Images of the polished Bob McDonnell and the more portly Chris Christie will no doubt grace the front pages of today's newspapers. They are the Republicans who were elected governor in Virginia and New Jersey, respectively, bucking recent Democratic trends in both states. But maybe the papers should make room for a photo of someone who hasn't been on the ballot in 13 years: one H. Ross Perot.
No political figure has better represented the angry, pox-on-both-your-houses independent better than Perot -- only Jesse Ventura, the Texas billionaire's onetime Reform Party rival, has even come close. When those voters joined forces with conservatives, it produced the Republican congressional takeover of 1994. Yesterday, they got the band back together and produced more GOP victories.
The numbers are telling. Exit polls showed Christie, a former U.S. attorney, trouncing Democratic New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine by 58 percent to 31 percent. In Virginia, independents opted for McDonnell over Democrat Creigh Deeds by an astonishing 65 percent to 34 percent. Both states have been trending Democratic for a decade, as swing voters turned a deaf ear to Republican appeals.
