国际英语新闻：White House defends president despite Democrats' loss in local elections

WASHINGTON, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. White House Wednesday downplayed the loss of the Democratic Party in the Nov. 3 local elections, saying that it was not related to President Barack Obama's administration.

"The data from the gubernatorial races demonstrates that voters went to the polls in those two contests and talked about, and worked through very local issues that didn't involve the president," said White House spokesman Robert Gibbs, referring to elections for Virginia and New Jersey governors on Tuesday, both of which were won by Republican candidates.

    However, he admitted that the result of the elections were disappointing, but they still did not reveal any change of level of support for the president.

U.S. President Barack Obama speaks at a campaign rally for New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine at Susquehanna Bank Center in Camden, New Jersey, Nov. 1, 2009.

    "If you look at the exit polling, which is pretty clear on this, people went to the polls and voted on local issues not to even register support for or opposition to the president," he said.

    In Virginia, Republican candidate Bob McDonnell, 55, won his Democratic rival, Creigh Deeds, by a large margin. Chris Christie broke the tie with incumbent Democratic governor in New Jersey JonCorzine and won the gubernatorial election.

    Obama has campaigned with both of the two Democratic candidates and tried to transfer support for him to his party fellows.

    Exit polls found that economy and employment issues still topped voters' mind when they cast ballots for local officials and lawmakers.

    "I think voters are concerned about the economy, I don't think the president needed an election or an exit poll to come to that conclusion," Gibbs said.