Virginia has a long-standing habit of voting in its off-year gubernatorial elections opposite to the way the nation went in the previous year's presidential race, and it appears poised to do so once again.  Up the coast in New Jersey, Republican Chris Christie, a former U.S. attorney, has been the aggressor all year against Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine, the multimillionaire transplant from Wall Street. As in his previous successful races for senator and governor, Corzine has made up for his lack of personal political skills by hitting his opponent with an expensive and highly negative TV assault.  Corzine's vulnerability for not solving the state's chronic dependence on high property taxes could elect Christie. But New Jersey has a far more solid Democratic voter base than does Virginia, so Obama, who has campaigned with Deeds and Corzine, has a better chance to welcome the Garden State result.  The third contest in which the president has raised money and delivered a personal endorsement is a special election in New York's 23rd Congressional District, crowding the Canadian border. Obama set up the race by appointing Rep. John McHugh, a moderate Republican, as his secretary of the Army.  Faced with finding a new candidate, Republican district caucuses turned to state Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava, another moderate who fits the profile of the district. But the man she beat for the Republican nomination, businessman Doug Hoffman, grabbed the Conservative Party nomination and, pledging his own money to the fight, quickly became the favorite of many movement conservative leaders. Among his endorsers are Sarah Palin and one of her potential rivals for the 2012 presidential nomination, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty.
The first key votes of the Obama era take place this week, not on the floor of the House or Senate, where health-care legislation still languishes, but in Virginia, New Jersey and northern New York...