I've seen report after report after report adding the NV special election results to the "referendum on Obama" media theme.
It's also been spun as an -additional- seat for the republicans.
That particular district, has been republican since it's creation in
1983; with the exception of short periods during which is was 'vacant,' which sounds redundant to me.
One of the local too-toxic-for-fishwraps made a huge point of spinning it as a Democratic loss. The republicans had to spend $800,000 to retain a long held republican seat.
I won't link to said too-toxic-for-fishwrap as I choose not to send them traffic, oh, and they're the ones involved with righthaven; the group that keeps suing people for quoting aforementioned too-toxic-for-fishwrap.
In our other local, not as bad, paper, it was noted that there are
32,000 more republicans registered to vote in that district than there are Democrats registered to vote in the district.
A republican was "swapped" for a republican; and it cost them $800,000 on a "sure bet".
When you see any media outlet try to spin that as a referendum, a Democratic loss, or pretty much anything else that isn't about how republicans had to pay $800,000 to keep a seat, please remember this information.
edit for multiples of vacant periods