Conservative Party congressional candidate Doug Hoffman waits to vote at the town hall in Lake Placid, N.Y. on Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2009. (AP)

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It was a “shot across the bow” Election Day for both parties yesterday. Different versions of a wake-up call.

For Democrats, two big losses in governors’ races in Virginia and New Jersey. No Obama effect to save the day. Maybe a damper on the Obama agenda.

For the GOP, big victories in those states, but a high-profile defeat for hard-right conservatives in an upstate New York district that has gone Republican since 1872. The Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Tea Party candidate down in flames, and the GOP civil war still on.

This hour, On Point: The ‘09 elections — and the shots across the bow.

You can join the conversation. Tell us what you think — here on this page, on Twitter, and on Facebook.

-Tom Ashbrook

Guests:

Charles Mahtesian, national politics editor at Politico.  He’s been following the 2009 races closely and reported this week on conservatives gearing up to challenge GOP candidates. He joins us from Washington.

Ross Douthat, op-ed columnist for The New York Times and co-author of “Grand New Party: How Republicans Can Win the Working Class and Save the American Dream.” He writes in his latest column that third-party candidates injected substance into this year’s races.  He joins us from Washington.

Thomas Edsall, political editor of The Huffington Post and a professor at the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism. A political reporter at The Washington Post from 1981 to 2006, he’s author of “Building Red America: The New Conservative Coalition and the Drive for Permanent Power.”  He joins us from New York.

Mickey Edwards, former Republican Congressman from Oklahoma and member of the House Republican leadership. He’s now a lecturer at Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and author of “Reclaiming Conservatism: How a Great American Political Movement Got Lost–And How It Can Find Its Way Back.”  He joins us from Newark, New Jersey.

President Barack Obama addresses a joint session of Congress in the House Chamber of the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2009. (AP)

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So there was the new president, Barack Obama, in his first big speech before Congress — and oh, what a difference since last year’s State of the Union.

No George Bush, no scowling Dick Cheney, but smiling Joe Biden on the dais, and, at the podium, a young president with the highest public approval ratings since Ronald Reagan in his first month of office.

Obama was sober, he was hopeful, he laid out an agenda of startling ambition. But he still has to work it through America’s rugged politics. Rebuilding is going to take many hands, on both sides of the aisle, and that’s not easy.

This hour, On Point: we’ll get Republican and Democratic perspectives on the Obama agenda, and ask if it’s time for a bipartisan push to do the rebuilding — or if that is a pipe dream.

You can join the conversation. What did you hear in the President’s speech last night? Did you hear enough specifics? Enough hope? An answer to the crisis we’re in? And what about Governor Bobby Jindal’s Republican response?

-Tom Ashbrook

Guests:

John Harwood, political writer for The New York Times and chief Washington correspondent for CNBC. See his New York Times piece on President Obama’s early “fiscal pivot.”

Rep. Donna Edwards, Democratic Congresswoman from Maryland. She represents Maryland’s 4th District, which includes parts of Montgomery and St. George’s Counties, around the Beltway. She’s a lawyer and champion of progressive causes — a hero to her “netroots” backers. She’s in her first term in Congress, and she’s the first African-American woman to represent Maryland in Congress.

Rep. Michael Burgess, Republican Congressman representing Texas’s 26th District, in the northern part of the state, including Fort Worth and most of Denton Country and parts of Tarrant, Cooke, and Dallas counties. A medical doctor (obstetrician), he joined Congress in 2003. He’s a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee and a strong opponent of the stimulus package.

A week from tomorrow, coast to coast, and with everything on the line, the biggest day of presidential primary voting in American history will take place. On Super Tuesday, February 5th, nearly two dozen states are in play — and big ones.

The Democrats are thundering for the big day. Barack Obama is fresh off a huge win in South Carolina, with big Kennedy clan endorsements. Hillary Clinton is dug in deep, with husband Bill still blasting away.

This hour, On Point: Clinton, Obama, the Edwards factor — and the Democrats’ furious sprint for Super Tuesday.

-Tom Ashbrook

Guests:

Peter Hart, Democratic pollster and strategist, he conducts the Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll together with Republican pollster Bill McInturff.

