Obama dismisses polls snub

US: President Barack Obama is brushing aside a sharp rebuke at the polls on the first anniversary of his historic election, saying his administration had saved the nation from economic ruin.

Just hours after rival Republicans gleefully ousted Democratic candidates in two key gubernatorial races, the White House dismissed suggestions on Wednesday that the results were a referendum on Obama and his policies.

Republicans trumpeted Tuesday's victories in New Jersey and Virginia as a conservative comeback one year after Obama vowed before a tumultuous crowd in Chicago that change had come to America.

But Obama reminded a school audience in northern Wisconsin - one of the states that swept him to victory over Republican John McCain - of the political landscape and economic outlook on November 4, 2008.

"One year ago, Americans all across this country went to the polls and cast ballots for the future they wanted to see," he told the cheering crowd at the Madison school.

"Election day was a day of hope, it was a day of possibility, but it was also a sobering one because we knew even then that we faced an array of challenges that would test us as a country."

Republicans hope that Tuesday's victories will help turn the tide as they look ahead to key mid-term elections in 2010. Washington, Thursday, AFP