A conservative judge who was attacked by trial lawyers won in Pennsylvania Tuesday night as well.

In just a year, they figured it out: “A majority of Americans now see President Barack Obama as governing from the left. Specifically, 54% say his policies as president have been mostly liberal while 34% call them mostly moderate. This contrasts with public expectations right after Obama’s election a year ago, when as many expected him to be moderate as to be liberal.”

Democrats’ problem with independents isn’t limited to Virginia and New Jersey: “A new McClatchy-Ipsos poll found independents have pulled away from Obama steadily for months and have turned sharply against his highest domestic priority, the plan to overhaul the nation’s health care system. … Only 45 percent of independents now approve of how Obama’s doing his job, down 12 points from August and 25 points from the start of his term. Disapproval among independents has more than doubled in his first 10 months, to 41 percent from 19 percent.”

Karl Rove sums up: “The trend here is that suburban and independent voters moved into the GOP column. The overall shift away from Democrats was 13 points in Virginia, 12 points in New Jersey, and eight points in Pennsylvania.” The takeaway? “Tuesday’s results were the first sign that voters are revolting against runaway spending and government expansion. But Democrats likely ain’t seen nothin’ yet if they try to ram through health-care reform. There is nothing in the House bill that would do anything to reverse the voter trend we saw this week.”

Politico says it’s not good news for the Obama agenda: “Among those paying closest attention are dozens of Democrats who won formerly Republican congressional districts in 2006 and 2008 and are up for reelection in 2010. Many of these pick-ups that powered the Democrats’ recapture of Congress came in Southern and Border states, or the Ohio River Valley, where political conditions are similar to those in Virginia. Obama now faces a much tougher challenge persuading these mostly moderate Democrats to put themselves further at risk by backing such liberal priorities as expanding government’s role in heath care or limiting greenhouse gases.”

In the vote to condemn the Goldstone report, 36 voted “nay” and 22 “present.” The former is a shameful display of anti-Israel bias by a not insignificant number of representatives. But what of the “present” votes — too hard to decide between supporting Israel and currying favor with the anti-Zionists at the UN? Really, as Chris Christie puts it, these people should “man up” and tell us what they really think.

Michael Barone thinks Andy Stern and Big Labor are big losers in Tuesday’s elections: “The unions’ unprecedented political push in 2008 has not been unnoticed by the voters. Mr. Corzine’s cozy relationship with public employee union heads proved a liability in New Jersey, and in Virginia Mr. McDonnell campaigned hard against card check and the Obama agenda. The Gallup organization reports that Americans are less pro-union than they have been at any time since it first started asking the question in 1936. Maybe around the country union members will start asking their leaders what they have gotten for all the money they’ve spent on politics.”

They voted against Democrats and watched Fox: “If you followed the suspense of Tuesday’s elections, odds are you landed on Fox News. Fox News Channel absolutely crushed the other networks in prime-time election coverage ratings.” Maybe the White House should start paying attention to both the returns and the most popular cable-news network. They might get a better handle on what’s going on.

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