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Albany, NY – While many are portraying the outcome of New York's 9th Congressional district race as a message to President Obama, a New York based pollster and political analyst says it's more complicated than that.
Steve Greenberg, whose Siena College poll correctly predicted that Republican Bob Turner would beat Democrat David Weprin in the special election to replace the disgraced Anthony Weiner, says the race was a "perfect storm" with many factors that led to Democrats losing a seat they'd held for nearly a century.
Greenberg says voters were angry over the economy, may have heeded former New York City Mayor Ed Koch's suggestion that they send a message to President Obama about his stance on Israel, or may simply have not wanted to vote for a Democratic candidate who was widely seen as a placeholder in a district that would likely be redrawn, and who Greenberg says ran a poorly executed campaign.
He says it's too early to make any predictions about the 2012 Presidential election based on the outcome.
"I don't believe that an election 14 months before another election is a predictor of what's going to happen," said Greenberg.
Congressman elect Turner disagrees with that. He says his win sends a "message" that President Obama is on the wrong track.
In Albany, I'm Karen DeWitt.