On the Agenda: Obama Campaigns in Gubernatorial Races

President Obama travels to New Jersey today to campaign for Jon Corzine.  Watch Fox News for the latest updates as White House Correspondent Mike Emanuel reports live from Hackensack, New Jersey.

Incumbent New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine and Virginia hopeful Creigh Deeds are both counting on President Obama to secure wins on November 3. Whether they succeed or fail could affect the President's own re-election bid in 2012 and next year's mid term elections.

So why should the President go to bat for either candidate? Larry Sabato, Director for the Center of Politics at the University of Virginia says the President really doesn't have a choice.

"He's gonna be held accountable for the result regardless. He might as well make an effort," explains Sabato, "if [the President] campaigns for the democratic candidates in Virginia and New Jersey, he's not going to be responsible for their winning even if they win,"

Rutgers University Professor of Public Policy Cliff Zukin agrees. "If New Jersey goes republican even if it's by virtue of Chris Christie and statewide issues such as our property tax, it's going to be perceived as a referendum on Obama."

Christie, Corzine's Republican opponent is now head to head with the incumbent governor in the most recent polls.

In Virginia, Deeds is trailing behind his republican opponent Bob McDonnell in the polls by an average of 9% according to Real Clear Politics.

Understandably, Democrats are concerned.

Obama won both New Jersey and Virginia comfortably in the 2008 election. Heavily democratic New Jersey was no surprise, but his Virginia win was -- Obama was the first Democratic presidential candidate to win the state in forty-four years. Political experts believe that Obama will need Virginia again if he is to be re-elected.

"That's why you see all the Democrats coming in, is that they know there is something is at stake in the national perception of what's going on in the elections of '09," notes Zukin.

Democrats hope the President's popularity translates into voter turnout. Mr. Obama's job approval, though lower than when he entered office, hovers at just above 50%.

"There's always a chance that Obama could increase the energy level for Democrats generally, for those in northern Virginia - the young, the minorities throughout Virginia who tend to vote heavily democratic," explains Sabato, "these groups have simply not been engaged this year."

According to Zukin, those same groups will have big repercussions in New Jersey as well. "[The President] will bring some enthusiasm and really help democrats get people to the polls and turn out. And that's especially true in our urban areas where democrats usually win by margin of 90 to 10 percent."

Republican voters on the other hand are energized in part due to opposition on a range of the Obama administration's policies from health care reform to the handling of the economy.

"It's very difficult to transfer popularity to another candidate. About all you can do is increase turn out among your party activists. And that's where Obama could make a difference for both Corzine and Deeds. But it's not guaranteed to work in either place," notes Sabato.

Democratic wins in New Jersey and Virginia will give President Obama and his party more confidence heading into the 2010 elections; losses ensure they'll have their work cut for them.