Jo Mannies, political correspondent for The St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Josh Margolin, political reporter for The Star-Ledger in Newark, N.J.

Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, professor of policy at the University of Southern California and a political analyst for KNBC in Los Angeles.

Jack Beatty, On Point news analyst and senior editor at The Atlantic Monthly.

Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich was a field marshall in the Republican Revolution. Former senator Gary Hart was a Democratic contender for the presidency.

Now, they’re both saying the country is facing a crisis — and needs a radically new politics that blasts through partisan lines.

Gingrich is still conservative, but says Republicans have failed at governing. Hart has endorsed Obama, but also an extraordinary “national unity” government with cabinet members from both parties.

This hour, On Point: Newt Gingrich and Gary Hart on the challenges we face, and changing the game.

-Tom Ashbrook

Guests:

Newt Gingrich, former Republican Congressman from Georgia, Speaker of the House from 1995 to 1999, now a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. His new book is “Real Change: From the World that Fails to the World that Works.”

Gary Hart, a former U.S. Senator from Colorado, he ran for the Democratic nomination for president in 1984 and 1988, and is now a professor of public affairs at the University of Colorado. His new book, “Under The Eagle’s Wing: A National Security Strategy of the United States for 2009″ will be published in April.

New Hampshire was supposed to be a firewall for the Hillary Clinton campaign — the primary stronghold where she would anchor her drive for the White House. Instead, it’s primary day and New Hampshire is a major challenge.

The other kid from Chicago, Barack Obama, has a solid lead in opinion polls. John Edwards is nipping at her heels. And the chemistry and expectations of the Democratic Party are in full flux as voters head to the polls.

Nobody’s conceding. It’s a fight that goes deep. And we are in New Hampshire, right in the middle of it.

This hour, On Point: the Democrats, and the battle for the party and the nation’s first primary.

-Tom Ashbrook

Guests:

Dante Scala, political scientist at the University of New Hampshire.

EJ Dionne, Washington Post columnist and senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.

Joe Klein, Time magazine columnist.

Jack Beatty, On Point news analyst, senior editor at the Atlantic Monthly.

And so at last, it’s all about Iowa, at least tonight, as Iowa voters line up in party caucuses for the first real votes of the ‘08 presidential campaign. In an extraordinary wide-open election season, candidates have thrown horse shoes and flipped burgers, cocked shotguns and kissed babies.

Now, Iowa stands to deliver a first verdict.

We are all about Iowa today, too — bringing Iowans to the microphone to tell us what they’ve learned about politicking, about the men and woman who would lead the nation.

This hour On Point: Iowa Democrats tell all on Caucus Day ‘08.

-Tom Ashbrook

Guests:

Anne Kornblut, national correspondent for the Washington Post, reporting from Des Moines, Iowa.

Dennis Goldford, professor of politics and international relations at Drake University.

Ira Lacher, will caucus for Barack Obama.

Sean Larson, will caucus for John Edwards.

Nancylee Ziese, will caucus for Hillary Clinton.

It was the Double O Express, as Oprah Winfrey pumped up crowds for Barack Obama on Saturday from Iowa to South Carolina to New Hampshire.

For Hillary Clinton, the sight of Oprah and Obama drives home one of the great surprises — and ironies — of this historic campaign: that the first woman with a real shot at the presidency is running neck and neck with a man whose feminist appeal may be as strong as her own.

What do Democratic women want? It could be the deciding question of ‘08.

This hour, On Point: the gender vote up for grabs.

-Jane Clayson

Guests:

Anne Kornblut, she has been following the campaign for the Washington Post.

Ellen Goodman, author and Pulitzer Prize-winning syndicated columnist at the Boston Globe.

Patricia Williams, professor of law at Columbia University and columnist for The Nation magazine. She has written extensively on gender and race.

Jennifer Lawless, professor of political science, Brown University. She is author of “It Takes a Candidate: Why Women Don’t Run for Office.” She was a Congressional candidate in 2006.

With President Bush’s popularity in a ditch, and Republicans in disarray, many Democrats on their party’s left feel their moment is now. Americans, they say, are ready to address inequality, to transform healthcare, to remake America’s image abroad — to embrace liberalism.

But what does that word, tainted by decades of abuse from the right — and center — even mean today? And is the country really ready for a liberal upsurge? Is a progressive majority in the making?

