President Obama promised jobs during his campaign for president, and the elections in Virginia and New Jersey on Tuesday were a clear referendum on his failure to deliver on this promise.

Bit of a change from Tuesday, when Steele said the election was not “so much a referendum on the president.” Clearly, the new spin is the wiser spin, even if the rhetoric about Obama having the power to “create jobs” rings hollow to a conservative.

The United States economy shed 190,000 jobs in October, and the unemployment rate reached a 26-year high of 10.2 percent, up from 9.8 percent in September, the Department of Labor said Friday in its monthly economic appraisal.

While the pace of the job losses has slowed significantly since the peak of the recession last winter, the unemployment rate, which measures the number of people actively seeking work, continues to climb, and economists do not foresee relief until well into next year.

“There’s no doubt that the slashing and burning of jobs has abated quite a lot,” said Allen L. Sinai, the founder of Decision Economics, a research firm. “The economy is recovering, but it is a very soft recovery.”

The agency also revised September’s losses to 219,000 from 263,000.

Not surprisingly, Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele was quick to pounce with this statement:

“Since President Obama’s inauguration, the nation has watched the unemployment rate continue to climb, and unfortunately the month of October was no different.  More than 190,000 Americans lost their jobs in the month of October and the national unemployment rate increased yet again to 10.2 percent.  With so many families looking for work, it is time the Obama administration stop spreading their phony ‘saved or created’ talking points and start creating the dependable jobs America needs.  President Obama promised jobs during his campaign for president, and the elections in Virginia and New Jersey on Tuesday were a clear referendum on his failure to deliver on this promise.”

“So candidates who live in moderate to slightly liberal districts have got to walk a little bit carefully here, because you do not want to put yourself in a position where you’re crossing that line on conservative principles, fiscal principles, because we’ll come after you,” Steele continued.

“You’re gonna find yourself in a very tough hole if you’re arguing for the president’s stimulus plan or Nancy Pelosi’s health plan. There’s no justification for growing the size of government the way this administration and this Congress wants to do it.”

It’s not surprising that Steele and the Republican Party would try to harness the Tea Party movement for an electoral advantage, but the events in the NY-23 special election should make clear that’s a risky proposition. In a moderate Republican district in upstate New York that had not elected a Democrat since the 1870s, a Tea Party-backed, Club for Growth-funded conservative succeeded in forcing a moderate Republican out of the race, only to lose to a moderate Democrat.

It’s no secret that Republicans representing “moderate to slightly liberal districts” tend to be moderate because in many cases a hard-line conservative running in the district would lose to a moderate Democrat. And once elected, moderates in these districts need to continue to appeal to moderate voters in order to get reelected, often by occasionally working with the other party. Granted, the number of moderate Republicans in Congress who Steele is talking about “coming after” — presumably through primary challenges from the right — is small. But the effect of a strategy like the one Steele is threatening would very likely be to drive remaining moderates out of the party — either through primary losses or party-switching à la Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) — and thereby shrink the GOP caucus even further in the name of ideological purity.

It’s particularly noteworthy since TWI asked Steele about this very issue yesterday, and he responded that winning is more important than maintaining ideological purity. “I don’t see a victory in losing seats,” he said. “I’m not in the business of division and subtraction. I’m in the business of multiplication and addition. I want more Republicans going to Congress.”

(Via Ben Smith)

“I don’t think it’s a referendum on Obama,” the Republican lawmaker said in a conference call with reporters. “I think it’s a — it’s a referendum on some of his programs — not that his programs are not well-intentioned, but are they working and, in some instances, are they going too far?”

Of course, Republicans fared very well in high-profile statewide elections in New Jersey and Virginia, but the GOP’s favored candidates lost both federal special elections in New York’s 23rd Congressional District and California’s 10th. One can only wonder what prominent Republicans would be saying if they had won either or both of those House seats.

First, Steele proclaims a “Republican renaissance”:

Steele says the elections were not a referendum on Obama:

Steele argues there should have been a primary in NY-23:

Steele responds to my questions about the future implications of the NY-23 contest:

He praised the volunteer efforts to get Bob McDonnell and Chris Christie elected as governors in Virginia and New Jersey, respectively, saying, “Our folks are fired up.” Yet he expressed some misgivings about the process that led to Democrat Bill Owens’ victory in New York’s 23rd Congressional District.

“There should have been, in New York 23, a primary process,” he said.

