opposition to obama care helped ken cucinnelli keep is close. opposition of the government shutdown painting his opponent as a tea party conservative and social conservative. gender gap in the state of virginia. new jersey map as well. folks take a look at this. you've got to go back a long way in time before you'll see a map like this so filled in. jake tapper, i know you're in the state of new jersey. president obama carried it twice hugely. if you go back to the george h.w. bush win in 1988 presidential race the last time republicans carried it looks a little something like this. look at all that red. only newark is blue. i suspect chris christie is not only going to hang this on the wall in the governor's office but mail to it a lot of republicans and say iowa, south carolina and new hampshire saying look at me. >> interesting, john. one of the things that's so striking about governor chris christie's victory this evening is the inroads he made with so many traditional democratic groups, winning women voters even though he was run against a

i said, in virginia, if ken cucinnelli was going to be mercilessly attack, he is being attacked as wespeak, why was he in there yesterday saying that someone else's from another era. ken, if you're going to be attacked that way, turn it around and say, let's talk about two different positions. you never heard that. they hunker down and said jobs, jobs, economy, economy. i would've read the barbara buono at out loud and said, if ken cucinnelli said these things you would have won -- it's not that simple. >> how did the fiscal standoff this fall affect ken cucinnelli? >> i think his campaign was crippled once it became about sodomy laws and abortion and all of these issues that don't resonate with virginia voters. he got people angry that this was happening, that it could not be diffuse. you factor in the o'donnell scandal that we have not talked about. >> you think that loomed over the whole thing? >> i think that ken cucinnelli was destined to lose and that messaging would not have affected it. but he is a frugal attorney general in a state where people rely on the government for thei

end the former democratic party chairman, terry mcauliffe, pulled it out defeating republican ken cucinnelli who was embraced by the tea party movement. 48% for mcauliffe, 45% for cucinnelli. 7% for the libertarian candidate robert sarvis. in the end mcauliffe will be the next governor of virginia. in new jersey a big re-election win for the republican incumbent governor chris christie. his acceptance speech tonight possibly a warmup for a 2016 presidential bid. in the end a crushing win over barbara buono. 60% for chris christie, 38% for her. an impressive win for chris christie. in new york city, bill deblasio will become the first democratic mayor, get this, in two decades, taking over for the republican turned independent michael bloomberg. bill deblasio will be the next mayor of new york. so lots of excitement. lots of political activity and lots to think about in the days, weeks and months ahead. piers? >> wolf, this defeat of the tea party man, ken cucinnelli, how significant is that in terms of the tea party's prospects going forward to 2014 and then 2016? >> i can't tell you how man

that ken cucinnelli he con fenced a majority of them, a bare majority that ken cucinnelli's positions were too conservative for the state. convince add majority 50% he was too conservative for the state and he won those voters overwhelmingly, anderson. >> john king, thanks very much. alex, as we wrap up the coverage, what do we take away from chris christie tonight? >> well, i think when you look at who's going to be left standing here, serious candidates, people you could actually see sitting in that oval office in the big chair, the republican feield narrows. you can see that rand paul has a constituency. you can see that a ted cruz now has a constituency. you can now see that there's i think a constituency for someone like chris christie running for president. >> what about terry mcauliffe? >> terry mcauliffe right on his heels. no. it's a good thing in politics that candidates run against each other. or else sometimes no one would win. >> iran-iraq war in virginia, wasn't it? >> we've got to wrap up our panel that. does it for this edition of "ac 360 later." thanks for watching ou

end the former democratic party chairman, terry mcauliffe, pulled it out defeating republican ken cucinnelli who was embraced by the tea party movement. 48% for mcauliffe, 45% for cucinnelli. 7% for the libertarian candidate robert sarvis. in the end mcauliffe will be the next governor of virginia. in new jersey a big re-election win for the republican incumbent governor chris christie. his acceptance speech tonight

thanks to bill and hillary clinton's ally terry mcauliffe squeaking by tea party favorite ken cucinnelli. >> virginia, thank you for the honor of electing me to serve as the 72nd governor of the commonwealth of virginia. >> meanwhile in new jersey, chris christie wins re-election and takes his victory lap while keeping an eye on his future. >> our first job is to get the job done. and as long as i'm governor, that job will always always be finished. [ cheers and applause ] >> we begin now with wolf blitzed in washington with tonight's up to the minute results. wolf, bring us up to speed with what happened tonight. >> all right, piers. thank you. the governor's race in virginia as you say certainly more suspenseful than expected. but in the end the former democratic party chairman, terry mcauliffe, pulled it out defeating republican ken

have a ken cucinnelli political future if he loses today?>> i don't think so. >> he is a young guy. so we have ken cucinnelli losing, chris christie a sending in new jersey. looking ahead, we have a lot next year. i want to go to 2013 for a few moments. let's preview 2014 and the senate. interviewseone senator mcconnell, he wants to become majority leader. that is his goal. can he do it? if he is going to do it, what are the two or three king -- key races must win? thehe internet follows felix principle. in cap and faster and faster and as a result it is difficult to notice health quickly they change previous assumptions. after syria, people felt obama was on the ropes and he had shown a terrible lack of leadership. the shutdown came and republicans became the goat. there strategy failed. -- their strategy failed. now we have obamacare. i think it is fair to say that if you walk to the white house's deepest confidence in dealing yourthis and not get ankles wet. see people not get a message out about obamacare. i think it is a defining moment

ken cucinnelli, 53% of the voters in virginia oppose obama care. that. 80% of that more than half of the electorate who opposed obama care broke for cucinnelli. the president at the moment is underwater in the state of virginia. they went for ken cucinnelli and yet terry mcauliffe ekes out a win in the moderate northern suburbs, more than 70% opposed the tea party. mcauliffe linked ken cucinnelli to the tea party. yes, this was about the government shutdown. yes, this was about obama care. but a lot of the ads in the end targeting women voters. should abortion be legal? 60% of the voters in virginia said yes. look at that. they went for terry mcauliffe by an overwhelming margin. you can thank the choice issue as well for helping him to the victory. >> the democrats concerned a lot of commercials against cucinnelli on that issue alone. piers, so terry mcauliffe will be the next governor of virginia. >> wolf and john, thanks very much indeed. back with my panel. bill crystal, what's the takeaway tonight. when we wake up tomorrow what are going to be t

. >> terry mcauliffe mostly won because single women voted against ken cucinnelli because of the socialues the polls show. [ overlapping speakers ] >> virginia is top heavy with government workers. >> the government workers saw the value of their own job. >> the fact of the matter is, the economy under president obama has been a disaster because of more regulations and higher taxes and government gridlock. this is why people are rejecting -- i don't think bill deblasio's plan is going to work in new york city. >> listen. there's this myth out there that president obama has been able to get his agenda through. and the reality is, his jobs plan what 100% republican ideas and republicans refused to pass it. so you have an active pattern of sabotaging this president. i think you guys should be ashamed of that. if you have always as a party believed in infrastructure for this country, you always have except when obama was for it. you always believed in the mitt romney heritage foundation nixon newt gingrich individual mandate until obama was for it then you were against it. i don't think tha