About that AP claim of a "GOP sweep" ...

Liz Sidoti's AP article today is just ridiculous. "GOP sweep: Big governor victories in Virginia, NJ" reads the headline. Sweep? Just for a second, let's exclude the congressional race in New York - which the article itself hardly mentions - and focus on just the governor races in Virginia and New Jersey. It seems a little absurd to call two races a sweep. Why don't we just call one race a sweep as well?

Sidoti's lede:

Independents who swept Barack Obama to a historic 2008 victory broke big for Republicans on Tuesday as the GOPwrested political control from Democrats in Virginia and New Jersey, a troubling sign for the president and his party heading into an importantmidterm election year.

(Sidoti ignores that, as Bob Somerby notes, in every "off-off" election since 1977, Virginians have elected a governor from the "out" party-from the party which isn't controlling the White House.)

But what about that 23rd Congressional race in New York? Considering it was probably just as newsworthy - if not more - than the two gubernatorial races, how could Sidoti not mention it in the lede? Instead, she buries it in the fourth graf - below a paragraph on Maine voters rejecting same-sex marriage. After all, Bill Owens is the first Democrat to hold the seat in more than a century. And as TPMDC's Brian Beutler wrote this morning, Owens' and Democrat John Garamendi's election to California's 10th seat "will have immediate ramifications for health care reform," since the newly elected representatives, unlike the governors, actually get to cast a vote on the health reform bill.

(As for the Maine paragraph, it would have been a good spot for Sidoti to mention that Maine voters overwhelmingly approved a measure allowing for dispensaries to supply medical marijuana and rejected a measure that would have limited state and local government spending by holding it to the rate of inflation plus population growth. Those definitely were not GOP victories.)

But let's look closely at Sidoti's fourth graf in which she mentions Owens' victory:

And Democrat Bill Owens captured a GOP-held vacant 23rd Congressional District seat in New York in a race that highlighted fissures in the Republican Party and illustrated hurdles the GOP could face in capitalizing on any voter discontent with Obama and Democrats next fall.

So Sidoti leads by calling two GOP gubernatorial victories (one of which was predicted and the other of which was close) a "troubling sign" for President Obama and the Democrats but downplays a congressional election that "highlighted fissures in the Republican Party"?

Is Sidoti aware how much of the conservative media threw their hat behind Doug Hoffman - whose name she doesn't even mention? And how about noting that the GOP spent nearly a million dollars funding its establishment candidate only for her to drop out two days before the election.

Talk about burying the lede...

Oh and it's not until the 18th graf that Sidoti writes: "Tuesday's impact on Obama's popularity and on the 2010 elections could easily be overstated. Voters are often focused on local issues and local personalities."

Ya think?