WASHINGTON (November 4, 2009)-- Democratic Party Chairman Tim Kaine said Wednesday the party will be doing some head-scratching after exit polls in Virginia showed many independents who voted for Barack Obama last year voted for Republicans in Tuesday’s election.

Republicans won the governors' races there and in New Jersey, and those results led Republican Party Chairman Michael Steele to declare that the GOP has "found its voice again."

Steele told CBS' "The Early Show" Wednesday he thinks Chris Christie's victory in New Jersey and Bob McDonnell's win in Virginia show that the GOP is "a transcendent party" on the move again.

Kaine told CNN that he believes voter anxiety about jobs and the economy played heavily in the Virginia and New Jersey balloting and they shouldn't be seen as a referendum on President Obama.

He said Obama "really retains a strong popularity among the voters."

Meanwhile, the White House says Republican wins in governors' races in Virginia and New Jersey were not referenda on the president.

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters Wednesday that voters went to the polls in Virginia and New Jersey to work through "very local issues that didn't involve the president."

Gibbs said voters were concerned about the economy.

"I don't think the president needed an election or an exit poll to come to that conclusion,” he said.