GOP Wins Weiner's Seat

The special election to replace Rep. Anthony Weiner was widely seen as a referendum on President Obama's economic policy—and the resounding answer was: "No." Republican political novice Bob Turner soundly defeated Democratic state Assemblyman David Weprin, AP reports. It's the first time a Republican has won New York City's heavily Democratic 9th congressional district, which spans parts of Queens and Brooklyn.

Republican Mark Amodei also swept past Democrat Kate Marshall yesterday in Nevada's special election to choose a representative. But that was no surprise in the heavily Republican district. Democratic spin doctors are blaming the Turner result—which followed a sometimes nasty race—on a poor candidate, a quirky district, and an electorate who made Israel a major issue. "If they'd let Anthony Weiner "—hounded from office for tweeting lewd photos of himself—"go to rehab and then reapportioned the district out of existence, they'd have saved everybody a million dollars," a Democratic media consultant tells the Atlantic. (More special election stories.)