I asked him about the view among some conservatives that the NY-23 result was a victory, since it emboldened the conservative wing of the Republican party.

“I don’t see a victory in losing seats,” he responded, adding, “Winning’s a lot sweeter, and if you don’t think last night was sweet, you need to see a doctor.”

He also disputed the notion that the results were a referendum on President Obama, saying, “I don’t think this is so much a referendum on the president. I think it’s a checkpoint on the policies.”

We’ll have video of the event shortly.

Update: Watch video of the Michael Steele press conference here.

Mr. McDonnell defeated the Democratic candidate, R. Creigh Deeds, an 18-year state senator from rural Bath County in western Virginia.

Republicans cited the victory as a repudiation of the Obama administration and the national Democratic Party’s agenda, especially that of outgoing Gov. Tim Kaine, who serves as the chairman of the Democratic National Committee.

Nonetheless, exit polls conducted by Edison Research on Tuesday showed that support for Mr. Obama had changed little in the state since his victory here in 2008. The polls suggested that many of Mr. Obama’s voters stayed home on Tuesday, allowing Mr. McDonnell to win on strong support among white men and independents and among voters who say they are very worried about the direction of the nation’s economy.

Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele dances in the end zone with this statement:

“Tonight, Republicans made history in Virginia.  In a state that had been in the Democrats’ column after the 2008 election – and in DNC Chairman Tim Kaine’s own backyard – Republicans swept all three top state offices in Virginia for the first time since 1997.  These significant victories speak to the fantastic campaigns run by Republicans across the Commonwealth and the voters’ clear rejection of liberal tax and spend policies that Washington Democrats are trying to force on Americans.

“Governor-elect Bob McDonnell’s common-sense conservative message of less spending, lower taxes and more responsible government clearly resonated with voters. His opposition to the Democrats’ plans for higher taxes, government-run health care and a job-killing ‘cap and trade’ bill was rewarded by Virginia voters with a victory tonight. [...]

“The Republican Party’s overwhelming victory in Virginia is a blow to President Obama and the Democrat Party.  It sends a clear signal that voters have had enough of the president’s liberal agenda.  The Republican Party and our grassroots supporters have renewed strength in Virginia, and I look forward to working with Governor-elect McDonnell and Republicans across the state to build on our momentum.”

Effective immediately, the RNC will endorse and support the conservative candidate in the race, Doug Hoffman. Doug’s campaign will receive the financial backing of the RNC, and get-out-the-vote efforts to defeat Bill Owens on Tuesday.

From Reps. John Boehner (R-Ohio), Eric Cantor (R-Va.), and Pete Sessions (R-Texas), the party’s leadership in the House and its chief of candidate recruitment:

With Assemblywoman Scozzafava suspending her campaign, we urge voters to support Doug Hoffman’s candidacy in New York’s 23rd Congressional District. He is the only active candidate in the race who supports lower taxes, fiscal responsibility and opposes Nancy Pelosi’s agenda of government-run healthcare, more government and less jobs.

Michael Patrick Leahy is rounding up statements from local GOP chairs.

If Dede is not in the race and the only 2 people in the race are Hoffman and Owens, we will definitely support Hoffman.

In light of the fact that the Republican candidate in the special election for the 23rd Congressional District in New York has withdrawn, and since I was one of the original Republicans seeking the nomination, I will be supporting Doug Hoffman in his bid for the 23rd Congressional District seat.

I am thrilled. I will be supporting Doug Hoffman and I am sure my Fulton constituents who made all the phone calls to me saying they are supporting Doug Hoffman will continue to support him.

“They must be thinking they’ll have good news,” Norquist told TWI.

On Tuesday, voters go to the polls to elect governors in New Jersey and Virginia and new members of Congress in NY-23 and CA-10. If nothing else breaks their way, Republicans are expected to win a resounding victory down the ballot in Virginia. If New Jersey and NY-23 break against the Democrats, Republicans are ready to push their advantage and argue that the electorate wants Congress to put the brakes on liberal policies.

In the months prior to the October 13 launch of GOP.com, the committee paid $328,000 to 11 firms for Web development. (The Democrats, which did not completely overhaul their site during that time period, spent $45,000 on Web development.)

Also, Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele hasn’t blogged in 10 days. On the plus side, for conservatives, that’s $1.4 million that didn’t go to NY-23 GOP candidate Dede Scozzafava.