Tuesday's impressive wins by new governors Tim Kaine in Virginia and Jon Corzine in New Jersey will be attributed to many different factors.  Some will say that they ran good campaigns.  Others will suggest that Corzine scored points through some of his votes in the Senate, such as his vote against the bankruptcy bill.  And still others will make good observations that both of them are trustworthy, quality individuals who know how to address an audience.

I have a slightly simpler take on Tuesday's overwhelmingly positive results - and to understand it, we must start just over three years ago, when this election season really began.

Sept. 12, 2002: "Al Qaeda terrorists escaped from Afghanistan and are known to be in Iraq."

I'm the deputy communications director of the Democratic Governors Association. You'll see more of me and my colleagues here as we ramp up our online efforts.

We're hard at work right now as we get close to decision time in New Jersey and Virginia. Thanks to every one of you who has volunteered to work in those states. If you want to join the field effort to elect Jon Corzine and Tim Kaine, you still have time -- just follow one of the links below, and someone will get in touch with you to put you to work.

Help Jon Corzine in New Jersey
Help Tim Kaine in Virginia

Even as we go all out to win these campaigns, we thought people could use an excuse to have pre-election fun. So we're offering a chance to guess the margins of victory in on election night in New Jersey and Virginia. Make your predictions:

Guess Jon Corzine's Winning Margin in New Jersey
Guess Tim Kaine's Winning Margin in Virginia