Election Day 2009 featured three races that captured the eye of political pundits, who painted them an early referendum on U.S. President Barack Obama.

Going into Tuesday's elections Republican challengers led Democratic hopefuls in New Jersey and Virginia races for governor. Polls indicate Republican challenger Chris Christie leads Democratic incumbent Jon Corzine in New Jersey and GOP challenger Bob McDonnell is holding a lead over Democratic candidate Creigh Deeds.

A congressional election in upstate New York has turned into a litmus test for conservatives. Locally GOP-endorsed Dede Scozzafava dropped out and endorsed Democratic candidate Bill Owens following a backlash by Republican conservatives who put up their own candidate, Doug Hoffman.

Political observers said the party that has won the White House has lost Virginia for the past 32 years and failed in New Jersey for the past two decades, CNN noted. History -- laced with voter anger -- may repeat itself in 2009 and could provide a sneak peak at the 2010 midterm elections when the entire House of Representatives, a third of the U.S. Senate and a goodly number of governors are up.

In cities across the United States, people headed to the polls to determine who would lead their municipalities. In New York, incumbent Michael Bloomberg, a Republican, faced city Comptroller William Thompson Jr., with each offering his own prescription to cure the city's economic woes, The New York Times reported.

Other key races include Atlanta, which could elect its first white mayor since 1969, Houston, which could install the city's first openly gay mayor, and Detroit, where the interim successor to ex-Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, who pleaded guilty to perjury and obstruction of justice, seeks a full term while trying to keep the Motor City out of bankruptcy, USA Today reported.

Other major cities voting for mayor include New York, Boston, Cleveland, Seattle, and Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minn.