Bob Turner's Congress Win in N.Y. Could be Bad News for Obama, Democrats

Republican Bob Turner's victory in the special election for Anthony Weiner's New York congressional seat is being interpreted across the political spectrum as a possible rebuke to Democrats, particularly President Barack Obama.

Turner's opponent, Democratic state Assemblyman David Weprin, failed to generate much excitement throughout the contest. Turner instantly seized on the results as a reflection of popular discontent with Obama's economic policies and as a portent of things to come, declaring that We've lit one candle today and there's going to be a bonfire pretty soon.

We have been told this is a referendum, Turner said in a victory speech. And we're ready to say, 'Mr. President, we are on the wrong track.'

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., the chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, shrugged off suggestions that the race had broader implications, pointing to the unique demographics of a district that has a disproportionately heavy concentration of Orthodox Jews. Conservative Jewish voters may have been swayed by Weprin's vote to legalize same-sex marriage, or by a call from former New York City mayor Ed Koch to express anger at Obama's policies towards Israel by voting for Turner.

In this district, there is a large number of people who went to the polls tonight who didn't support the president to begin with and don't support Democrats - and it's nothing more than that, Wasserman Schultz told The New York Times.

But some voters exiting the polls expressed a disillusionment with Obama that seemed to enforce Turner's contention.

I am a registered Democrat, I have always been a registered Democrat, I come from a family of Democrats - and I hate to say this, I voted Republican, Linda Goldberg, 61, told the Times. I need to send a message to the president that he's not doing a very good job. Our economy is horrible. People are scared.

Democratic donors and strategists also registered a sharp sense of disappointment and anxiety in a Tuesday afternoon conference call reported by Politico, with a person who was on the call describing people as betrayed, disappointed, furious, disgusted, hopeless.

House Whip Steny Hoyer, D-Md., told Politico that Obama would shoulder some of the blame for Weprin's loss regardless of why voters cast their ballots as they did.

I think every election reflects on the person in charge, but do I think it is an overall statement on the president alone? No, said Hoyer. Do I think it will be interpreted as being a statement on Obama? That's probably correct.