Republican candidates prevailed in most major races yesterday and, as Vincent at Connecticut Local Politics points out, Connecticut exemplified the trend better than anywhere.

Like New Jersey, we are a deeply blue state, so to see the GOP win in places like Stamford and Norwich and Stratford shows that something major was going on last night. (The only town that completely bucked the trend was West Hartford. Come on folks, get with it.)

What happened was a revolt against overspending. The GOP runs best in the Northeast when it sticks to three issues — taxes, limited government, and crime. In this economic climate, the party pounded the financial management issue, blaming Democratic mayors and councils for overspending during a recession. It clearly resonated. For example, in my hometown of Fairfield, the RTM swung from 27-23 Democratic to 38-12 Republican, and the GOP won almost all the open board seats (finance, education) as well….

Sure, we are a blue state, and so is New Jersey. But just because we are Democrats doesn’t mean that we like seeing the government nationalize the auto industry, or take over the health care industry. Nutmeggers remain New Englanders, who believe in private enterprise, personal responsibility and thrift. Watching the government triple the deficit and have little to show for it (except for make-work featherbedding like the torn-up-for-no-reason Merritt Parkway) drives people of our mindset nuts.

I think this is sound analysis. It’s become far too easy to make bogeymen out of Glenn Beck or Rush Limbaugh – as if there were nothing at all a rational person could find troubling about that tripled deficit.