Voters Deciding Key Election Battles Nationwide

Voters Deciding Key Election Battles Nationwide


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By ROBERT TANNER
AP National Writer

Voters in New Jersey and Virginia picked governors Tuesday after high-spending, mean-spirited campaigns that were closely watched by political analysts for signs of the public's mood ahead of next year's midterm elections. Elsewhere, New York and a few other major cities selected mayors.

Statewide ballot referendums put gay rights before the voters in Maine and Texas, while several government-overhaul measures on the ballot in California were seen as a referendum on GOP Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who campaigned hard for them.

In New Jersey and Virginia, the races for governor were marked by nasty personal attacks. One ad in Virginia charged that one candidate would not have supported the death penalty for Adolf Hitler; another in New Jersey quoted a candidate's ex-wife as saying he would betray the state.

In New Jersey, Democratic Sen. Jon Corzine and Republican businessman Doug Forrester spent upward of $70 million on the governor's race. Acting Gov. Richard Codey assumed the office last year when Gov. Jim McGreevey, a Democrat, resigned over a homosexual affair, but Codey decided not to run.

In Virginia, at least $42 million was spent in the contest between Republican Jerry Kilgore, the former state attorney general, and Democratic Lt. Gov. Tim Kaine. Democratic Gov. Mark Warner cannot seek a second term.

Voters also picked mayors in New York, Detroit, Houston, San Diego and Atlanta.

The vitriol in the gubernatorial campaigns left voters weary.

"You turn on the TV and there's nothing but negative ads on. I can see why people get frustrated with that," businessman Nick Russo said in Ridgewood, N.J. "It just turns you off."

A Forrester ad quoted Corzine's ex-wife as saying, "Jon did let his family down, and he'll probably let New Jersey down, too." A Corzine ad featured a paralyzed teenager complaining about Forrester's stance against stem cell research.

A Kilgore ad alleged that Kaine's opposition to the death penalty meant he would not have executed Hitler. Kaine cites his Roman Catholic beliefs for his opposition to capital punishment, but insisted he would carry out death sentences because they are the law.

The contests there -- and in ballot referendums on everything from state spending to gay rights -- could offer hints at the mood of the electorate with a year until 2006 elections that will decide control of Congress and the governorships of 36 states.

"Off-term elections are more idiosyncratic, but they're affected by the larger political environment," said Norm Ornstein at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, listing opposition to the Iraq war, the mishandled response to Hurricane Katrina, and the indictment of an aide to Vice President Dick Cheney. "You do have some demoralization among Republicans and that can mean a lower turnout. ... It's been an awful time for Republicans."

In Virginia, Kilgore held a Monday night rally with President Bush -- his first public campaign appearance with the president in a state that twice voted for Bush.

In New Jersey, Bush did not appear with Forrester, and Corzine -- who campaigned with former President Clinton -- repeatedly tried to link his opponent to the Bush administration.

In mayor's races:

-- New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg was on track to beat his 2001 spending record of $74 million, and polls showed the Republican headed for a landslide victory in the heavily Democratic city against former Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer.

-- Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick tried to beat back a challenge from Freman Hendrix, a deputy mayor under Kilpatrick's predecessor. Kilpatrick stood to become the first Detroit mayor since 1961 to be defeated in a re-election bid.

-- In San Diego, surf-shop owner Donna Frye, a maverick Democratic councilwoman who nearly won the mayor's race in a write-in bid last year, faced Republican Jerry Sanders, a former police chief backed by the city's business establishment.

-- Atlanta's first female mayor, Shirley Franklin, faced two little-known challengers in her bid for a second term.

(Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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