Republican wins deal blow to Obama

Difficulties turning out the base
In both states, the surveys also suggested the Democrats had difficulty turning out their base, including the large numbers of first-time minority and youth voters whom Obama attracted.

But Tuesday's election also offered a warning to Republicans about how internal divisions could undermine their newfound strength. Party infighting cost them what had been a safe congressional seat from upstate New York.

The Republican nominee, Dierdre Scozzafava, withdrew from the special race for the vacant seat after prominent conservatives, including former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, opposed her as too moderate and backed a third-party candidate, Conservative Doug Hoffman.

That created an opening for the Democratic candidate, Bill Owens, who had been endorsed by Scozzafava. With 88 percent of the precincts reporting, Owens had 49 percent of the vote to 46 percent for Hoffman. Scozzafava had 6 percent.

In other races Tuesday, voters in the northeastern state of Maine weighed in on same-sex marriage in a closely watched initiative. With about two-thirds of precincts reporting, opponents of same-sex marriage had a slim lead of 52 percent to 48 percent.

A number of cities selected mayors. Billionaire Michael Bloomberg won a third term as New York mayor in a closer-than-expected race against a Democratic challenger who stoked voter resentment over the way the incumbent changed the city's term-limits law so he could stay in office.

With all precincts reporting, Bloomberg defeated city comptroller William Thompson Jr. 51 percent to 46 percent.

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