Up next, On Point: America’s liberal left, and its hopes for a liberal moment.

-Sheilah Kast

Guests:

Paul Krugman, columnist for The New York Times, professor of economics and international affairs at Princeton University, and author of “The Conscience of a Liberal.”

Paul Starr, Pulitzer-Prize winning author and co-editor of The American Prospect magazine, he is professor of sociology and public affairs at Princeton University and author of the new book “Freedom’s Power: The True Force of Liberalism.”

Jean Bethke Elshtain, professor of social and political ethics at the University of Chicago and author of “Just War Against Terror: The Burden of American Power in a Violent World.”

It’s the first Tuesday in November. A year from today, America picks a new president. Barack Obama may or may not be on that final ballot. The votes that will determine the fate of his candidacy start just weeks from now, in Iowa and New Hampshire.

That short clock is pushing new considerations of Obama and — whether one supports him or not — just what an extraordinary product of the American and global culture he is. In his person, and in his way of thinking, he could be a game-changer for this country.

Is it a change Americans want? A change they can trust?

This hour, On Point: looking again at a one-of-a-kind contender, Barack Obama.

-Tom Ashbrook

Guests:

James Traub, contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine.

Laura Washington, columnist for The Chicago Sun-Times.

Andrew Sullivan, senior editor at The Atlantic Monthly and author of the blog “Daily Dish.”

Round seven in the Democrats’ drumbeat of presidential debates was a slugfest last night. The prime target: frontrunner Hillary Clinton. The attackers: just about everybody else on the stage.

The first primaries are just two months away now. No time to waste. Obama promised fireworks, but seemed mild on the attack. Edwards was on fire about Clinton’s honesty and credibility. Dodd asked if she’s really electable. Hillary stood strong, but this was tough criticism from inside the party.

This hour, On Point: on the Democrats’ homestretch, Hillary Clinton feels the heat.

-Tom Ashbrook

Guests:

Julie Mason, national political correspondent, The Houston Chronicle.

Joe Klein, columnist for Time magazine and author of “Politics Lost: How American Democracy Was Trivialized By People Who Think You’re Stupid.”

Harold Jackson, editorial page editor, The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Jack Beatty, On Point news analyst and senior editor at The Atlantic Monthly.

Senator Chris Dodd wants to be president. He’s already spent 6 years in the U.S. House, and 27 years in the Senate. A Washington outsider he’s not. But in an election where experience might really matter, Dodd says he’s your man.

He draws strength from his family history, stretching back to his dad’s days as a prosecutor at the Nuremberg trials after World War II. We need to uphold the rule of law, Dodd says, and to restore America’s moral authority.

His candidacy is now a cause. A long shot, maybe. But Chris Dodd is hoping you’ll listen.

This hour, On Point: Chris Dodd, U.S. Senator, presidential candidate.

-Jane Clayson

Guests:

Senator Christopher Dodd (D-CT), presidential candidate and author of the new book “Letters from Nuremberg: My Father’s Narrative of a Quest for Justice.”

Hillary Clinton got run over by health care reform politics fourteen years ago. Trounced by drug companies and insurers, by Harry and Louise, by ordinary Americans afraid she would limit their health care choices.

Now, years have passed, nearly 50 million Americans are uninsured, millions more live in fear of losing coverage — and Hillary is back, with kinder, gentler reform that is, she says, all about choice.

Her rivals are howling. But the country is waiting for some kind of answer on health care.

This hour, On Point: Hillary Clinton’s second time around on health care reform.

-Tom Ashbrook

Guests:

Susannah Meadows, senior writer for Newsweek covering the Clinton campaign, her latest story is “How Hillary Won Over the Health-Care Industry.”

Dr. Atul Gawande, former senior health policy advisor on Clinton’s health care task force in 1993, he’s a surgeon and associate professor of health policy at Harvard Medical School and the Harvard School of Public Health and author of “Better: A Surgeon’s Notes On Performance.”

Stuart Altman, currently an advisor on health care policy for Barack Obama’s presidential campaign, he’s dean and professor of national health policy at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University.

Scott Atlas, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford and senior advisor on health care for Rudy Giuliani’s presidential campaign.