New Jersey seems like a little slice of mid-America on the coast. It’s a homely sort of place, shadowed by the major metropolises of New York and Philadelphia. Many of the neighborhoods are a picture of patriotic wholesomeness: white picket fences flying American flags. The leaves are just turning, making these Wisteria Lane-style streets postcard-pretty.

The politics are changing colour a little, too. This state woke up red this morning, defying its notionally blue heritage. The victory of Republican Chris Christie in yesterday’s gubernatorial race, ousting deeply unpopular Democrat Jon Corzine, is the first time conservatives have won any election in this state since 1997.

If people still bought newspapers in this country they’d read about a Republican resurgence. The Star-Ledger’s ‘It’s Christie’ screamer sat above the tagline: “Hungry for change, voters ditch Corzine”.

Given the state of the conservative cause — one talkback host I caught in a taxi quoted polling that had just 20 percent of voters still unashamed to declare themselves Republicans — you can’t blame them for using New Jersey as a rallying point. GOP Chairman Michael Steele today called the result a “bellwether for the party”.

“We’re not crowing, we’re just smiling,” he told AP in the election aftermath. “You look at where we were nine months ago…”

A year ago this state elected Barack Obama by a sizeable margin. Democrats hold both of its seats in Congress, sit in eight of its 13 chairs in the House of Representatives, and the party has majority control of both houses of its state legislature. This is about as close to progressive heartland as you get moving away from the coast.

Obama has taken a hit. He waved the flag for Corzine enough for Republicans to build the contest into a presidential test. It was the most-watched poll of these strange mid-mid-terms, and Barack’s man was put to the sword.

The White House mouthpiece is having none of it: this was a local race fought on local issues, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said today. The state economy had tanked and so the people punished the Governor. Talking to the ‘folks, it’s hard to disagree.

Corzine was on the nose, with a record of dodgy deals and public scandal. He was “corrupt” as one Jerseyite told me today.

“I didn’t even vote for him,” another man said, with the inflection on the ‘I’ clearly highlighting his dark skin. An African-American dumped the Democrat.

Some commentators are calling New Jersey purple (for those that don’t remember finger painting, the result of mixing red and blue). But this is a state in transition. Its economy is diverse enough to have weathered the economic storm better than some, but blue collars are increasingly out of fashion.

The media tour I’m on took me through south Jersey today to Gloucester county to meet with Democratic majority leader of the state legislature, Stephen Sweeney. He arrives unshaven, unsuited and apologetic, but he wasn’t donning the tie after watching the vote count until 3am. This man is now the leading Democrat in the state.

Sweeny talks about transitioning the workforce. He says things Australian politicians won’t: large-scale local manufacturing is dead and workers must be retrained.

“The US is a consumer now, not a manufacturer,” he says. The state is setting itself up as a major marine docking point and freight hub to serve the American north-east. Factory workers who have lost their jobs will be trained to work on the waterfront. But will they still be there when these new facilities are built?

Republicans will beat up this story linked to Obama. But the issues around shifting demographic and economic sands are much more interesting.