffered two big defeats in governors races in Virginia and New Jersey. Last year Mr Obama won in Virginia in a particularly sweet moment for his party. This time the Republican, Bob McDonnell, trounced the Democrat, Creigh Deeds, by 59% to 41%. In northern corners of the state, which form part of Washington's suburbs and are vital to Democratic chances in statewide contests, the Republican did even better in some places, winning Loudoun county by 61% to 39% for example. In the much deeper-blue state of New Jersey, the loss was narrower for the Democrats. Chris Christie, the Republican, won with 49% of the vote, defeating Jon Corzine, the incumbent governor, who picked up around 45%.

There were also various mayoral contests on Tuesday November 3rd. In New York Michael Bloomberg won a third term, but by a much narrower margin of victory than had been expected. Mary Norwood led the field in Atlanta but faces a run-off on December 1st, which if she wins will make her the first female white mayor in the historically black city. And in Houston Annise Parker picked up 31% of the vote and faces Gene Locke in a run-off on December 12th, which if Ms Parker wins would make her the first openly gay person to be elected to the mayor's office in Texas's largest city.

The biggest drama of the night came from upstate New York where the Democrats won a special election to fill a vacancy in a congressional district. The election, in a Republican stronghold, attracted attention because of the intervention of national conservative figures, such as Sarah Palin, who urged party members to reject the official Republican candidate, whom they described as too moderate, and instead support a candidate from a rival Conservative party. The Republican candidate pulled out of the race on October 31st and then backed the Democrat, Bill Owens, who was declared the victor on Tuesday.

The significance, if any, of these off-year elections will now be debated. The Republican wins will boost party morale and make Mr Obama seem a little bit more mortal. Mr Obama's supporters point out that the governors elections were flavoured by distinctly local issues. Yet in Virginia exit polls indicated that almost a quarter of respondents said they had used their vote to register disapproval with the president (18% voted to express support for Mr Obama). The races clearly show an electoral limit to Mr Obama's star appeal. The Democratic loss in Virginia had been predicted for weeks, if not months. But in New Jersey the race had tightened considerably and Mr Obama attended two rallies for Mr Corzine over the weekend in an attempt to enthuse the Democratic faithful. His efforts came to naught.

Two broad points have emerged from this election night. The first is that the Democrats are now considered to own the economy—trying to blame George Bush for the country's economic ills, as Mr Obama tried to do in New Jersey, will not wash with swing voters. In Virginia, moderates and independents warmed to Mr McDonnell's themes of reduced taxes. The economy will doubtlessly improve before next year's mid-term elections, but Mr Obama's ambitions for government spending trouble many centrists.

The other point is that Sarah Palin's broadside against the Republican candidate in upstate New York has established her beyond doubt as the leading player in Republican politics, much to the chagrin of party grandees. There is nothing new about conservative insurrection in the party. The contest in New York is somewhat reminiscent of Pat Buchanan's rebellion against the party establishment in the New Hampshire primary in 1992, except that conservatives have ditched their pitchforks for iPhones. But the danger for the Republicans remains the same now as then; the pursuit of an ideologically pure conservatism will turn away moderates and independents. The Republicans lost the 1992 presidential election, and they lost the 23rd congressional district in upstate New York on Tuesday.